Oswego County's: Guide To Government

Justin L. Bulkley

Justin L. BULKLEY (Rep.), of Sandy Creek. He was born in Fairfield,Herkimer County, August 20, 1832; is of Scotch and English descent;received an academic education; graduated from Madison University, 1857,and subsequently from New York Opthalmic Hospital College; was married July 30, 1857, to Frances M. Seeley ; has been a Physician and Surgeon for the past sixteen years ; was a Coroner one term, and has been Pension Surgeon for several years. He was elected to the Assembly in 1872, serving on the Committees on Education and Public Lands, and re-elected by a majority of 861 over Hugh D. Mellen (Dem.), his majority in 1865 being 1,655.

Evening Journal Almanac 1874

Bulkley, Justus Lyman, M. D., was born in Fairfield, Herkimer county, N.Y., August 20, 1832, a son of Peter H. of the same town, whose parents were Peter and Sally (Mapes) Bulkley. The original stock was Scotch-Irish. The mother of our subject was Philenia, daughter of Russell and Mary (Stokes) Sawyer. The parents of our subject removed, when he was a year old, to Martinsburgh, Lewis county, N. Y., where ten years later the father died, and the family was broken up and scattered. Justus received his education in the academies of Martinshburgh and Lowville, and he began the study of medicine with William S. Bulkley, his brother, beside whom he had one brother, Daniel G., and two sisters, Lucy A. and Angeline M. Of these, Lucy, now Mrs. Easton, and Daniel still survivie. In 1853 he continued the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. Lyman Bulkley of Sandy Creek, and began practice in June, 1857, having received diplomas from the New York Ophthalmic Hospital College, from the Oswego Medical Society, and later from the Albany Medical College, and an honorary degree of B. A. from Madison University. July 30, 1857, he married Frances M. Seeley, born in Sandy Creek April 5, 1838, and they have four children: Minnie Estelle, born March 8, 1859, wife of Marshall C. Robbins of Sandy Creek; Lizzie English, born October 8, 1861, wife of Cyrus V. Washburn, attorney of Brooklyn; Hattie Scott, born December 18, 1864, wife of Wilson P. Hamilton of Los Angeles, Cal.; and J. Lyman, jr., born July 16, 1876, who resides with his parents at Sandy Creek. About 1866 our subject was appointed medical examiner for pensions, serving four years. He served as coroner, and was member of Assembly for the Third District of Oswego county during 1873-4. He was elected sheriff in 1878, serving three years, and has filled the position of justice of the peace for the past ten years. On May 10, 1894, Dr. Bulkley was assaulted in his office by a madman, Francis G. Williams, who was just released from the Ogdensburg Insane Asylum. The doctor threw off his assailant after a long struggle, during which he was severely wounded, and the madman shot himself on the premises a few minutes later. He was president of the Oswego Medical Society, and one of its censors for many years.

Source: Churchill, John C., " Landmarks of Oswego County, New York" Syracuse, N.Y.: D. Mason, 1895