"Bull Joseph.—Of the house of 'Corsa & Bull.' On the 2d June, 1766, they advertised for sale, 'Salt Petre, made in this Province by Doctor Robert Graham,' and describe it to be an expensive undertaking. In 1770 they sold tea at their store between Ikekman's and Peck's Slip. Joseph Bull was chosen one of the Committee of One Hundred, May 1, 1775, and appears to have acted with the patriots; but his views gradually changed. On the 1st June, 1776, he wrote to Colonel Henry Remsen that some other person should be appointed in the place in the regiment to which he had been elected, and added that he was 'by no means a friend to independency, and would not, in any capacity, arm in defence of it.' He was later taken prisoner at New Rochelle, and pleaded his early services to General Scott to avoid being sent to Norwich. He then said that all his friends were, 'if the country is conquered, ruined; ties, if nothing else, which would induce him to be friendly to the American cause.' His old partner, Col. Corsa, was prisoner at the same time. He alludes to his wife in the same letter. The New York marriages give a record of a marriage-bond of Joseph Bull and Esther Gedney, Nov. 16, 1761.”
