Authors to guest on radio talk show about early settler Sarah Wells Bull

| 25 Jul 2018 | 04:40

Local authors and researchers Julie Boyd Cole and Sarah Brownell will be guests on “History Alive” on July 30 on WTBQ 93.5 FM to talk about one of Orange County’s earliest European settlers, Sarah Wells Bull.
Cole and Brownell wrote the book “Sarah, An American Pioneer. The Circumstantial and Documented Evidence of the Courageous Life of Sarah Wells Bull,” released in December on CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform and available on Amazon.
“Sarah is such a wonderful example of a strong, young women who came from nothing,” Brownell said recently. “By sharing her story of strength and courage, I hope we are able to encourage anyone facing hardships or challenging circumstances. And of course, inspire folks to discover and share their own family stories.”
In 1712, Sarah Wells Bull, a teenaged indentured servant, led three Native people and three hired tradesmen from Manhattan to the area to make a land claim for her master.
There were only 300 Europeans and 300 Native Americans living in what is now Orange County when she arrived. No Europeans lived in the vast forested hills of the interior.
She made the land claim along the Otter Kill on what is now the Sarah Wells Trail and saved the stake of her master, Christopher Denne.
The journey opened the floodgates of rapid development of the area by people from around the globe.
Sarah Wells Bull entered Orange County as an owned person with nothing to her name, living began the British Crown and left the world at age 100 an independent American who owned land and a four-story stone house, and had more than 335 descendants. She outlived two husbands and several of her offspring.
Cole and Brownell, both ninth-generation descendants of Wells Bull and Orange County residents, took a year to research Bull’s life.
“History Alive” is an hourlong radio talk show featuring Dr. Richard Hull, who is Warwick’s town historian, professor of history emeritus of African history and civilization at New York University and a trustee of the Warwick Historical Society.
He hosts the talk show about history every Monday from 11 until noon; a podcast is available at www.wtbq.com. The radio station can be dialed in from Milford, Pennsylvania,northern New Jersey and the great Lower New York areas.
WTBQ is an independent community radio station broadcasting from Warwick, N.Y., featuring live local talk shows and specialty programming at 93.5 FM or 1110 AM.
For information, go to wtbq.com. The Circumstantial and Documented Evidence of the Courageous Life of Sarah Wells Bull” go to facebook.com/sarahwellsbull.
Cole is the Managing Editor of the West Milford Messenger.