Sepia Saturday 405: Fifth in a series on my Union Army great-great grandfather Arthur Bull and his final years in Salamanca, Cattaraugus County, N.Y.
As the spring of 1888 approached, my paternal great-great grandparents Arthur and Mary (Blakeslee) Bull prepared to celebrate a happy occasion — the marriage of their daughter Jessie Bull to Sidney Banton of Salamanca in Cattaraugus Co., N.Y.
Although the Bull family was still in mourning after the recent passing of Mary’s mother, my ggg grandmother Hannah (Hance) Blakeslee, the impending wedding likely lifted everyone’s spirits and set their eyes on the future.
Putting down roots
For Jessie, marrying and putting down roots in Salamanca may also have brought a newfound sense of stability after the Bull family’s many moves throughout her childhood (see table below). Her fiancé Sidney, a store clerk, came from a local family that had lived in the area since the 1860s.
| Residences of Jessie Bull in New York State | |||
| Year | Source | Location | Details |
| 1870 | U.S. Census | Hancock, Delaware Co., N.Y. (Catskills) | Jessie listed as age 1. |
| 1874 | Broome Republican marriage notice | Binghamton, Broome Co., N.Y. (Southern Tier) | When Jessie was 5, older sister Emma married “at the home of her father in the town of Binghamton.” |
| 1875 | N.Y.S. Census | Lyonsdale, Lewis Co., N.Y. (Adirondacks) | Jessie, age 6, listed as born in Delaware Co. |
| 1880 | U.S. Census | Lyonsdale, Lewis Co., N.Y. (Adirondacks) | Jessie A. Bull, 11, born in July 1868, was at school. |
| 1885 | Arthur Bull Pension Record | Limestone, Cattaraugus Co., N.Y. (Western N.Y.) | Jessie was 17 when a pension doctor examined her father Arthur Bull. |
| 1888 | Cattaraugus wedding anniversary notices | Salamanca, Cattaraugus Co., N.Y. (Western N.Y.) | Jessie Bull, 19, married Sidney Banton, 22. |
That’s quite a few moves for a young woman of 19. And Jessie left friends, schoolmates and older siblings behind with each relocation — including my great-grandmother Eva May (Bull) Charboneau, an older sister who remained in the Adirondacks region after she wed.
Jessie’s marriage to Sidney would anchor her in Western New York for the rest of her life and end the cycle of constant moves.
Announcement of a wedding
Jessie Bull and Sidney Banton were married on 10 May 1888 in a simple wedding at the home of her parents Arthur and Mary (Blakeslee) Bull — according to anniversary newspaper announcements of the happy occasion.
Their wedding was again celebrated in the Looking Backward column of the local paper sixty years after the event.
One hundred thirty years ago in May
Since I don’t know whether the Cattaraugus papers continue these announcements, this blog will serve as the 130th commemoration of Jessie Bull’s marriage to Sidney Banton.
Coming when it did, their wedding surely brought happiness into the lives of my aging great-great grandparents Arthur and Mary (Blakeslee) Bull — along with an extended network of local Banton in-laws.
More in the next post on Arthur Bull’s Salamanca years. Meanwhile, please visit the blogs of this week’s other Sepia Saturday participants here.
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