According to the listing of her death in the Boston death register, she drowned. The exact circumstances of her drowning are unknown, but there is one small clue in The Sun newspaper of Baltimore, Maryland, 27 Apr 1848, News in a Nut-Shell, page 1, column 3:
"--Three persons were found drowned at Boston, on Sunday, among them Mrs. Sarah A. Bullard, lately escaped from the lunatic hospital."
The reason for Sarah's commitment to an insane asylum is unknown. Though her condition may have been something else entirely, she may have been suffering from postpartum depression - reason enough to be confined at that time. She would have had no family members to whom she could turn once she escaped the asylum. She drowned (or drowned herself, perhaps) in Reserved Channel just north of the asylum.
Sarah gave birth to her last child in Jan 1847 in Leaksville, North Carolina, where she lived with her husband, a Sharon-born merchant. John Hall Bullard stocked his store by regularly travelling to Boston for supplies, which he would ship back to Leaksville by boat. John's family frequently accompanied him on these trips. Sarah probably would not have traveled immediately after giving birth, but did accompany her husband to Boston sometime between Jan 1847, when she gave birth, and Apr 1848, when she was found drowned. Something obviously went terribly wrong for Sarah during that final trip, since she ended up in the Boston Lunatic Asylum.
In addition to her husband, Sarah left behind her mother, siblings, and three daughters, aged at the time 12 years, 6 years, and 3 months.
The South End Burying Ground was a pauper's field as well as a working man's burying ground. Sarah's husband, a merchant of modest means, paid a small fee to the City of Boston so that Sarah's burial would be recorded, but left unmarked.
To date, no record has been found of Sarah's birth, nor any record found that names her parents. It is possible, since she didn't marry John Hall Bullard until she was about 20 years old, that Dudley was a name from a previous marriage. When she married John, she was living at Canton, Massachusetts, but that doesn't mean that she was born there. Sarah sometimes is connected by some researchers to Ebenezer Dudley and Abigail (Nabby) Murdock, of Roxbury, who definitely were not her parents. They had a daughter named Sarah Murdock Dudley, whose life and descendants are well-documented. Likewise, Sarah sometimes is connected by some researchers to Abijah Dudley and Susan R. Trull, of Sudbury, who definitely were not her parents, both of them being far too young to have had Sarah in about 1808. Abijah and Susan's children are well-documented, beginning around 1818.
"--Three persons were found drowned at Boston, on Sunday, among them Mrs. Sarah A. Bullard, lately escaped from the lunatic hospital."
The reason for Sarah's commitment to an insane asylum is unknown. Though her condition may have been something else entirely, she may have been suffering from postpartum depression - reason enough to be confined at that time. She would have had no family members to whom she could turn once she escaped the asylum. She drowned (or drowned herself, perhaps) in Reserved Channel just north of the asylum.
Sarah gave birth to her last child in Jan 1847 in Leaksville, North Carolina, where she lived with her husband, a Sharon-born merchant. John Hall Bullard stocked his store by regularly travelling to Boston for supplies, which he would ship back to Leaksville by boat. John's family frequently accompanied him on these trips. Sarah probably would not have traveled immediately after giving birth, but did accompany her husband to Boston sometime between Jan 1847, when she gave birth, and Apr 1848, when she was found drowned. Something obviously went terribly wrong for Sarah during that final trip, since she ended up in the Boston Lunatic Asylum.
In addition to her husband, Sarah left behind her mother, siblings, and three daughters, aged at the time 12 years, 6 years, and 3 months.
The South End Burying Ground was a pauper's field as well as a working man's burying ground. Sarah's husband, a merchant of modest means, paid a small fee to the City of Boston so that Sarah's burial would be recorded, but left unmarked.
To date, no record has been found of Sarah's birth, nor any record found that names her parents. It is possible, since she didn't marry John Hall Bullard until she was about 20 years old, that Dudley was a name from a previous marriage. When she married John, she was living at Canton, Massachusetts, but that doesn't mean that she was born there. Sarah sometimes is connected by some researchers to Ebenezer Dudley and Abigail (Nabby) Murdock, of Roxbury, who definitely were not her parents. They had a daughter named Sarah Murdock Dudley, whose life and descendants are well-documented. Likewise, Sarah sometimes is connected by some researchers to Abijah Dudley and Susan R. Trull, of Sudbury, who definitely were not her parents, both of them being far too young to have had Sarah in about 1808. Abijah and Susan's children are well-documented, beginning around 1818.
According to the listing of her death in the Boston death register, she drowned. The exact circumstances of her drowning are unknown, but there is one small clue in The Sun newspaper of Baltimore, Maryland, 27 Apr 1848, News in a Nut-Shell, page 1, column 3:
"--Three persons were found drowned at Boston, on Sunday, among them Mrs. Sarah A. Bullard, lately escaped from the lunatic hospital."
The reason for Sarah's commitment to an insane asylum is unknown. Though her condition may have been something else entirely, she may have been suffering from postpartum depression - reason enough to be confined at that time. She would have had no family members to whom she could turn once she escaped the asylum. She drowned (or drowned herself, perhaps) in Reserved Channel just north of the asylum.
Sarah gave birth to her last child in Jan 1847 in Leaksville, North Carolina, where she lived with her husband, a Sharon-born merchant. John Hall Bullard stocked his store by regularly travelling to Boston for supplies, which he would ship back to Leaksville by boat. John's family frequently accompanied him on these trips. Sarah probably would not have traveled immediately after giving birth, but did accompany her husband to Boston sometime between Jan 1847, when she gave birth, and Apr 1848, when she was found drowned. Something obviously went terribly wrong for Sarah during that final trip, since she ended up in the Boston Lunatic Asylum.
In addition to her husband, Sarah left behind her mother, siblings, and three daughters, aged at the time 12 years, 6 years, and 3 months.
The South End Burying Ground was a pauper's field as well as a working man's burying ground. Sarah's husband, a merchant of modest means, paid a small fee to the City of Boston so that Sarah's burial would be recorded, but left unmarked.
To date, no record has been found of Sarah's birth, nor any record found that names her parents. It is possible, since she didn't marry John Hall Bullard until she was about 20 years old, that Dudley was a name from a previous marriage. When she married John, she was living at Canton, Massachusetts, but that doesn't mean that she was born there. Sarah sometimes is connected by some researchers to Ebenezer Dudley and Abigail (Nabby) Murdock, of Roxbury, who definitely were not her parents. They had a daughter named Sarah Murdock Dudley, whose life and descendants are well-documented. Likewise, Sarah sometimes is connected by some researchers to Abijah Dudley and Susan R. Trull, of Sudbury, who definitely were not her parents, both of them being far too young to have had Sarah in about 1808. Abijah and Susan's children are well-documented, beginning around 1818.
"--Three persons were found drowned at Boston, on Sunday, among them Mrs. Sarah A. Bullard, lately escaped from the lunatic hospital."
The reason for Sarah's commitment to an insane asylum is unknown. Though her condition may have been something else entirely, she may have been suffering from postpartum depression - reason enough to be confined at that time. She would have had no family members to whom she could turn once she escaped the asylum. She drowned (or drowned herself, perhaps) in Reserved Channel just north of the asylum.
Sarah gave birth to her last child in Jan 1847 in Leaksville, North Carolina, where she lived with her husband, a Sharon-born merchant. John Hall Bullard stocked his store by regularly travelling to Boston for supplies, which he would ship back to Leaksville by boat. John's family frequently accompanied him on these trips. Sarah probably would not have traveled immediately after giving birth, but did accompany her husband to Boston sometime between Jan 1847, when she gave birth, and Apr 1848, when she was found drowned. Something obviously went terribly wrong for Sarah during that final trip, since she ended up in the Boston Lunatic Asylum.
In addition to her husband, Sarah left behind her mother, siblings, and three daughters, aged at the time 12 years, 6 years, and 3 months.
The South End Burying Ground was a pauper's field as well as a working man's burying ground. Sarah's husband, a merchant of modest means, paid a small fee to the City of Boston so that Sarah's burial would be recorded, but left unmarked.
To date, no record has been found of Sarah's birth, nor any record found that names her parents. It is possible, since she didn't marry John Hall Bullard until she was about 20 years old, that Dudley was a name from a previous marriage. When she married John, she was living at Canton, Massachusetts, but that doesn't mean that she was born there. Sarah sometimes is connected by some researchers to Ebenezer Dudley and Abigail (Nabby) Murdock, of Roxbury, who definitely were not her parents. They had a daughter named Sarah Murdock Dudley, whose life and descendants are well-documented. Likewise, Sarah sometimes is connected by some researchers to Abijah Dudley and Susan R. Trull, of Sudbury, who definitely were not her parents, both of them being far too young to have had Sarah in about 1808. Abijah and Susan's children are well-documented, beginning around 1818.
Gravesite Details
Brick Tomb 33 is in the northwest corner row of cemetery Section B, on the Washington Street side.
Family Members
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