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Daniel M. Bull Farmer, section 34, Denver Township, was born in Bradford Co., Pa., March 30, 1826. His father, Thomas Bull, was a native of Orange Co., N. Y., and of English-French descent. His mother, Parthena (Goodwin) Bull, was a native of Pennsylvania and of English extraction. During the latter years of their life they resided in Pennsylvania, where they died at an advanced age. Daniel learned to battle with the difficulties of life at a very early age, and when only 12 years old he went to live with one of his neighbors, giving his labor to pay for his board and clothes, and the privilege of attending school as a part of the time.
During the summer after he was 16 years of age he worked for $5 a month; the ensuing winter he boarded at the same place and went to school; and during the next summer (1843) he worked at another place, for $6 a month. Continuing to make his home at the latter place, he went to school another winter. In both cases he paid for his own tuition by "rate-bill."
At 18 years of age he began to farm on shares. In this way he earned sufficient means to enable him to secure better educational advantages, which he improved a few years later. In 1853, Mr. Bull left his Native State to seek new fields of labor in the far West. He came first to Mackinaw Island, and afterward to Old Mission, Mich., on Grand Traverse bay, then to Chicago, Ill., where he remained a short time, when he went to Decatur, Ill.
Early in the spring of 1855 he visited his native home and friends, after which he returned to Michigan and located in Coldwater. Jan. 16, 1856, in Kent County, he was married to Miss Esther Dobson, a native of Ulster Co., N. Y., where she was born, May 31, 1812. She received her education in Pennsylvania, before coming to Michigan.
Oct. 15, 1855, previous to his marriage, Mr. Bull, then a young man of energy and perseverance left the village of Coldwater to seek a home in the northern woods. Going directly to the Land Office at Ionia, he purchased 240 acres of land without seeing it, trusting entirely to the recommendation of other men. Besides the Government graduation price, he, in company with his brother, paid an entire stranger $8 per lot for this land. They then came on to hunt up the land, having to follow "blazed" lines for eight miles through the woods. They crossed a wagon track near their land. They cut, carried and rolled up the logs, and "finished up" the second shanty in what is now the town of Denver.
At that time his worldly possessions amounted to a little less than $100. Mr. Bull worked at Newaygo to earn money to defray the expenses of moving his family. The snow showing signs of going off by the middle of March, 1857, thus destroying good sleighing, he started with his newly wedded wife and her niece, a young girl 11 years old, for their new home 150 miles distant through unbroken forests. His sleigh was heavily loaded, and on the evening of the third day the load upset, killing the young girl instantly, and making sad havoc with most of the goods. After a delay of one day they came on to Newaygo with the wreck of their load, and stopped to recruit, and when the snow melted away they moved into their shanty.
Mr. Bull was one of the first farmers and fruit-growers in Newaygo County, having two fine orchards, each consisting of over 400 trees, all in fine bearing condition, and yielding an annual income of 100 to 2,000 bushels. He was in comfortable circumstances; and his honesty and hospitality had endeared him to the hearts of the old pioneers with whom he had been so many years associated. Mr. Bull was made the first Clerk of his township (the old town of Dayton). His political interests are with the Republican Party. Mrs. Bull was of a kind, congenial disposition, and dearly beloved by her friends and neighbors.
Mr. and Mrs. Bull had no children, but had adopted and reared several. The following are the names and birth: Caroline Dobson, born March 18, 1845, died Jan. 15, 1856; Carry L. Crowfoot, born July 5, 1856, died Sept. 12, 1856; Edgar Smith, born March 7, 1852, married Addie Maynard; Ettie Smith, born Oct. 28, 1855, married David Robertson; Charley W. Davison died in infancy; Sophia Bull, born Oct. 20, 1867; Frank Bull, born Oct. 4, 1871; Carrie E. Bull, born Nov. 11, 1875.
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