Nielsen Hayden genealogy

Rev. Gershom Bulkeley

Male 1636 - 1713  (~ 77 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All

  • Name Gershom Bulkeley  [1, 2
    Prefix Rev. 
    Birth Jan 1636  Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Gender Male 
    Death 2 Dec 1713  Glastonbury, Hartford, Connecticut Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Person ID I13369  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
    Last Modified 20 Nov 2020 

    Father Rev. Peter Bulkeley,   b. 31 Jan 1583, Odell, Bedfordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 9 Mar 1659, Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 76 years) 
    Mother Grace Chetwood,   b. Abt 1602, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 21 Apr 1669, New London, New London, Connecticut Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 67 years) 
    Marriage Apr 1635  [1, 3, 4
    Family ID F7614  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Sarah Chauncy,   b. 13 Jun 1631, Ware, Hertfordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 3 Jun 1699, Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 67 years) 
    Marriage 6 Oct 1659  Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Children 
    +1. Dr. Charles Bulkeley   d. 1692, New London, New London, Connecticut Find all individuals with events at this location
     2. Peter Bulkeley,   b. Abt 1664   d. 22 Nov 1701, At sea Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 37 years)
    Family ID F8391  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 16 Nov 2020 

  • Notes 
    • From Wikipedia (accessed 22 May 2020):

      Gershom Bulkeley was an early graduate of Harvard University, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1655 and possibly his master's degree in 1658. After receiving his master's degree he might have married Sarah Chauncy, daughter of then Harvard President, Charles Chauncy. In 1661 became the minister of the Congregational church in New London, CT, where he served for roughly 5 years. He then became minister of the Congregational church in the town of Wethersfield, Connecticut where he served until 1677. He left the ministry and practiced as a physician in Glastonbury, CT.

      When the Salem Witch Trials spread from Massachusetts to Connecticut in the autumn of 1692, he expressed considerable scepticism about the evidence, saying that he had heard nothing of any weight to convince him that anyone was guilty of witchcraft. In particular he argued that Marcy Disborough, one of the only two women accused in Connecticut who actually stood trial for witchcraft, was the victim of the malice of her neighbours. Mercy was founded guilty and sentenced to death, but received a reprieve. She was set free and died some time after 1709.

  • Sources 
    1. [S142] Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families by Douglas Richardson. Salt Lake City, 2013.

    2. [S3332] The Avery Family: The Ancestors and Descendants of Christopher Avery by Maureen A. Taylor, with contributions by Julie Helen Otto. Boston: Newbury Street Press, 2004.

    3. [S317] The Bulkeley Genealogy by Donald Lines Jacobus. New Haven, Connecticut: 1933.

    4. [S4168] Charles M. Hansen, "The Barons of Wodhull, With Observations on the Ancestry of George Elkington, Emigrant to New Jersey." The Genealogist 7:4, 1987.