Gershom Bulkeley (1635 – December 2, 1713) was a Christian
minister
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
,
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
,
surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
and
magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...
.
Early life, family and education
He was born in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
,
to Reverend
Peter Bulkeley and Grace Chetwoode Bulkeley.
His father Peter Bulkeley was a graduate of
St. John's College,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
; and a founder of
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...
, as well as the first minister in the community.
The family were
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
.
Gershom Bulkeley was an early graduate of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1655 and possibly his master's degree in 1658.
Career
In 1661, Gershom Bulkeley became the minister of the
Congregational church
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
in
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...
, where he served for about five years.
He then became minister of the Congregational church in the town of
Wethersfield, Connecticut
Wethersfield is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut. It is located immediately south of Hartford along the Connecticut River. Its population was 27,298 at the time of the 2020 census.
Many records from colonial times spell the name ...
where he served until 1677.
He left the ministry and practiced as a physician in
Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...
.
During the period of the
Connecticut Witch Trials The Connecticut Witch Trials, also sometimes referred to as the Hartford witch trials, occurred from 1647 to 1663. They were the first large-scale witch trials in the American colonies, predating the Salem Witch Trials by nearly thirty years. John M ...
, which predate the more famous
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...
, Bulkeley expressed considerable scepticism about the evidence, saying that he had heard nothing of any weight to convince him that anyone was guilty of witchcraft. In particular, he argued that Mercy Disborough, one of the only two women accused in Connecticut who actually stood trial for witchcraft, was the victim of the malice of her neighbours. Mercy was found guilty and sentenced to death but received a reprieve. She was set free and died sometime after 1709.
Personal life
After receiving his master's degree, he married Sarah Chauncy, daughter of the President of Harvard University,
Charles Chauncy
Charles Chauncy (baptised 5 November 1592 – 19 February 1672) was an Anglo-American Congregational clergyman, educator, and secondarily, a physician. He is also known as the 2nd President of Harvard.
Life
Charles Chauncy was born at Arde ...
.
He was the father of Dorothy Bulkeley Treat (1662-1757) whose medical journals are included in the Bulkeley manuscript collection maintained by the Hartford Medical Society Library, University of Connecticut, and the
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
Watkinson Library, A third manuscript located at the Watkinson Bulkeley collection entitled “Medical Cabinet” may also be in Dorothy’s handwriting and emphasized the secrecy of alchemical research.
[Woodward, W. W. (2010). Prospero's America: John Winthrop, Jr., alchemy, and the creation of New England culture, 1607-1676. University of North Carolina Press.]
A contentious battle occurred over Bulkeley's will
between his son John and daughter Dorothy where John claimed Dorothy forced her son’s interest in medicine so that she could control her father’s library and equipment; however, it was likely primarily used by Dorothy.
As executrix of her father’s estate by codicil, and one of few women who gained insights into alchemy, early chemistry, and seventeenth-century clinical practice largely due to the abundant library of books and manuscripts, often hand copied, during Bulkeley's extensive travel abroad, Dorothy shared her father’s interest in alchemical healing.
He died December 2, 1713,
at age 77 (almost 78).
He was buried behind the Congregational Church in Wethersfield.
In other works
Bulkeley is mentioned and appears in the
historical novel
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...
''
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
''The Witch of Blackbird Pond'' is a children's novel by American author Elizabeth George Speare, published in 1958. The story takes place in late-17th century New England. It won the Newbery Medal in 1958.
Plot summary
In April 1687, 16-year-o ...
''.
He is a tutor to John Holbrook who is learning to be a minister and is a respected leader to the community.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulkeley, Gershom
People from Wethersfield, Connecticut
17th-century Congregationalist ministers
1635 births
1713 deaths
Harvard College alumni
American Congregationalist ministers