The Mother of All Bullocks

This is Amanda Ragen (or Ragan) Bullock, wife of Moses and mother of Simeon, Gilbert, Asa and Ruth.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

The photo is undated. Estimating a date is difficult because her face is so faded, and you can't see much of her dress. I don't know when J.W. McLellan began working in Valparaiso. (He was definitely there by 1885 — I've found a city directory listing him, but that doesn't tell us how far back he went.) All I can do is guess very roughly that she looks to be about in her mid-40s here, and since she was born in 1827 or 1828 (per the 1870 Census), that would put this picture at approximately 1870.

Here is another photo of Amanda, also undated.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Her face is even less clear in this one, too faint to let me guess at her age, but this time we can see more of her dress. Some of its fashion details (dropped shoulders, full sleeves fitted at the wrist, belted waist over a very full skirt) suggest that this photo was taken about the time of the Civil War.

I have not been able to find a photo of her husband, Moses. To fill him in a little, let's quote his biographical sketch from Porter and Lake Counties (Goodspeed/Blanchard):

MOSES BULLOCK was born in New York June 11, 1811; he obtained most of his education at home, having to commence farm work when very young; when he was about sixteen years of age, he was put to the trade of carpentering, and surveying he learned also, and when twenty years old came to La Porte County, Ind., where he worked as a carpenter for some years, and also surveyed the first railroad passing through to La Porte County. On June 19, 1849, he was married to Amanda Ragen, daughter of George and Jemima (McFarland) Ragen. Their union was blessed with four children — Simeon, Gilbert, Asa and Ruth H. (now married to William Josiah Halladay), of Valparaiso. On March 18, 1860, he purchased a farm of 160 acres in Section 13 of Ross Township, on which he resided and raised all kinds of stock in conjunction with farming. After a short illness, on October 25, 1873, he died, universally esteemed and regretted, leaving a widow and four children; his widow lives on the homestead with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Halladay. Mr. Bullock was a Freemason, also a Jacksonian Democrat.

The 1874 Plat Map shows that by the time of his death, Moses and Amanda owned not only 161 acres in Section 13, but another 80 in Section 12 (those 80 eventually joining with some 120 others to form Gilbert Bullock's farm):


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Notice that the Grand Trunk Railroad hasn't come through yet, which is why the little village of Hickory Top has not yet been renamed "Ainsworth."