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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County
Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890

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The Biography of Peter BULL 

Pages 823-824, transcribed in full by Karen CRANE Goggin 

[Surnames: ACKERSON, BRYANT, BULL, CONNOR, HALE, HUFFORD, KIDD, MASON, MAXWELL, PUTMAN, VARNEL, VEST, WILSON] 

    
PETER BULL. The history of a county or township depending for interest to the general reader upon the lives of the men who have settled there, and by means of their industry and ability won success both for themselves and the community, a history of Putnam Township would be in no measure complete without a sketch of Peter BULL. He is numbered among the early pioneers, and distinctly recalls the red man who once roamed at will through this place, before the advance of civilized settlers drove him towards the setting sun. 
    
Our subject is the son of William and Lavinia (Bryant) Bull, natives of Kentucky and Ohio respectively, and was born on September 19, 1827, in Pike County, Ohio. His grandfather was an Englishman. His parents were married in the native state of the mother, and resided there until the year 1829, at which time they moved to Illinois, settling in Cass Township, this county. However, after one winter they came to Putman Township, and purchased a portion of section 16 and built a small log house. They were in reduced circumstances, but the father was an industrious, hardworking man, and each year made many improvements on his estate. During the Black Hawk War he was selected to remain at home in order to look after the estates in the neighborhood while so many of the men were fighting. 
    
Mr. Bull's mother died in 1835. To her had been born nine children, of whom our subject is the only one now living. The father married Miss Betsy Connor, but she also died, leaving three children, of whom two are at present alive, viz: Mary, wife of David Maxwell, who was killed in the army; and William, who makes his home in Kansas. The father passed away from earthly scenes in 1857. 
    
Mr. Bull received an education in a common log schoolhouse that was the first ever built in this Township, and his teacher, R. Putman, was the first white settler. Completing his schooling, our subject commenced to support himself when only eighteen years of age, by working on farms. In compensation for his labor he received only $10 per month until he had reached his twenty-first birthday. 
    
On June 4, 1848, he married Miss Nancy Hufford, daughter of George and Mary (Vest) Hufford. Mrs. Bull's father was a native of Pennsylvania and her mother of the Blue Grass State. Their marriage occurred in Indiana, and in that State they continued to reside up to the time of his death in 1833. After that sad event, the widow and her family moved to Illinois, settling in Buckheart Township, this county, and afterward moving to Canton township. She died in 1858. To them had been born seven children, five of whom are now living. Mrs. Bull's birth occurred in Indiana on January 19, 1827, but she was educated in Fulton County. 
    
Mr. Bull soon after his marriage rented a farm about three miles from Canton, where he lived for two years. He then worked his father's farm for a year, after which he returned to the first place, and later moved to another farm a mile and a half from Canton, and continued to rent there for nine years. At a later date he worked on his father's place, and then bought his present estate, which at that time contained twenty-six acres of cultivated land and a log house. At the present writing he is the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land, all in a body, and which has been improved by his own exertions. 
    
Mr. And Mrs. Bull were the parents of ten children, seven of whom are living, viz: Henry, who married Phoebe Wilson, has seven children, and lives at Breeds Station; Eliza, wife of C. N. Mason, who resides at Canton, and has three children; George, who married Elizabeth Mason, lives in Putman Township, and has six children; William, who married Hannah J. Kidd, has six children, and lives on his father's farm; Mary Marinda, wife of Arthur Varnel, who lives near Marietta, Ill., and has seven children; Sarah; Albert, who married Rose Ackerson, and lives in Cass Township. 
    
The subject of our sketch has been Pathmaster, and has always taken an interest in politics, being first a Whig and now a Republican. He was a strong Abolitionist and voted for John P. Hale. He and his wife have been connected for a long time with the United Brethren Church.