Edward Henry Bulkeley (c. 1869 – January 8, 1908) was an American clubman who was prominent in New York society during the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

Early life

Bulkeley was born circa 1869. He was the son of Edward Henry Bulkeley (b. 1828), a

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

operator, and Catherine Wolfe (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Clark) Bulkeley. His three sisters included Helen C. Bulkeley, who married Roland Redmond, Mary Caroline Bulkeley (b. 1850), who married Reginald William Rives (the brother of

Assistant Secretary of State Assistant Secretary of State (A/S) is a title used for many executive positions in the United States Department of State, ranking below the Under Secretary of State, under secretaries. A set of six assistant secretaries reporting to the Under Secret ...

George L. Rives George Lockhart Rives (May 1, 1849 – August 18, 1917), was an American lawyer, politician, and author who served as United States Assistant Secretary of State from 1887 to 1889. Early life Rives was born in New York City on May 1, 1849, to Fra ...

, grandson of

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

William Cabell Rives William Cabell Rives (May 4, 1793April 25, 1868) was an American lawyer, planter, politician and diplomat from Virginia. Initially a Jackson Democrat as well as member of the First Families of Virginia, Rives served in the Virginia House of Delega ...

, and cousin of author Amélie Rives), and Katherine Bulkeley (b. 1860), who married Prescott Lawrence. His paternal grandparents were Charles Bulkeley (1774–1843) and his third wife, Chloe (née Beebe) Bulkeley (1791–1845).

Society life

In 1892, Bulkeley was included in

Ward McAllister Samuel Ward McAllister (December 28, 1827 – January 31, 1895) was a popular arbiter of social taste in the Gilded Age of late 19th-century America. He was widely accepted as the authority as to which families could be classified as the cream o ...

's "

Four Hundred 400 (four hundred) is the natural number following 399 and preceding 401. Mathematical properties 400 is the square of 20. 400 is the sum of the powers of 7 from 0 to 3, thus making it a repdigit in base 7 (1111). A circle is divided into ...

," purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into

Mrs. Astor Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn Astor (September 22, 1830 – October 30, 1908) was a prominent American socialite of the second half of the 19th century who led the The Four Hundred (1892), Four Hundred. Famous for being referred to later ...

's ballroom. He was also a prominent member of the

Knickerbocker Club The Knickerbocker Club (known informally as The Knick) is a gentlemen's club in New York City that was founded in 1871. It is considered to be the most exclusive club in the United States and one of the most aristocratic gentlemen's clubs in th ...

. Around 1896, Bulkeley organized the famous Bachelor's Ball, "which was one of the most successful entertainments of its kind ever given in New York." In 1902, along with

Robert Livingston Beeckman Robert Livingston Beeckman (April 15, 1866 – January 21, 1935) was an American stockbroker, sportsman, and politician who served as the 52nd Governor of Rhode Island. Early life Beeckman was born on April 15, 1866 in New York City, New York. ...

, and his new wife, Eleanor Thomas Beeckman, he accompanied them on their trip around the world. Bulkeley had a cottage in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

as well as a bungalow at

Hot Springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

in Virginia.

Personal life

On November 28, 1906, Bulkeley, who was 37, was married to 23 year old Miss Margaret Stewart in

. Stewart, who was from St. Johns,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, was his former nurse during a long illness he suffered the year prior in Newport. Together, they were the parents of: * Edward Henry Bulkeley (b. 1907) Bulkeley became gravely ill shortly after his son's birth. He died in Newport on January 8, 1908. After his death, his widow remarried in 1911 to Matthew Buchanan of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulkeley, Edward H. 1860s births 1908 deaths People from Newport, Rhode Island