See also

Family of Charles Bulfinch and Hannah Apthorp

Husband: Charles Bulfinch

  • Name:

  • Charles Bulfinch

  • Sex:

  • Male

  • Father:

  • Thomas Bulfinch (1728-1802)

  • Mother:

  • Susan Apthorp (1734-1815)

  • Note (shared):

  • Charles Bulfinch (August 8, 1763 to April 15, 1844) was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first native-born American to practice architecture as a profession.

    Bulfinch split his career between his native Boston and Washington, D.C., where he served as Commissioner of Public Building and built the intermediate United States Capitol rotunda and dome. His works are notable for their simplicity, balance, and good taste, and as the origin of a distinctive Federal style of classical domes, columns, and ornament that dominated early 19th-century American architecture.

    Bulfinch was born in Boston to Thomas Bulfinch, a prominent physician, and his wife, Susan Apthorp. He was educated at Boston Latin School and Harvard University, from which he graduated with an AB in 1781 and Master's degree in 1784. He then made a grand tour of Europe from 1785-1787, where he was influenced by the classical architecture in Italy and the neoclassical buildings of Sir Christopher Wren, Robert Adam, William Chambers and others in the United Kingdom.

    Upon his return to the United States in 1787, he became a promoter of the ship Columbia's voyage around the world under command of Captain Robert Gray (1755–1806). It was the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe. In 1788 he married Hannah Apthorp, his first cousin. Their sons include Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867), author of Bulfinch's Mythology, and Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch (1809–1870), Unitarian clergyman and author.

    In the summer of 1817, Bulfinch's roles as selectman, designer and public official coincided during a visit by President James Monroe. A few months later (1818) Monroe appointed Bulfinch the successor to Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764–1820) as Architect of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (The Capitol Building had been partially burned by the British in 1814.) As Commissioner of Public Building, Bulfinch completed the Capitol's wings and central portion, designed the western approach and portico, and constructed the Capitol's original low wooden dome to his own design (replaced by the present cast-iron dome in the mid-1850s). In 1829 Bulfinch completed the construction of the Capitol, 36 years after its cornerstone was laid. He returned to Boston in 1830, where he died on April 15, 1844, aged 80, and was buried in King's Chapel Burial Ground in Boston. His tomb was later moved to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bulfinch

  • Birth:

  • 8 Aug 1763

  • Boston, Massachusetts

  • Death:

  • 15 Apr 1844 (age 80)

  • Boston, Massachusetts

Wife: Hannah Apthorp

Child 1: Susan Apthorp Bulfinch

  • Name:

  • Susan Apthorp Bulfinch

  • Sex:

  • Female

  • Spouse:

  • David Aiken Hall (1795-1870)

  • Birth:

  • 1790

  • Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • Death:

  • 22 May 1829 (age 38-39)

  •  

Child 2: Charles Bulfinch

  • Name:

  • Charles Bulfinch

  • Sex:

  • Male

  • Birth:

  • 1791

  • Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • Death:

  • 6 Oct 1792 (age 0-1)

  • Boston, Massachusetts

Child 3: Charles Bulfinch

  • Name:

  • Charles Bulfinch

  • Sex:

  • Male

  • Birth:

  • 1794

  • Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • Death:

  • 21 Jan 1862 (age 67-68)

  • Boston, Massachusetts

Child 4: Thomas Bulfinch

  • Name:

  • Thomas Bulfinch

  • Sex:

  • Male

  • Note:

  • Thomas Bulfinch (July 15, 1796 - May 27, 1867) was an American writer, born in Newton, Massachusetts. Bulfinch belonged to a well educated Bostonian merchant family of modest means. His father was Charles Bulfinch, the architect of the Massachusetts State House in Boston and parts of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.. Bulfinch supported himself through his position at the Merchants' Bank of Boston.

    Although Thomas Bulfinch reorganized Psalms to illustrate the history of the Hebrews, he is best known as the author of Bulfinch's Mythology, an 1881 compilation of his previous works:

    1. The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes (1855)

    2. The Age of Chivalry, or Legends of King Arthur (1858)

    3. Legends of Charlemagne, or Romance of the Middle Ages (1863)

    The compilation assembled posthumously by Edward Everett Hale, known simply as Bulfinch's Mythology includes various stories belonging to the mythological traditions known as the Matter of Rome, the Matter of Britain and the Matter of France, respectively.

    His obituary noted that the contents were "expurgated of all that would be offensive". The Bulfinch version of myth, published for genteel Americans, presents the myths in their literary versions, without unnecessary violence, sex, psychology or ethnographic information. "Mr. Bulfinch was a gentleman of a pure Christian character," his obituary observed, "of delicate sensibilities and refined culture." The Bulfinch myths are an indispensable guide to the cultural values of the American 19th century, yet the Bulfinch version is still the version being taught in many American public schools. Marie Sally Cleary, "The Bulfinch Solution: Teaching the Ancient Classics in American Schools" (1990), sets the book in the context of "democratizing" classical culture for a wider American antebellum readership.

    Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bulfinch

     

    See also "Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867), His Life and Work" by Marie Cleary, including a photograph

    http://www.fivecolleges.edu/mcleary/tbulfinch.html

  • Birth:

  • 15 Jul 1796

  • Newton, Massachusetts

  • Death:

  • 27 May 1867 (age 70)

  • Boston, Massachusetts

Child 5: George Storer Bulfinch

  • Name:

  • George Storer Bulfinch

  • Sex:

  • Male

  • Note:

  • GEORGE STORER BULFINCH died in Boston, 7 October, 1853, aged 54. He was son of Charles Bulfinch (H.C. 1781), and was born in Boston, 23 January, 1799; was a lawyer in Boston, and for some time librarian of the Boston Library.

    Harvard University Alumni Necrology (1851-1863)

    http://files.usgwarchives.net/ma/suffolk/towns/cambridge/obits/harvard.txt

  • Birth:

  • 22 Jan 1800

  • Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • Death:

  • 7 Oct 1853 (age 53)

  • Boston, Massachusetts

Child 6: Francis Vaughan Bulfinch

  • Name:

  • Francis Vaughan Bulfinch

  • Sex:

  • Male

  • Spouse:

  • Mary Withrow (1814-1854)

  • Birth:

  • 23 May 1803

  • Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • Death:

  • 26 Sep 1884 (age 81)

  •  

Child 7: John Apthorp Bulfinch

  • Name:

  • John Apthorp Bulfinch

  • Sex:

  • Male

  • Birth:

  • 26 Mar 1806

  • Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • Death:

  • 1836 (age 29-30)

  •  

Child 8: Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch

  • Name:

  • Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch

  • Sex:

  • Male

  • Spouse (1):

  • Maria Howard (c. 1815-1838)

  • Spouse (2):

  • Caroline Phelps (1814- )

  • Note:

  • Bulfinch’s family moved to Washington, DC, in 1818, his father being the Capitol architect, Charles Bulfinch. Stephen graduated from Columbian College and the Cambridge Theological School. In 1831, he was ordained at Charleston, South Carolina, as assistant to a Dr. Gilman. Subsequently, he pastored in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington, DC (1838); Dorchester, Massachusetts (1852); and East Cambridge, Massachusetts (1865).

    http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/b/u/l/bulfinch_sg.htm

  • Birth:

  • 18 Jun 1809

  • Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • Census:

  • 1865 (age 55-56)

  • Clergyman, Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • Death:

  • 12 Oct 1870 (age 61)

  • Cambridge, Massachusetts

Note on Husband: Charles Bulfinch - shared note

Charles Bulfinch (August 8, 1763 to April 15, 1844) was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first native-born American to practice architecture as a profession.

Bulfinch split his career between his native Boston and Washington, D.C., where he served as Commissioner of Public Building and built the intermediate United States Capitol rotunda and dome. His works are notable for their simplicity, balance, and good taste, and as the origin of a distinctive Federal style of classical domes, columns, and ornament that dominated early 19th-century American architecture.

Bulfinch was born in Boston to Thomas Bulfinch, a prominent physician, and his wife, Susan Apthorp. He was educated at Boston Latin School and Harvard University, from which he graduated with an AB in 1781 and Master's degree in 1784. He then made a grand tour of Europe from 1785-1787, where he was influenced by the classical architecture in Italy and the neoclassical buildings of Sir Christopher Wren, Robert Adam, William Chambers and others in the United Kingdom.

Upon his return to the United States in 1787, he became a promoter of the ship Columbia's voyage around the world under command of Captain Robert Gray (1755–1806). It was the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe. In 1788 he married Hannah Apthorp, his first cousin. Their sons include Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867), author of Bulfinch's Mythology, and Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch (1809–1870), Unitarian clergyman and author.

In the summer of 1817, Bulfinch's roles as selectman, designer and public official coincided during a visit by President James Monroe. A few months later (1818) Monroe appointed Bulfinch the successor to Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764–1820) as Architect of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (The Capitol Building had been partially burned by the British in 1814.) As Commissioner of Public Building, Bulfinch completed the Capitol's wings and central portion, designed the western approach and portico, and constructed the Capitol's original low wooden dome to his own design (replaced by the present cast-iron dome in the mid-1850s). In 1829 Bulfinch completed the construction of the Capitol, 36 years after its cornerstone was laid. He returned to Boston in 1830, where he died on April 15, 1844, aged 80, and was buried in King's Chapel Burial Ground in Boston. His tomb was later moved to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bulfinch

Note on Child 4: Thomas Bulfinch

Thomas Bulfinch (July 15, 1796 - May 27, 1867) was an American writer, born in Newton, Massachusetts. Bulfinch belonged to a well educated Bostonian merchant family of modest means. His father was Charles Bulfinch, the architect of the Massachusetts State House in Boston and parts of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.. Bulfinch supported himself through his position at the Merchants' Bank of Boston.

Although Thomas Bulfinch reorganized Psalms to illustrate the history of the Hebrews, he is best known as the author of Bulfinch's Mythology, an 1881 compilation of his previous works:

1. The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes (1855)

2. The Age of Chivalry, or Legends of King Arthur (1858)

3. Legends of Charlemagne, or Romance of the Middle Ages (1863)

The compilation assembled posthumously by Edward Everett Hale, known simply as Bulfinch's Mythology includes various stories belonging to the mythological traditions known as the Matter of Rome, the Matter of Britain and the Matter of France, respectively.

His obituary noted that the contents were "expurgated of all that would be offensive". The Bulfinch version of myth, published for genteel Americans, presents the myths in their literary versions, without unnecessary violence, sex, psychology or ethnographic information. "Mr. Bulfinch was a gentleman of a pure Christian character," his obituary observed, "of delicate sensibilities and refined culture." The Bulfinch myths are an indispensable guide to the cultural values of the American 19th century, yet the Bulfinch version is still the version being taught in many American public schools. Marie Sally Cleary, "The Bulfinch Solution: Teaching the Ancient Classics in American Schools" (1990), sets the book in the context of "democratizing" classical culture for a wider American antebellum readership.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bulfinch

 

See also "Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867), His Life and Work" by Marie Cleary, including a photograph

http://www.fivecolleges.edu/mcleary/tbulfinch.html

Note on Child 5: George Storer Bulfinch

GEORGE STORER BULFINCH died in Boston, 7 October, 1853, aged 54. He was son of Charles Bulfinch (H.C. 1781), and was born in Boston, 23 January, 1799; was a lawyer in Boston, and for some time librarian of the Boston Library.

Harvard University Alumni Necrology (1851-1863)

http://files.usgwarchives.net/ma/suffolk/towns/cambridge/obits/harvard.txt

Note on Child 8: Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch

Bulfinch’s family moved to Washington, DC, in 1818, his father being the Capitol architect, Charles Bulfinch. Stephen graduated from Columbian College and the Cambridge Theological School. In 1831, he was ordained at Charleston, South Carolina, as assistant to a Dr. Gilman. Subsequently, he pastored in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington, DC (1838); Dorchester, Massachusetts (1852); and East Cambridge, Massachusetts (1865).

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/b/u/l/bulfinch_sg.htm