Caroline Canfield Bullock (1845-1926)
Caroline Canfield Bullock was an educator with an interest in women’s college education, an interest that she shared with the Club. Bullock was an early, longtime member, joining in 1890 and remaining active until relocating to Pittsburgh in 1908. For nearly 40 years she ran the Wilford Home School for Girls, which offered instruction to young boys and girls but specialized in college preparation for girls. Bullock’s newspaper ads for the school noted that its certificate was accepted at Vassar, Wellesley and the Woman’s College of Baltimore.
Bullock was the longtime chair of Club’s Committee on Education. Early in the Club’s history, her business acumen was recognized when the Board was faced with a vacancy for Treasurer in 1892 and appointed Bullock. Serving as Treasurer during the controversy over expanding the Club’s focus in 1893, she lent her voice to those in opposition to change, and then led the move to incorporate the organization to give legal status to the Club as a literary one. She served two terms as Treasurer followed by four terms as Vice-President and two on the Board of Managers.
Like several other Club members, Bullock had an interest in folklore and was a founding member of the Maryland Folk-Lore Society. She assisted fellow member Annie Weston Whitney in collecting folklore traditions in Maryland. The proposed volume was set aside at Whitney’s death in 1909, but Bullock finally produced Folklore in Maryland in 1925, the year before she herself passed away.
Caroline Canfield Bullock was born in Baltimore, the daughter of a successful silversmith Ira C. Canfield and his wife Isabella Durham. The Canfield family traced its roots to colonial Connecticut, and Caroline was an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Her family were long-time members of the Franklin Street Presbyterian Church, and it was there that Caroline met her husband Waller R. Bullock (1834-1870), son of the church pastor. The Bullocks belonged to a prominent Kentucky family, and Waller had fought for the Confederacy before settling in Baltimore. The Bullocks’ marriage was short-lived—Waller died ten months after they married in 1870—but Caroline continued to refer to herself in Club documents as Mrs. Waller Bullock throughout her membership. Caroline’s support of fundraising for Confederate veterans was likely a tribute to her husband.
Sources
Bullock, Caroline Canfield. “Preface.” Folk-Lore from Maryland. New York: American Folk-Lore Society, 1925.