Bulloch-Outwater Family Papers

William Bulloch

Reverend William Bulloch (1869-1950) received the bulk of the letters in this collection from his son George Bulloch between 1917 and 1918. William was born in Dunoon, Scotland on February 28, 1869. He attended Princeton Theological Seminary from 1894 to 1897, was ordained on May 19, 1897 in Newark, and served as a Presbyterian minister until his death in 1950. His family included his wife Margaret Thomson Bulloch, and his four children: George, David, William and Esther.

Most of what is known about William is taken from the letters and family papers collected here, especially including his descendent William D. Bulloch's 1996 and 1997 applications for family membership in both the Sons of the Revolution Society, and the Huguenot Society of South Carolina. He is also mentioned in the Presbyterian Church of the United States' Synod of New Jersey minutes from 1933 through 1941.

Reverend Bulloch served at the First Presbyte1ian Church of Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania beginning in 1896 and ending in 1911. His career as a minister included service in Englishtown, New Jersey, from 1911 to 1919, where he resided during the period in which he received the bulk of the letters contained in this collection. Following this period, he served as pastor in Harrison, New York from 1920 to 1935, Cold Spring, New Jersey from 1935 to 1948, and as pastor emeritus in Cold Spring until his death in Cincinnatus, New York, on April 21, 1950.(1)

George Bulloch

George Bulloch, 1898-1947, was the author of the bulk of letters included in this collection. The majority of the letters were written during World War I, when he served as an army medic in France in 1918. Most of what is known about George is taken from the letters, family papers, and military records collected here.

George was born in the Presbyterian Manse at Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania-where his father was minister-on August 14, 1898. He received a degree from Columbia University after the war, and worked at both Johnson & Johnson and Bell Telephone Company of New Jersey.(2) His family included his wife Miriam Eleanore Bulloch, neé Outwater, and his five children William D., John 0., Eleanore, Audrey and James. It is through his marriage to Miriam Outwater that the Outwater papers became a part of this collection.

George Bulloch graduated from high school at sixteen, and worked in the Chemistry department at Johnson and Johnson until his enlistment at the age of eighteen. He was placed with the 18th Cavalry, which was transf01med into the 76th Field Artillery, of which he served in the 3rd Division.(3) He trained at Camp Merritt, New Jersey; Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont; Camp Shelby, Mississippi; and Fort Slocum, New York, before his departure for France in April of 1918.(4) During the war, he was involved in four major engagements: Chateau Thierry, (Aigue Marne sector) San Mihiel, (Meruthe Moselle sector) Verdun, (Ft. Vaux sector) and Argonne (Meuse sector). At Argonne, he was severely wounded in the leg by machine gun fire, and in the arm and back by shell fragments, on October 15, 1918.(5)

Upon his return to the United States, he was discharged at Camp Dix, New Jersey on March 8, 1919.(6) He then began to study at Rutgers University, eventually graduating with his BA in Chemistry from Columbia University. He worked at Bell Telephone Compa11y of New Jersey for more than twenty years.(7)

George E. Bulloch died on December 25, 1947.

Outwater Family

The Outwater family has been traced back to Jacob Outwater and his wife Martijuje deBertholf. Their son, Captain John Outwater, 1746-1823, served as an officer with the New Jersey State Troops and Militia during the Revolutionary War. In March of 1780, he was wounded in the leg while in Hackensack, New Jersey. From 1800 to 1817, John served as an appointed judge to the Court of Common Pleas of Bergen County.(8) It is through this service that many of the judicial and financial documents of other seemingly unrelated individuals came to comprise a section of this collection.

Other Outwaters of note within the collection are Jacob Outwater, whose marriage to Elizabeth Brinckerhoff explains the presence of the oldest document within the collection: the indenture dated approximately 1715.

Their grandson John H. married Mary Ann Demarest, a member of another prestigious local family.

John H. and Mary Ann's son, William H. Outwater married Hermine Buschmann, from whence come the Bruno Buschmann papers.

William H. and Hermine's daughter Miriam Eleanore was wife to George E. Bulloch, the WWI soldier and author of the majority of the letters within this collection.

(1) Hopper, Rev. Orion Cornelius, ed. (1955) Biographical Catalogue of Princeton Theological Seminary 1815-1954. Trustees of the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church. Princeton. P. 228 (2) Letter of William Bulloch, 1948, in LETTERS SENT of William Bulloch (box 1, folder 21) (3) Ibid. (4) Service record of George E. Bulloch, undated, in WAR RECORD AND WAR-RELATED MISCELLANY of George E. Bulloch (box 1, folder 28) (5) Ibid. (6) Ibid. (7) Letter of William Bulloch, 1948, in LETTERS SENT of William Bulloch (box 1, folder 21) (8) Biography on Captain John Outwater, in PERSONAL MISCELLANY of John Outwater (box 2, folder 6).