Still standing in Fairfield, Connecticut, is the Bulkley House, now 137 years old. This house, which antedates the Revolutionary War, was the home of Peter Ebenezer Bulkley and his wife, Hannah (3) Maltbie. The Bridgeport Daily Standard, March 11, 1916, publishes a photograph of this old Colonial home and also an interesting article on the history of the Bulkleys, by Helen Harrison, from which we quote the most important items.
“The Bulkley family is sufficiently interesting to sketch its early history. Thomas Bulkley was the second son of Rev. Peter Bulkley, who was the tenth in line from Lord Robert Bulkeley, of “Bulkeley” manor, or as it was spelled in ancient days, “Buclough.” He lived at the manor during the reign of King John, who died in 1216.
Peter Bulkley was born at Woodhill, Bedfordshire, England, in 1583. He succeeded his father, the Rev. Edward Bulkley, D.D. in the ministry of his native town. . . . He emigrated to New England about 1635, in the “Susan and Ellen.”
Peter Ebenezer Bulkley lived in the house at the time the British sailed up the Sound to make an attack on Fairfield. (The view of the house given in Miss Harrison’s article, presents the side open to the fire of the British guns.)
It is said that one of the old shingles on the house at that time is preserved as a relic by a Bridgeport family and shows the bullet hole.
As the British fleet was sighted, the men of the town, among them the head of the Bulkley house, hastened to the fort on Grovers Hill witht Lieutenant Jarvis.§ Mr. Bulkley’s wife, Hannah, a daughter of Major Jonathon (2) Maltbie, hurried the eldest son, Eben(ezer), 12 years of age, out to the yard for the oxen, hitched out front. The cart was hastily loaded with a few of the most necessary household effects and the five children were bundled on top, the house abandoned and the family set out for a place of safety back in the country.” (These children were Ebenezer, aged 12; Hannah, 10; Maltbie, 8; Sarah, 5, and Mary, 3. This hurried flight in 1778 may account for the fact that the records show that the sixth child, John, born Oct. 28, 1778, died shortly after. In 1781 Abigail was born and the last child, George, was born in 1784.) “They had trundled along for five miles, up towards Plattsville, before a place of refuge was found, with some hospitable farmers by the name of Wilson.
§This Lieut. Jarvis we believe to be Lieut. Isaac Jarvis. Born Jan. 20, 1756. He married Abigail Squire, who was a daughter of Samuel and Abigail (3) (Maltbie) Squire. She was a daughter of Jonathon (2) Maltbie.
The possible arrival of the British at the town of Fairfield had been anticipated and to guard against an unprepared attack, the family had taken the precaution to hide its more valuable possessions. Some of the lovely old blue china, brought by the trading vessels from the famous potteries of China and other far eastern ports, was hidden in a hole in the garden. Some delicate crystal bearing an ornamental tracing in delicate lines, was also carefully buried. The simple pewter plates and platters, beautiful in shape, were among the treasures consigned to the hiding place in the ground until the enemy should have departed. Some of these interesting relics of the Bulkley family, which were afterwards unearthed and given their place of honor again in the corner cupboard, are now in the possession of Mrs. F.W. Bolande, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Beach and also a great-great-granddaughter of Maltbie Bulkley, who was born in 1770, and was one of the children to make his escape on the family oxcart.” (Mr. R. C. Morehouse, a member of the Maltby Association, owns an old powder horn which belonged to this Maltbie Bulkley.) “Maltbie Bulkley’s daughter, Ruth, born in 1800, made one of the elaborate bed spreads, with a design in French knots, all the work of the hand looms and of her nimble fingers. This, too, is a treasured possession of Mrs. Bolande.
After the family had safely got away, the British made a landing in spite of the fire from the fort, and of the bold front maintained by the little group of defenders. As they made their march up Beach lane, one of the first houses to be encountered was the Bulkley’s from which the family had so recently fled. They put the torch to it and passed on in spite of the fact that Tryon had promised that this and the other houses near it should be saved because of the aid given him by the brother of Mrs. Jonathon Bulkley, who lived opposite. A scout followed in the trail of the invaders to put out the fires, if possible.
The little family, who had fled, had left the washtubs filled with water in their haste. Before the flames had gained much headway with the hard and large timbers with which the house was constructed, the scout dashed the water on the flames and quickly had them extinquished. * * *
The motto of the Bulkley family, translated, means, “Neither rashly nor timidly,” and the records of the little red salt-box house during the troublesome times of the Revolution showed that the motto was a fitting one.
We append a short note concerning the children of Jonathon (2) Maltbie.
Jonathon (3) Maltbie mar. Abigail Holmes of Greenwich, Conn., and had an only child, Jonathon (4), b. Dec. 7, 1744. He become Captain Maltbie. See his biography.
Abigail (3) Maltbie mar. Samuel Squire of Fairfield, conn., and had children: Samuel, Sarah, John, David, Abigail, George and William.
David (3) Maltbie, mar. Sarah Holly. They had children: Sarah, Hannah (who died young), David (also died young), Abigail, David and Hannah. From the above Sarah (4) Maltbie, who married Stephen Newman, descend Mr. Henry Brown Dayton, Mrs. Samuel Bradlee Doggett, and Mrs. William David Patterson, whose names will be found on the membership list.
Mary (3) Maltbie mar. Major David Waterbury, of Stamford, Conn.
Hannah (3) Maltbie mar. Ebenezer Bulkley.