Wescott and Bullen Cousins (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 29 theme: "Cousins")

 

Wescott - Bullen Cousins photo abt.1893-1894

This photograph shows two sets of sisters who were first cousins, their common grandparents being David Bullen Sr. and  Jane Murdie. The Bullen sisters (on the left) were daughters of David Bullen Jr. (1832-1911) and the Wescott sisters (on the right) were daughters of David's sister Sarah Catherine Bullen (1838-1933). The Bullens were living in Poynette, WI and the Wescotts in Colby, WI., a distance of over 200 miles as the crow flies. 

Pictured are: 

Maude Bullen (married name Branton) upper left

Eva Bullen (married name Wescott) lower left

Idella Wescott (married name Wicker) upper right

Mayme Wescott (married name Edwards) lower right - my maternal great grandmother

The photographer is identified on the back as M. Danks of Colby, Wisconsin. He was registered in business there from 1893-1906 (but had died on 11 February 1905). That limits the timing of this photograph, as does the apparent ages of the young women when compared to other photographs of them.  

I often wonder about the reason for the cousins being together and dressing up with corsages. Perhaps a family wedding? Of the two ring fingers visible in the image, Eva appears to be wearing a wedding ring while Mayme does not; Eva had married her first cousin Harvey Wescott (brother to Idella and Mayme) 14 October 1890 but this would have been prior to Mr. Danks having his photography business in Colby. Mayme married Charles Edwards 1 October 1896 in Great Falls, Montana. There were a couple of family weddings in Colby that occurred in 1894 when Idella Wescott married Frank Wicker and when Idella and Mayme's brother Fred married Josephine Nikodeme. Perhaps the family had gathered for one of those events, but Idella is not dressed in traditional bridal garb if this was at the time of her own wedding. In any event, the gathering of the four of them in Colby was considered worthy of this group photo.

Maude Martha Bullen (1869-1964) was born in Arlington, WI. She married Charles Branton on 16 March 1897. The following is from an undated and unsourced newspaper clipping in the possession of Mrs. A. H. Nelson at the time she and Ruth Dunlop compiled their family history in the 1930s: 

At the Mr. E. Parsonage on Wednesday evening, Nov. 28th, Miss Maude M. Bullen, daughter of Mrs. Hannah Bullen of this city, and Mr. C. H. Branton, also of this place, were joined in holy bonds of matrimony. Following the ceremony the newlyweds started on an auto trip northward to Unity, to spend a few days with the family of the bride's sister, Mrs. Eva Wescott. 

Miss Bullen has spent the major portion of her life in Poynette and was for a number of years a faithful employee of the Poynette Telephone Co. She is held in the highest esteem by her friends. For the past year she has been employed in a hospital in Madison.

Mr. Branton is foreman of a crew of county men, whose business he has successfully conducted for the past eight years; he has been a neighbor to the editor and family for about twenty years, and our associations with each other have been gilt edge. We join in extending congratulations--may they be blessed with health, happiness and prosperity.

This is where the story gets confusing. The good wishes from their wedding announcement did not result in a "happily ever after" story for Maude and Charles. In the 1900 census, just 3 years later, she was a teacher living with her parents under the name Maude Bullen, single. Charles was listed in the same town having been married 3 years to someone named Eliza with two very young children. There is no record of Maude and Charles having any children nor of their marriage having been annulled or ended by divorce. No additional marriage record has been located for Charles and Eliza. Maude is listed as single and a "call girl" with the telephone company in 1920, living with her widowed mother.  From time to time over the years, she used the name Branton. When Charles died in 1959, his obituary lists her as his surviving wife along with the implication that the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren listed were also hers. In fact Eliza had predeceased him but there is no reference to her in his obituary.  

Maude died in 1969 and is buried with her parents in the Bullen section of Hillside Cemetery in Poynette, Wisconsin.

Maude Bullen stone - photo courtesy Findagrave.com member EAK II

 

Eva Lee Bullen (1868-1939) was the first-born child of David Bullen Jr. and Hannah Hodgson in Arlington, WI.  According to her obituary, she received her education in the public schools of Arlngton, and graduated from the Poynette High School.  She went to Marathon County, WI as a teacher, then on 14 October 1890 married her cousin Harvey Wescott and had a family of  3 sons (Harry, Ross and Glenn) with him. 

At the Wescott Homestead in Wisconsin 1895 (colorized). Harvey Wescott is back row, 2nd from left and his wife Eva is on the far right of the picture with young sons Harry and Ross, standing next to her mother-in-law Sarah Catherine (Bullen) Wescott. (Seated front row are Harvey's sisters Idella and Mayme)

Eva was very active in community and church affairs. She died on 8 March 1939 at Marshfield, WI.

Eva Lee (Bullen) Wescott

Idella Louise Wescott (1869-1963)  was the first of two daughters born to George Garner Wescott and Sarah Catherine Bullen. There were 6 brothers. Idella was in the first high school graduating class of Colby, Wisconsin. Like her cousin Eva, she was a school teacher in her early years. At the age of 24, she married Frank Wicker and went on to have a family of 7 children with him. 

Frank and Idella, unknown year - photo courtesy Dawn Wicker

Frank and Idella's Family Celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary
photo courtesy Dawn Wicker 

Frank died in 1949 and Idella survived him until 1963. They are buried beside each other at Colby, WI.

Headstone for Frank and Idella in Colby Cemetery, photo courtesy kclem of findagrave.com

Mary Jane "Mayme" Wescott (1871-1926) was the second daughter born to George and Sarah (Bullen) Wescott. 

Daughter Marion (Edwards) Miller describes Mayme as follows: 

My mother, a small quiet spoken lady, blue eyes, dark auburn hair that turned grey when she was in her thirties or forties, always going around the house singing softly, a very particular housekeeper, with hands that were never idle.  She loved to sew, made all of our clothes, even coats when we were young, and when she had all of us fitted out, she made clothes for poor children. . . . When she was a young woman she went on a trip to Montana, probably around 1895, to visit a cousin in Great Falls.  The cousin had a young man boarding with her, 6 ft. tall and handsome, a railroad man who had headquarters there.  His name was Charles Francis Edwards.

For their wedding in Great Falls, Mayme made her own wedding dress, a pale mint green, soft taffeta.

Mayme and Charles Wedding Photo 1896

My grandmother Idella Edwards was the oldest of their 6 children. The family moved around a bit with Charles working on the railroad and trying his hand at mining and farming. It was during their short attempt at homesteading in Saskatchewan that my grandmother started to teach in the Lancer area, fell in love with my young homesteading grandfather and stayed behind to marry when the rest of the family moved back to the United States. Mayme was not happy about leaving her daughter behind but nevertheless hand-stitched this beautiful wool log cabin quilt for the newlyweds.

Portion of the quilt made by Mayme for daughter's wedding - now in possession of the author

Mayme died in 1926 at the age of 54 years after having had a number of teeth extracted in an apparent attempt to improve an unknown long-standing health issue. She was hospitalized in Kelso, WA on a Sunday, died on Tuesday and the funeral was held on Thursday morning in Castle Rock, WA. Her remains were cremated and the ashes are in the Portland Memorial Mausoleum.  Charles lived until 1941; his ashes are beside hers. 

The four young sisters/cousins gazing out with so much promise (and a bit of trepidation perhaps) in that early group photo were women of their time who led somewhat conventional lives that were certainly stamped with their own individuality. 

Some Resources: 

• Miller, Marion Frances Edwards; My Memories, personal memoir written for her family in January 1978 from her home at 5405 Union Street, Lexington, Michigan, p2
• Nelson, M. and Dunlop, R., Compilers,  Source Book for the Bullen Family; Privately printed in the 1930s
• Train, May Phillips, Samuel Bullen and Some of His Descendants, Privately printed 1941
• Wicker, Frank and Judith, The Wicker-Wescott Heritage, privately printed Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 1998