(Bullock – Miller Family Papers)
Archive of Manuscript Diaries and Correspondence of the Miller - Bullock -Cole Families, of Royalston, Massachusetts, Denver, Colorado, and New York City including Calvin and Hugh Bullock, Pioneers in the Development of Mutual Funds, Bonds, Investments and Financial Management, 1852-1979

Large archival collection of family papers which includes: 18 manuscript pocket diaries, 1852-1882, totaling 2,642 pages of dated entries, 92 pages of accounts, and memoranda, plus blanks. The collection also includes 2267 family letters, from later generations of the family totaling 5839 pages, 74 telegrams, 37 postcards, as well as hundreds of printed and manuscript ephemeral materials.

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The Diaries begin with the 1852 diary of Mary E. Miller and continue when she married into the Bullock family. Mary E. Miller Bullock taught music, there is a list of her students at the end of some diaries, she travels to receive medical treatment. The collection also includes diaries of Mary’s sister Sarah Miller, Sarah was for six months during 1862, a patient at Dr. C. H. Estabrook’s “Thermo-Therapeutic Institute” in Boston.  She notes the arrival of a fellow patient is “Miss Alcott from Concord”, and her “hysterics”:

“December 16 Paid Dr. Estabrook $ 9 this morning for board from the 5th to the 14th of this month – 9 days – Also paid .05 for the “Penny Post.”  “Miss Alcott” a new patient from Concord arrived this p.m. “Candy pull” this eve expected Mr. & Mrs. Churchill in but was disappointed. – Deprived of our “Thermo bath” this evening”

The following day (17th of December), our author makes note of Alcott going into "hysterics":

“December 17 Splendid morn – Lizzie & I walked out a little way – went to the cobblers to get my boot mended.  Mrs. Churchill in this p.m. while taking one bath – Bath affected me unpleasantly this p.m. causing a sense of suffocation & the like – Miss Alcott had “hysterics” while in bath & after- Dr. gave me “electricity” – Retire early this eve for good night’s rest.”

The combined diaries of Mary, and her sister, Susan cover the years from 1852-1882 with gaps. Some of Mary’s diaries (1852-1858), date before Mary’s marriage to Calvin Bullock in 1859, while she was living in Massachusetts. Other diaries cover some of the years that she lived in Toledo (1859-1870), and others date from Mary’s return to Royalston, (1871-1882). All of Sarah Miller's diaries were written when she lived at home in Massachusetts, she never married.

  • An extensive 13 page attachment containing sample quotations from the diaries can be emailed upon request.

The Archive also includes the following correspondence:

1. Calvin Bullock Business correspondence mainly 1909-1911, 189 letters, 233 pages, 53 telegrams

2. Calvin Bullock Business related ephemeral materials, folder 1, 35 items

3. Calvin Bullock Business related ephemeral materials, folder 2, 134 items

4. Calvin Bullock letters to his mother, Mary E. Bullock, 4 letters, 26 pages

5. Letters to Calvin Bullock from his mother and early letters from his fiancé Alice K. Mallory, 18 letters, 85 pages

6. Letters from Hugh Bullock, to his father Calvin Bullock, 81 letters, 293 pages, 4 telegrams, 3 postcards

7. Calvin Bullock to his son Hugh, 27 letters, 33 pages, 1 telegram

8. Letters from Hugh Bullock to his mother, Alice K. Bullock, 70 letters, 330 pages, 14 postcards,

1 telegram

9. Letters to Hugh Bullock from miscellaneous correspondents, 12 letters, 49 pages, 2 postcards

10.  Hugh Bullock old school exams and reports – 14 items

11a.Calvin Bullock letters to daughter Katherine Seymour Bullock Cole, 53 letters, 58 pages

    b. Calvin Bullock letters to daughter Katherine Seymour Bullock Cole, 73 letters, 93 pages

    c. Calvin Bullock letters to daughter Katherine Seymour Bullock Cole, 87 letters, 147 pages

    d. Calvin Bullock letters to daughter Katherine Seymour Bullock Cole, 81 letters, 96 pages

    e. Calvin Bullock letters to daughter Katherine Seymour Bullock Cole, 64 letters, 78 pages

    f. 263 letters, 446 pages, written by Calvin Bullock, including 190 letters, 333 pages, to his son Hugh Bullock, 67 letters, 90 pages, to his daughter Katherine, and 6 letters, 23 pages, to his wife Alice.

  g. Letters to Calvin Bullock from various individuals 10 letters, 14 pages

12. Alice K. Bullock, letters to daughter Katherine Seymour Bullock Cole, 137 letters, 535 pages

13. Alice Bullock, letters written mainly to her son, Hugh Bullock, but with 5 letters, 22 pages to her husband, Calvin, 1 letter 4 pages, to her daughter Katherine, and one letter 4 pages to a woman named Grace. 113 letters, 449 pages

14. Alice Bullock letters from various correspondents 15 letters, 48 pages

15. Hugh Bullock, letters to his sister, Katherine Seymour Bullock Cole, 73 letters, 134 pages

16. 315 letters, 1021 pages, written by Hugh Bullock, including 122 letters, 381 pages, written to his father Calvin Bullock; 85 letters, 250 pages written to his mother Alice Bullock; 57 letters, 171 pages, written to his sister Katherine S. Bullock; 49 letters, 216 pages, written to “family,” usually joint letters to parents and sister,; and two letters three pages written to Grace Bogy.

17. Letters written to Hugh Bullock from various individuals 10 letters, 14 pages

18. “May” letters to Katherine Bullock, 37 letters, 77 pages

19. Letters to Alice K. Bullock from miscellaneous correspondents, 22 letters, 80 pages, 6 postcards, 1 telegram

 20. a. Henry P. Cole letters to his fiancé Katherine Seymour Bullock – 1929, 70 letters, 254 pages

  b. Henry P. Cole letters to his fiancé Katherine Seymour Bullock, undated c. 1929-1930, 30 letters, 102 pages

 c. Henry P. Cole letters to his fiancé Katherine Seymour Bullock 1930, 11 letters, 30 pages, 2 telegrams

 d. Henry P. Cole letters to his wife Katherine S. Cole, dated 1930s, 14 letters, 40 pages

 e. Henry P. Cole letters to his wife Katherine S. Cole, undated circa 1930s, 42 letters, 131 pages

 f. Henry P. Cole letters to his wife Katherine S. Cole, dated 1940s, 27 letters, 39 pages

 g. Henry P. Cole letters to his wife Katherine S. Cole, undated letters, c. 1940s, 10 letters, 14 pages

 h. Henry P. Cole letters to his wife Katherine S. Cole, 1950s 5 letters, 10 pages

 i. Henry P. Cole letters to his wife Katherine S. Cole, misc. letters, 7 letters, 26 pages, 3 telegrams

17. 72 letters, 180 pages, written by Katherine Seymour Bullock, including 5 letters, 17 pages, written to her father Calvin Bullock; 10 letters, 27 pp., written to her mother Alice Bullock; 28 letters, 47 pp., written to her brother Hugh Bullock; and 29 joint letters, 89 pp., written to her family.

18. Miscellaneous letters to Katherine S. B. Cole, 74 letters, 222 pages, including 11 letters from her friend May.

19. Letters by Katherine S. Bullock, 25 letters 72 pages

20. Letters to Katherine S. Cole from miscellaneous correspondents, 48 letters, 101 pages, 9 telegrams, 4 postcards

21. Letters to Katherine Cole from Dr. Lacombe, her psychiatrist, 12 letters, 23 pages

22. Letters to Katherine S. Bullock from Helen D. LaMonte, 18 letters, 44 pages, 8 postcards

23. Letters to Alice K. Bullock from Mrs. Sturgis Riddle 6 letters, 24 pages

24. Miscellaneous letters to various Bullock family members, 12 letters, 46 pages

25. Cole Family letters, Henry P. Cole, married Katherine S. Bullock, includes letters from Henry’s father John Cole, mainly late 19th century, 21 letters, 69 pages

26. Miller family deeds, etc., Royalston, Massachusetts and Norwalk, Connecticut, 13 items

27. Sarah Miller, to sister Mary E. Miller, 1 letter, 4 pages

28. 761 pieces of ephemera, including, 25 telegrams, mostly between Hugh Bullock and his father, 1910-1920s; miscellaneous school work, essays, etc., of Hugh Bullock, 29 items; 35 postcards written to and from members of the Bullock family, 1910-1920s; 113 pieces of various printed ephemera;  invitations and responses from various individuals to the Bullocks, 269 items; 291 calling cards and printed invitations.

Mary Edgell Miller Bullock (1831-1905) and Sarah E. Miller (1831-1902)

Mary Edgell Miller was the daughter of George F. Miller (1804-1874) and Melinda Edgell (c1807-1874), of Royalston, Massachusetts; her mother was the daughter of William Edgell and his wife Thankful Reed Puffer, of Westminster, Massachusetts. Mary and Sarah's father George was a music teacher, a passion and career handed down to Mary, who also taught music, while her sister Sarah was a teacher in the local common-schools.

Mary was born at Westminster on 20 September 1831, her sister Sarah was born two years later, in 1833. The two women appear together with their father in the 1860 and 1870 Census at Royalston, Massachusetts.  In 1860, Sarah, at the age of 26, was listed as a common school teacher. Her sister Mary had married Calvin Bullock (1829-1870), on 6 January 1859 at Petersham, Massachusetts, and moved to Toledo, Ohio with him. However, after Mary's husband's death in 1870, she moved back home to Royalston with Calvin - her only child.

Mary E. Miller and Calvin Bullock were married at the 1st Congregational Church, the ceremony was performed by the Rev. E. W. Bullard. Calvin was born 21 September 1829 and died 5 March 1870, at Toledo. Calvin had already been living at Toledo when he married Mary, working as a clerk. Although Calvin lived at Toledo at the time of his marriage (since 1857), his parents, Barnet and Lucy Bullock, were from Royalston. At the time of his death in 1870, Calvin had been promoted assistant treasurer of the Toledo & Wabash Railroad. After Calvin’s death, from consumption, in 1870, his wife Mary moved back to Royalston where she is found on the 1870 Census living with her father, her sister Sarah, and her son Calvin. Calvin Bullock's first cousin (from Royalston) was Massachusetts Governor Alexander H. Bullock, who served as governor (from 1866-1868).

Mary E. Bullock died at Royalston, on 18 October 1905 of a cystic tumor. She had been under the medical care of a Dr. Adams of Royalston for about five weeks. She was buried at New Cemetery in Royalston on 21 October 1905, by the undertaker J.P. Nichols. She was 74 years old. Her sister Sarah E. Miller died on 20 November 1902, also in Royalston.

Mary had at least two brothers, Albert and George Edward, and two sisters, Sarah, previously mentioned, and Susan. (Besides Mary's diaries, the collection has diaries from her sister Sarah as well). Sarah Miller never married and appears in the 1900 Census living with her sister Mary at Royalston; no other family members were living with them. Both of the women were listed as "retired," presumably from teaching.

Mary's sister Susan Maria Miller (1834-1898), was married 8 December 1863 to the Rev. Samuel John Austin (1826-1899), a graduate of Union College, who attended the theological seminaries of Auburn (1848-49), Hartford (1854-55), and Andover (1855-56), and was ordained in 1857. Austin was installed at various posts in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Susan was the Rev. Austin's second wife. Susan and Rev. Austin had one daughter who attended Smith College and became a teacher.

Calvin Bullock (1868-1944), Investment Banker, Bond Broker, and Manager of Investment Trusts

Calvin Bullock was born about 1868 in Toledo, Ohio, the only child of his father Calvin Bullock and his wife Mary Edgell Miller. He attended Worcester Academy (MA), graduating in 1888, and from Williams College in 1892. Two years later (1894), he started, in Denver Colorado, the investment banking business which, from a local enterprise, he steadily developed until it possessed branches in several American cities, and had representatives in Canada and England. He was an investment banker and manager of several large investment trusts, which were the precursors to today's mutual funds. His son Hugh Bullock became a pioneer financial manager of mutual funds.

Bullock served as President of the Denver Stock Exchange. He was elected president of United States Electric Light and Power Shares, Inc.; Nation-Wide Securities Company, Carriers and General Corporation, Bullock Fund, Ltd.; Dividend Shares, Inc. Ltd. The usual arrangement in investment trusts sponsored by Mr. Bullock was for his firm to supervise the portfolios for a quarterly fee. In the case of Bullock Fund, Ltd., for example, it was announced at the time of its launch in January, 1932, that the fee would amount to one-sixteenth of 1 per cent of the average market value each quarter.

On several occasions Mr. Bullock invited a group of leading bankers and businessmen to his office to listen to addresses by European diplomats. Among the speakers at such gatherings in the period just before the outbreak of World War Two, were Vladimir Hurban, Czechoslovak Minister; Ambassador Fulvio Suvich of Italy, and Ambassador Count Jerzy Potocki of Poland. In the summer of 1940 the exiled Empress Zita of Austria and her daughter, the Archduchess Elizabeth, were guests of Mr. Bullock at his estate in Royalston, Massachusetts.

Among Mr. Bullock's clubs were: the Bankers, Recess, Union, University, Williams, Piping Rock, Racquet and Tennis, Century and Bond of New York City, Denver Country of Denver, Everglades of Palm Beach, Lenox Club of Lenox, Massachusetts, and the Mount Royal of Montreal.

In 1892, Bullock married Alice Katherine Mallory and had two children, a daughter Katherine, who married Henry P. Cole, and a son Hugh, who served as a Lieutenant Colonel with the United States Army during World War Two.

Calvin Bullock died on 21 June 1944, in an ambulance, after suffering a heart attack in his office at 1 Wall Street, New York. He had suffered a heart attack about a year and a half before this final fatal one.

Royalston, Massachusetts

The town of Royalston, Worcester County, Massachusetts, was the seat of the Bullock family. The Bullocks were an important family in the town throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, producing a Governor of Massachusetts in the 1860s. Even though Calvin Bullock had moved away to Denver, and then to New York City, he purchased several of the old homes in the present historic district of Royalston, and renovated them. His family lived in some, or allowed others to live in them, as in the case of the Empress Zita of the Austria-Hungary Hapsburgs, and 7 of her 8 children, who spent three summers (1942-1944) as a guest at the "Bastille" during World War Two.  Bullock's properties later became part of his estate when he died in 1944, and were distributed to his children Hugh and Katherine, and later some passed into the hands of his grandchild Alice Cole. In all the Bullocks owned six historic properties: "Lightning Rods" (1839), "The Columns" (1838), "The Bastille" (1819), "Barnet Bullock House" (1825), "Pierce-Stowe House" (1837), and the "Adams-Burr House" (1836). Several other historic homes in Royalston were owned by other Bullock relatives.

Katherine Seymour Bullock and Elizabeth Wade White

Calvin Bullock's daughter, Katherine Seymour Bullock (1908-1995), married Henry P. Cole (1897-1985). Cole was born about 1897 at Durham, North Carolina. He was the son of Rev. John Cole and Mrs. Cole of Raleigh, North Carolina.  The couple was engaged in 1929 and married in 1930. Henry Cole died in June 1985. He had attended Duke University and worked for 50 years on Wall Street, with several firms, first Burden, Cole & Company, a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and later he was a partner in the firm of L.A. Mathey, Diamond Douglas.

Katherine was best friends with American heiress and writer Elizabeth Wade White (1908-1994), when the two attended school together at Westover, a girls boarding school located in Middlebury, Connecticut. White was a friend and protégé of the English novelist and short story writer, Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978), and of her partner, Valentine Ackland (1906-1969), an English poet, and an important figure in the emergence of modernism in twentieth-century British poetry. In 1938 their relationship became a triangle when Valentine and Elizabeth became lovers. The affair - and the consequent jealousy on Sylvia's part and unhappiness for all three - began in the months prior to the onset of World War II, but its effect on the lives of all three lasted through the war and for years after. After this affair, Elizabeth shared her house and life with Evelyn Holahan beginning in 1940.

It is said that Elizabeth Wade White's closet female friend was Katherine Bullock, who came from Denver to Westover in the class of 1926. "Kes," as she was always called, spent weeks with "Bett" as she called her, in Oxford in 1929. Katherine had gone to Oxford to attend college. When Katherine's parents moved to New York, the two women were able to frequently get together, and Kes visited the Whites at the Breakneck Hill house in Middlebury, Connecticut. Elizabeth went to Denver for Kes' marriage to Henry P. Cole, and became the godmother to their first child. Kes was privy to the affair with Valentine - in detail and perhaps alone among the friends - and offered consolation and support in the 1950s. The two led very different lives, but kept up by letter and telephone in their later years.

Hugh Bullock (1898-1996), Pioneer Manager of Mutual Funds

Hugh Bullock was the son of Calvin Bullock. He was a financial pioneer who sought to bring dignity and respectability to the sometime controversial world of mutual funds. Bullock was vice president of Calvin Bullock Ltd., a firm founded by and named after his father, from 1927 until his father's death in 1944, at which point he became president of the company.  While President of the company, his clients' portfolios are said to have increased ten-fold. He was a leader in the field of managing mutual funds, which were developed in the 1920's as a way for Americans of average means to invest in the stock and bond markets, and had pioneered in numerous phases of the investments and financial management.

Mr. Bullock was among the industry executives who helped write the law that regulated mutual funds, the Investment Company Act of 1940.  The law was written in response to the huge losses suffered by Americans in investment trusts, the precursors of mutual funds. Investors in the Bullock trusts lost $42 million between 1927 and 1935, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which held an inquiry into the trusts at which Mr. Bullock was a leading witness.

In the 1950's, when mutual funds began to be popular, the business ''was full of hard-driving types, with ulcers,'' John Brooks wrote in a profile of Mr. Bullock published in The New Yorker in 1958. But Mr. Bullock's firm ''has somehow succeeded not only in maintaining an imposing serenity but in building up and preserving a reputation as a champion of conservatism and tradition,'' Mr. Brooks added. As for Mr. Bullock himself, Mr. Brooks wrote, he was ''a tall, earnest-looking, strikingly handsome man'' with a taste for ''detachable stiff collars, double-breasted suits, outdoor sports and old-fashioned expressions like, 'I pledge you.' ''

Bullock wrote a history of mutual funds, ''The Story of Investment Companies,'' which was published in 1959 by the Columbia University Press. Besides his involvement in Calvin Bullock, Ltd., he was also President of Bullock Fund, Ltd., Canadian Investment Fund, Ltd., and President or Chairman of several other well-known investment companies. In 1984, he sold his company (Calvin Bullock, Ltd.), to the Equitable Life Assurance Company.

A noted Anglophile, Bullock was for many years the president of the Pilgrims of the United States, a group formed in 1903 to foster Anglo-American friendship. Bullock was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at the British Embassy in 1957 and introduced her in a still remembered speech to the more than 4,000 guests attending a dinner in her honor. He presided at the 1976 luncheon for the Queen having received from her the highest British decoration that any foreigner may be granted.

Hugh Bullock was born in Denver, Colorado, about 1898, graduated from the Hotchkiss School, and received a B.A. from Williams College in 1921. He was a decorated officer in the U.S. Army, having served as a lieutenant in World War I, and as a lieutenant colonel in World War II. In 1931 he married Marie Leontine Graves, who died in 1986, and together they founded the Academy of American Poets, which gave stipends to writers.

Bullock served on the boards of several hospitals and was active in charitable and educational organizations. He died at his home in Manhattan, New York, in November of 1996. He was survived by two daughters, Fleur Weymouth and Fair Alice McCormick, and three grandsons.