Capt. Charles BULKELEY, Jr.

1760 - 1799  (38 years)

• Name	Charles BULKELEY  [1]
  	Having graduated from the District School in Rocky Hill, he seems to have enlisted, March 26, 1777, at the age of seventeen, in Captain James Watson's company in the regiment of Continentals raised that year in and about Wethersfield by Colonel Samuel B. Webb of that town. Mr. Bulkeley, restless, perhaps, after the excitements of army life, or possibly sent by his father-in-law as supercargo of some vessel of which he was the owner, seems o have gone to sea within a few years after his marriage, and, liking it, to have followed the sea as an occupation, for in 1796 we find him in command of a vessel sailing from the port of New York. Several letters written by him about this time have been preserved, which not only inform us as to his movements, but disclose to us a kind-hearted sailor very solicitous for the welfare and comfort of his wife and family during his long absences from home. January 24, 1796, he writes to his wife from New York of his arrival in port and that he "is not sorry to hear of two new-comers during his absence and wishes there had been three." As these twins were born in 1792, his absence must have been a long one. In September he again writes to his "only friend" of his return to New York, but he has just been offered the command of a vessel and must sail the next day. A muff and a tippet, two pounds of Bohea and one of Souchong, a loaf of sugar, and two gallons of Cognac, besides oranges and limes, the materials for a pretty brew of punch (barring the muff and tippet) he sends to her as a present from Captain Butler. No wonder that two large punch-bowls, one quart do., one pint do., figure in his inventory. He hopes to be absent not more than two months. January 29, 1797, he writes from New York that wind and weather permitting he will sail tomorrow, and on his return in April will bring his vessel to Rocky Hill to refit. In August he again writes from New York that "at last he has once more arrived safe" and expects next Thursday to sail from home and refit his vessel for sea. "I shall get home as fast as the wind will drive me there." In November he is back in New York and writes that he has been so much hurried in getting ready for sea that he has not been able to "furnish her with all the things he could have wished." The same day he again writes to his "dear friend" that he is all ready to sail and has sent by Captain Conkling ten yards of coating and eighteen yards of yellow flannel and a quantity of table ware. Captain Bulkeley was home again the next February, and probably made two or three more voyages to the West Indies before he sailed on his last in the winter of 1799. In January of that year his vessel was wrecked on one of the islands during a hurricane, and though he was saved from drowning, it was only to meet a worse fate, for he was taken with yellow fever after reaching the shore, and died January 15, 1799, at the age of thirty-nine years. This double loss was a severe blow to Mrs. Bulkeley, left as she was with an estate of less than a thousand pounds and seven young children to care for, the two youngest scarcely more than a yer old, and the eldest not yet fifteen. With true Robbins energy she made the most of her small estate, and by care and thrift was able to give her children, all of whom lived to grow up, a thorough education and a good start in life. She lived to see them all successful and prosperous, and died at Rocky Hill, March 23, 1835, at the advanced age of seventy-five years. [1]
  Prefix	Capt.
  Suffix	Jr.
  Birth	9 Mar 1760	Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	15 Jan 1799  [1]
  Person ID	I101732	Main Tree
  Last Modified	16 Dec 2020

  
  

  Father	Capt. Charles BULKELEY,   c. 10 Nov 1734, Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d. 10 Nov 1812, Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut (Age ~ 78 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Mother	Mary GRISWOLD,   b. 5 Nov 1741   d. 24 Jan 1772, Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut (Age 30 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Marriage	10 Mar 1760	Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, USA   [2]
  Family ID	F422	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Eunice ROBBINS,   b. 11 Jul 1760   d. 23 Mar 1835, Rocky Hill, Connecticut (Age 74 years)
  Marriage	15 Oct 1782  [1]
  Children	1. Emeline BULKELEY,   b. 6 Nov 1798, Rocky Hill, Connecticut d. 28 Aug 1855, Ballston Spa, New York (Age 56 years)  [Birth]
  Family ID	F454	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	16 Dec 2020

  
  

• Sources

  [S12076] Charles S. Hall, HALL Ancestry A Series of Sketches of the Lineal Ancestors of the children of Samuel Holden Parsons Hall and his wife Emeline Bulkeley. [S12186] Donald Lines Jacobus, M.A., The Bulkeley Genealogy - Rev. Peter Bulkeley.