Judge J. Russell Bullock (1815-1899)
In April 1886, the Honorable J. Russell Bullock rose before a meeting of the R. I. Veteran Citizens’ Historical Association in Providence to do his part in casting the original settlers of Rhode Island as champions of religious freedom and civil liberties. His hero was “Stukeley Westcote,” the five-times great-grandfather of his wife Emma Westcote. The oration, published in the Narragansett Historical Register, formed the first part of Bullock’s seminal genealogy of the Westcott descendants published in 1886. The judge’s testimony became a primary source for Roscoe Whitman’s History and Genealogy of the Ancestors and Some Descendants of Stukely Westcott (Volume I, 1932).
The Lord Bishops and the Lords Brethren, a Selection
Here is an excerpt, in which the judge describes Stukeley’s persecution by the “Lord Bishops” (the English clergy including Bishop Laud) and the “Lords Brethren” (the religious and civil authorities in the Massachusetts Bay Colony):
Religious, and not worldly considerations, undoubtedly led Westcote to leave England and come to America. But like William Blackstone, the first white man whose feet first trod the banks of that river which for more than two centuries has borne his name, Stukeley Westcote soon found that he had fled from the “lord bishops” only to fall into the hands of the “lords brethren.” It was not enough that he had left the home of his youth and the graves of his ancestors, and had crossed an ocean and reached a distant and almost unknown continent. It only remained to him to suffer the degradation of imprisonment or to pass beyond the remotest limits of both the Massachusetts and Plymouth patents. And it was not until, weary with long and pathless journeying, he had crossed the “Seaconk” and reached the “Watchcheare” (Welcome) shore, already consecrated through all coming time to the cause of religious freedom, that he was permitted in peace and safety to worship God according to the convictions of a matured, and it would seem, also, of a thoughtful and earnest life.
Read more. View and download the full essay about Stukeley Westcote.
Stukeley Westcote and Some of His Descendants in the Westcott Society Collection
In 1886, Judge Bullock privately printed 50 copies of Stukeley Westcote and Some of His Descendants, a 7″ by 9″ book of 200 plus pages, hardbound in a dark green cover with embossed title in gold leaf and blind embossed Westcote shield. A 7¾” by 11″ color “Map of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, J.C. Thompson, 269 Westminster Street, Providence, R.I.” is folded twice and appended to the back flyleaf. There are two copies of Bullock’s book in the Westcott Society Collection:
Number 30 of 50. This is a well worn volume with failed binding and many loose signatures and pages. A book plate on the inside front cover reads: “The property of James Westcott Lester, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. No._____.” Bullock autographed the book in 1891 presenting it to James Westcott Lester of Saratoga Springs. A typewritten note slipped into the front matter reads: “This book by Judge Bullock was presented to Gen. James Westcott Lester of Saratoga Springs, and loaned to me by the latter until such time as he may call for it. /s/ Roscoe L. Whitman May 26, 1931.” The note is followed by a comment written in the same hand as the signature: “General Lester died in Nov., 1932.” In the book there are occasional annotations in pencil correcting names and dates.
Number 28 of 50. The second book is in better condition than the first, as it been professionally re-bound with a dark green cover with embossed title in gold leaf and blind embossed Westcote shield. An inscription on the front matter reads: “Presented to Mr. James Westcott of Nicholson, Penn. by J.R. Bullock of Bristol, R.I. Because Mr. Westcott gave me all the information he could about his ancestors – Jan’ 7, 1891.” A second, undated inscription says, “This Westcott History Book is given to Thelma Wescott Carey by Kenneth W. Brown in loving memory of His ‘Mother’ Hilda Wescott Brown to whom it belonged.”
More about the Judge
Jonathan Russell Bullock was a Rhode Island politician and a United States federal judge. Born in Bristol, Rhode Island on September 6, 1815, Bullock graduated from Brown University in 1834 and read law to enter the bar in 1836.
On September 8, 1840 he married Susan Amelia De Wolf (1820-1866). (The DeWolfs were a prominent Rhode Island family, whose fortunes were made in shipping and trade including the slave trade.) The Bullocks had three daughters who lived to adulthood and a son who died at age one; Susan died on October 7, 1866.
On December 23, 1868, Bullock married Emma Westcote, a descendant in the eighth generation of Stukely and Juliana Westcott (Emma Westcote8, Stephen7, James6, James5, Benjamin4, Samuel3, Jeremiah2, Stukely1). Their daughter Emma was born in 1870.
Bullock began the practice of law in Alton, Illinois in 1836, and served on the Alton Common Council. In 1843 he returned to Rhode Island where he was in private practice in Bristol until 1849, serving as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1844 to 1846. He was the Attorney General of Rhode Island in 1849. He was a collector of customs in Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island from 1849 to 1853, then served in the Rhode Island Senate in 1859 before becoming Lieutenant Governor of the state in 1860 under Governor William Sprague IV.
After briefly serving as a special commissioner “to adjust accounts between Rhode Island and the Government of the United States,” he served as a judge on the Rhode Island Supreme Court from 1862 to 1864. On February 9, 1865, Bullock was nominated by President Abraham Lincoln to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island vacated by John Pitman. Bullock was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 11, 1865, and received his commission the same day. Bullock served in that capacity until his resignation, on September 15, 1869.
Judge Bullock died in Bristol, Rhode Island on May 7, 1899; he was survived by his wife Emma Westcote, who died on January 19, 1916 at the age of 71.
Sources: Ancestry.com; Findagrave.com; Edna Lewis, The Westcott Family Tree; Political Graveyard.com; U.S. District Court for Rhode Island