Chester County PA Archives Biography of Lieut. Col. Thomas BULL, 1881

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Futhey and Cope, History of Chester County, 1881.  pp.461-504. 

BULL, LIEUT.-COL. THOMAS, son of William Bull, born June 9, 1744, died July 13, 1837, 
aged 93 years, 1 month, and 4 days.

He, as most young men in colonial times were forced to do, followed for a while a 
mechanical pursuit, becoming a stone-mason. He was considered an excellent workman, 
having assisted in constructing a number of buildings of so durable a character that 
they were still in use a few years ago, and may be yet. Prior to the Revolutionary war, 
and also subsequently to it, he was a manager for Potts & Rutter, at Warwick Furnace. 
Whilst in this capacity he was called into the service of his country, being commissioned 
lieutenant-colonel of his regiment subsequently to Gen. Wayne’s transfer to the regular 
army. He took the above position upon the promotion of Richard Thomas to the colonelcy. 
He was attached to the Flying Camp, and was ordered to New York, where, arriving in time 
for an engagement, he was forced with his men into action, fought bravely, and when he 
found his superior in command had surrendered he became so incensed that he broke his 
sword in two. He of course was captured and taken to the "Jersey" prison-ships, where 
the prisoners, one of whom was the celebrated Col. Ethan Allen, were furnished an 
allowance of a few grains of corn a day. Remaining here for a short time, they were 
placed on Long Island, with the privilege of patroling the same. Here they were kept 
for about twenty-one months and then exchanged. During the engagement above alluded to, 
while Col. Bull was carrying an order to a subordinate officer, a wounded soldier 
piteously plead that he would take him up behind him on his horse and save him if 
possible. Seeing a stump of a tree near by, he told him to get upon it and he would 
see what he could do for him. When he returned the maimed man had strength enough to 
obey this friendly command, and, urging his strength to the utmost, he succeeded in 
the effort, and was borne swiftly in safety to the fort. In time he recovered, and in 
after-years, when Col. Bull was a member of the Legislature, the door-keeper was asked 
to call him out as a man wished to speak to him. It proved to be his old acquaintance 
of the battle-field, whose safety had been secured amid the storm of bullets discharged 
as they neared the fort, and who now came to express his heartfelt gratitude to his 
preserver.

Another incident occurred during his sojourn on the island. Poorly fed and being hungry, 
he stopped at the house of one of the Low Dutch residents and asked for something to eat. 
The old lady in broken English replied, "Oh, we’ve got poor bread." "What will you give 
me if I build you an oven?" he said, and, as she hesitated in reply, added, "Send your 
men for brick and sand, and we will see what we can do for you." The materials being 
brought he went to work, and in a short time the oven was built. She was pleased, and 
gave him three silver dollars for the work, whereupon he also was pleased. In telling 
this story he laughingly said that when the thing became known all the little Low Dutch 
women on the island came in quest of Col. Bull to build them ovens.

Another circumstance he used to mention was that before his capture he found one of his 
men famishing from want of food and exposure to the weather. Having no great supply of 
medicine at hand, he procured some gingerbread softened it with water, forced it down his 
throat, and thus saved his life. This man, Micajah Posey, returned to his home in the 
neighborhood of Warwick Furnace, and lived there until he became an old man, many of 
whose descendants reside in the northern part of this and in the neighboring counties.

After his return from the service of his country in the field Col. Bull continued in the 
iron business, managing the Warwick Furnace, as before, and turning out forty-two tons of 
pig-metal per week with a small charcoal furnace, the ore being then of fine quality and 
the wood first growth. This was a great run of metal, considering that a furnace of equal 
capacity latterly will yield but little more than
one-half this quantity.

Shortly after the battle of Brandywine a portion of the government troops retreated to the 
neighborhood of the Furnace, where they remained for some days, the officers of highest 
grade in the mean time visiting the mansion-house, where they were hospitably entertained 
by the gallant colonel’s noble and patriotic wife.

Prior to leaving the employ of the Warwick Company, Col. Bull bought from them a large 
tract of land on the head-waters of the south branch of French Creek, where he built a 
grist- and saw-mill, blacksmith-shop, etc., and upon which he erected a fine mansion, to 
which he retired, and there resided many years. The property passed into possession of his 
son, Rev. Levi Bull, and is now the residence of Col. Thomas K. Bull, a son of the latter.

While improving his private property Col. Bull was yet largely engaged in business plans. 
He acquired, and held until within a few years of his death, nine-sixteenths of an interest 
in Joanna Furnace, on Hay Creek, Robeson township, Berks County, which interest he disposed 
of to Judge Darling, of Reading, about 1831, who associated with him Levi Bull Smith, his 
brother-in-law. The present owner is Col. L. Heber Smith, a great-grandson of Col. Bull, 
who follows the same remunerating pursuit, and has given assurance that he imbibes the 
patriotic fervor of his brave ancestor in volunteering to march at the head of his regiment 
in defense of his country in the war of the Rebellion, and, like his ancestor, was captured 
and detained in the vile prisons of the South, in this respect suffering more cruel treatment 
than was accorded prisoners of the Revolutionary war.

Col. Bull was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of 1790, and also a 
member of the convention which ratified said instrument. He was a representative of Chester 
County in the Assembly for many years. Of course he was a man of mark in those early days of 
our history. Fitted by nature with a strong, vigorous frame, a tall, majestic mien, and a 
stentorian voice, he seemed formed to command. Resolute and determined in war, he was an 
excellent manager and a successful business man. Active and enterprising, he gave many a 
young man employment, and failed not to help the poor and the friendless. His counsel was 
often asked, his advice taken, and many profited by it. An instance is given: A few miles 
from him lived a man of moody spirit, morose and ill-grained, who called to see the colonel, 
and complained of want of success. He was advised to quit the neighborhood and remove to the 
central part of the State, where it was thought an opening presented for business. Taking the 
advice kindly he removed, and became an iron-master, prospered, and grew rich. Probably about 
1830 he paid his last visit to Chester County, met his old friend and adviser, and after a 
pleasant interchange of social feeling they parted to meet here no more.

About the year 1810 or 1812, Col. Bull became interested in a project which enlisted the 
feelings of many of his fellow-citizens in the northern part of the county, viz., the 
construction of a turnpike-road through the same. This road was designed to run from the 
Lancaster turnpike, near the Warren tavern, to the base of the Welsh Mountain, near Morgantown; 
thence by another company to the Blue Ball, and thence by still another to Lancaster, via New 
Holland. Associated with Col. Bull in projecting and carrying on this work were Michael Gunkle, 
John Malin, Mr. Bowen, of the Ship, Isaiah Kirk, Ephraim Allen, and others. The State aided the 
road by a subscription of stock, but of course, in the end, fared as did other stockholders. Net 
proving a paying concern the organization was kept up for a time, but after the lapse of twenty-
five or thirty years, the tolls taken being insufficient to maintain it, the road was abandoned 
as a turnpike and declared a public highway. Unfortunate as a speculation, the road is 
neverthless regarded by those who live along its line as a great advantage to the neighborhood 
through which it passes, and the public spirit and enterprise of the projectors are fully 
appreciated.

Under an act of Congress, passed a few years before his death, Col. Bull received a pension of 
$575 per annum, awarded him for his services in the Revolutionary war.

He was a sincere believer in the Christian religion, and a vestryman of St. Peter’s Episcopal 
Church, in the Great Valley, worshiping therein when convenient, as he lived many miles therefrom. 
Upon the ordination of his son, Rev. Dr. Bull, to the ministry he assisted in building and supporting 
St. Mary’s Church, in East Nantmeal (now Warwick) township, and became and continued a member thereof 
till his death. He also joined in the temperance reformation a few years before his death, even 
foregoing, for the sake of others, the moderate use of wine, to which, as a beverage, he had been 
accustomed. His declining years were peaceful, and gently he descended to the tomb in a good old age 
"as a shock of corn fully ripe in its season."

Thomas Bull was married Feb. 28, 1771, to Ann Hunter, daughter of John and Ann Hunter, of Whiteland, 
who dying in 1817, he married again in 1819, at the age of 75 years, a widow, Lydia Crowell, of Cape 
May, N.J., who survived him several years. His children were as follows:

1. Elizabeth, b. Dec. 19, 1771; m. John Smith. 2. Mary, b. July 10, 1774; d. Nov. 7, 1798; m. Alexander 
Cobean, late of Gettysburg. 3. Ann, b. Feb. 11, 1776; d. 1850; m. Waters Dewees. 4. Martha, b. Feb. 20, 
1779; d. March 12, 1850; m. James McClintock and Samuel Shafer. 5. Sarah, twin sister of Martha, d. 1817, 
unmarried. 6. Levi, b. Nov. 14, 1780; d. Aug. 2, 1859; m. 1808, Ann Jacobs, daughter of Cyrus Jacobs, 
and Margaretta, daughter of James Old, a sister to Mrs. Robert Coleman, b. 1789; d. July 10, 1858. 7. 
James Hunter, b. Dec. 31, 1782; d. Oct. 17, 1797. 8. Margaret, b. Feb. 7, 1787; m. James Jacobs, son of 
Cyrus, and d. about 1819, leaving three sons and a daughter, Ann Hunter, mother of Rev. James J. Creigh.