My Genealogy Hound

ANDREW R. BULL. Among the honored pioneers of Greene County may be properly mentioned Mr. Bull, who owns and occupies a comfortable homestead, one hundred and fifteen acres in extent and lying in Cedarville Township, this county. He is the son of James Bull who was born in Pennsylvania and reared in Virginia, whence he came to this county when a young man. Not long afterward he was married, in 1802, to Miss Anna Goudy. James was the son of William Bull, a soldier of the Revolutionary War. The family is of English origin. The father of our subject served in the War of 1812. Afterward he settled on land within a half mile of the present home of Andrew R. where the latter was born June 8, 1824. The present homestead of our subject is a part of the original farm. The first dwelling of James Bull and his wife was a rude log cabin and their stable was also built of logs. A large rattlesnake was killed at the spring near the house on New Year’s day. James Bull came to this county in advance of the family and secured about one thousand acres of land for himself and his brothers. He was joined by the family a few years later.

After their marriage the parents of our subject lived in a little cabin in the dense forest and deer would often come close to the house as if to inspect it and find out what it meant, and they did not run away when the mother would go to the door and shake her tablecloth. The father was a natural mechanic and subsequently employed himself as a carpenter, assisting in building the first jail in Xenia and later putting on a building in Xenia the first shingle roof in that place. The nearest flouring mill was in the vicinity of Springfield, when the trip involved a two days’ journey and Mr. Bull would stop over night at the camp of a friendly tribe of Indians near Clifton. In 1834 Mr. Bull harvested thirty acres of wheat with a sickle — a long and tedious process and in which he was obliged to employ a number of men. The custom had been to furnish the hands with whiskey, Mr. Bull felt that this was wrong and determined this year to change the order of things and give no liquor to his men. The consequence was Mr. Bull and his sons had to cut their wheat alone. The next year he managed to hire a few men who would consent to work without the intoxicating beverage, he was the first man to take that stand in this section.

About 1835 Mr. Bull and Mr. Poge, a minister of the Presbyterian Church conducted the first temperance meeting in the county. Others joined them in their good work and finally seven of them went from Cedarville and Clifton to Xenia, where they tried to hire a room and have a lecture. The citizens of Xenia would not allow them to hold the meeting, stating that it would ruin their business, so they were obliged to abandon the project for that time. The next year, however, the same party failing this time also to obtain a room, held a meeting in a shed and thus was inaugurated the temperance movement in this county.

To the parents of our subject there was born a family of eight children, viz: William, John, Susannah, Margaret, Law, Scott, Amos and Andrew Rankin. They all lived to mature years and all became members of the Associated or the Seceders Church. During the war our subject belonged to the State Militia and assisted in driving John Morgan from the soil of Ohio. He was married in December, 1851, to Miss Elizabeth Orr, daughter of John Orr who came from South Carolina in 1832. Mrs. Bull’s mother bore the maiden name of Janet McMillen. She was the daughter of John McMillen, an early settler of Cedarville. The paternal grandparents were John and Rosanna Orr who were natives of Scotland and further mention of whom will be found in the sketch of Dr. Stewart on another page in this album. Grandfather Orr was a well-educated man and spent his last years in Cedarville. John Orr, Jr. served as a soldier in the War of 1812.

Mr. and Mrs. Bull have lived on the place which hey now occupy for the past thirty-two years. It lies two miles west of Cedarville on the Xenia Pike and makes a very attractive picture in the landscape of that region. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bull, eight children, only four of whom are living. Nettie became the wife of William Lewis and died six months after her marriage; Addie remains with her parents; Edward, a carpenter by trade, is married and living in Cedarville; Mack is married and is engaged in the merchantile business in Cedarville; Laura died when five years old; Riley died at the age of two years; he next child died when an infant unnamed; Clifford, the youngest, remains with his parents and assists in the operations of the farm.

Mr. Bull, politically, is a sound Republican, and a very strong temperance advocate. He never tasted a drop of liquor in his life and has never used tobacco in any form. Both he and his estimable wife are members in good standing of the United Presbyterian Church of Cedarville.