Husband Hugh Ramsey Fulton 1
Born: 16 Nov 1843 - East Nottingham Twp, Chester Co, PA 1
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Father: James Jefferson Fulton (1801-1864) 2
Mother: Nancy Ann Ramsey (1802-1870) 2
Marriage: 15 Nov 1871 1
Wife Sallie Thompson Kerr 3
Born: 31 Oct 1842 4
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Father: John Alexander Kerr (1810-1891) 5
Mother: Eliza Jane Hutchison (Abt 1808-1889) 5
Children
1 M Hugh Kerr Fulton 6
Born: 18 Apr 1875 - Lancaster, Lancaster Co, PA 6
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2 F Eleanore Jane Fulton 6
Born: 4 Feb 1882 6
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3 M John Fulton 6
Born: 27 Jul 1883 6
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General Notes: Husband - Hugh Ramsey Fulton
He was born November 16, 1843, in East Nottingham Township, Chester County, in the brick dwelling on the Christiana road adjoining the Old Passmore homestead.
Although in early youth he had a great dislike for the subscription and public schools of the neighborhood, he was, through the patient perseverance of a thoughtful and wise mother, induced to spend a fair portion of his time in school. A subscription school taught by Miss Beckie Brown near the White House, Thompson's old log school house, the new brick at Hilamon's called Fairview, the public school at the brick meeting house, under Reuben Hains, Esq., Chestnut Level Academy under Morgan Rawlins, and the select school at Oxford under Dr. Taylor, gave him his primary education.
In the spring of 1861, while employed on the chrome banks of Robert McMullen, the war broke out; the necessities of the blockade stopped the exportation as also the mining of chrome, and threw him out of employment. About this time Wm. P. Brown, a neighbor, was beginning the erection of a new brick house and was in want of hod carriers. He called upon Fulton for help, who complied with the request, went to work, and carried brick and mortar for one of the finest brick houses in the neighborhood.
In the fall of 1861 he was, through the kindness of his cousin, Mrs. Thomas A. Clark, invited to attend the Chestnut Level Academy, and make his home with them. This opportunity was recognized as a good one, and he at once accepted it. During the winter and spring of 1861 and 1862 and the summer of 1863 he attended that institution with pleasure and profit.
It was while at the Academy in 1863 that the ardent loyalty of the people with whom he associated, the defeat of the Union forces in Virginia, the onward march of the Rebel hordes upon our own State, the approach of the Confederate cavalry toward the Susquehanna, the burning of the bridge at Wrightsville, which, at the time, was supposed to be the State Capital, were a combination of circumstances tending to patriotic impulse, too strong to be resisted by him, and he enlisted, on the 27th of June, in Lieutenant Samuel Boyd's Company G, 1st Battalion, Pennsylvania Six-month Volunteers, afterwards the 187th Penn. Volunteers.
They went into service immediately, were sworn and mustered at Harrisburg, and while in camp there he wrote to his parents (whom he had promised to come home during vacation and help with the store and harvest) telling them for the first time what he had done, asking them to excuse and approve as he had considered it his solemn duty to his country's cause to do as he did. At that time James, William T., Joseph M. and Hugh R.\emdash the whole family\emdash were in the Union Army, while their father was doing all he could at home for the success of the cause of human liberty, national unity, and the return of peace and prosperity.
The subject of this sketch served his first enlistment at provost duty at Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Chambersburg and Antietam, Maryland. The service was a pleasant one and also useful to the Government, but was void of that inspiring and exciting feature of camp in front and the battlefield, which the young soldier so much loves, and it was for this reason that, soon after his return from the volunteers, he reenlisted at Philadelphia in the Regular Army in the 5th Regiment of United States Artillery, and was soon sent to Battery E, then stationed at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, but which immediately joined the Army of the Potomac on the Rapid Ann, Virginia. His battery during the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania was with the artillery reserve, but was soon attached to the 6th Army Corps and remained with it to the close of the war.
Hugh R. served with his battery in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, North Ann River, Cold Harbor, the first attack on Petersburg and the whole siege of Petersburg. During the time of the springing of the mine at Petersburg, or the blowing up of the Rebel fort, and for three months after he was stationed in Fort Hell, which was regarded as the hottest place on the siege line. He was in the artillery duels during the attack on the South Side Railroad, and the Rebel attack and capture of Fort Steadman, and was active in the great Sunday fight of April 2, 1865, when the Union Army left their fortifications, marched out into the open field in front, making charge after charge upon the Rebel works and with their artillery on that open plain, kept up such a cannonade, that three Rebel forts were captured, and dismantled in that one day. He was in the last battle of the Potomac Army, which was fought at Sailor's Creek on April 6th. He participated in the rejoicing over the surrender of the Rebel forces under Lee on April 9th, when the whole Army of the Potomac threw up their hats, cheered themselves hoarse and fired the last blank cartridge. With the hardened sturdy soldiery he was humbled from the highest pitch of joy and rejoicing, and melted to grief on hearing of the assassination of our honored President, Abraham Lincoln, on the 14th of April. He had the pleasure of joining in the triumphal review of the Armies of the Republic at Washington, and after the close of the war, was sent south to the Carolinas and Florida in support of the reconstruction plans of the Government.
He was, for short periods in 1865 and 1866, stationed at Washington, D. C., New York City, Beaufort, Charleston, Fort Moultrie, Port Royal, South Carolina, Saint Augustine, Key West, Barrancas and Fort Pickins, Florida.
His term of service having expired, he was discharged with the following letter of recommendation:
Character. [Endorsed on army discharge.] One of the most faithful and intelligent soldiers I have ever known.
Brt. Maj. Genl. Capt. 5th. Arty.
Sergeant Hugh R. Fulton has served with this company in the following engagements, viz:
Wilderness, \emdash Spottsylvania, \emdash Cold Harbor,\emdash Siege of Petersburg,\emdash Petersburg April 2nd. 1865,\emdash Sailors Creek,\emdash Surrender of Lee.
T. SEYMOUR ;
Brt. Maj. Genl. Capt. 5th. Arty. Comm'g.
Barrancas Fla., February 22nd., 1867.
Sergeant Hugh R. Fulton\emdash now discharged from the U. S. Army, has served three years, in the field, with a steadiness and fidelity that might be equalled\emdash but could not be surpassed. By his constant good conduct he has won the well-deserved respect and esteem of every officer with whom he has associated. Should he have occasion to show this writing, to advance his interests in any respect, I trust that it may procure for him whatever he may seek\emdash for I have met with few better men than Hugh R. Fulton.
T. SEYMOUR :
Brt. Maj. Genl. U. S. Army.
He arrived home about the middle of March, 1867, and on the first of April started to Taylor's Select School in the Presbyterian Session House, Oxford. Early in August he took charge of the Union School in Elk Township, which he taught for three terms. In the spring of 1868 he registered with his brother, William T. Fulton, Esq., of Oxford, as a student of law, was appointed in July of that year as teacher of Fairview School, East Nottingham, which he taught with entire satisfaction for one month, when his friends, Theodore K. Stubbs and Benjamin F. Hudson, who were making preparations to enter the Law Department of the University of Michigan\emdash which they recommended very highly\emdash having urged him to go along, he resolved to go. He then had his chief competitor for the school, Miss Ruth Griffith, appointed in his place as teacher, and started for this Athens of the West. He entered the University on October 1, 1868, and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, on March 30, 1870. He at once came to Lancaster, and was admitted to practice law on April 19, 1870. One month later he entered the office of Hon. William Aug. Atlee.
In 1871 he took a tour through the western states for the purpose of seeing the country, and satisfying himself of the best place for his permanent location. The states of Illinois and Iowa failing to offer sufficient inducements for his leaving Lancaster, he returned, and soon after married.
He was elected Solicitor for the Board of Trustees of the Home for Friendless Children, Lancaster, in 1872, in which capacity he served for four years. He was afterwards elected a member of the Board of Trustees of that institution, and in 1875 was elected Treasurer of the Board, in which capacity he served for more than two decades.
In January, 1876, he was elected Solicitor for the Lancaster Law Library Association. In 1879 he was elected by the people of Lancaster County to the office of County Solicitor, and served with the commendation of the people and public press in the details of the office, the trial of the large number of land damage cases arising during his term owing to the opening of streets in the City of Lancaster and for his successful collection of a large claim of over $23,000, from the Commonwealth, for overpaid taxes in previous years.
He was elected by the Councils of the city of Lancaster to the office of City Solicitor in 1883 and was notably successful in the collection of a large number of outstanding claims due the city, and in requiring certain corporations to comply with the ordinances of the city. He was one of the organizers of the Lancaster General Hospital, one of the most worthy charities in the county, and served as a director and secretary.
He was one of the organizers and also superintendent of Bethany Presbyterian Sabbath School, in the western part of the city, and served on the building committee in the erection of the beautiful chapel on West End Avenue. He joined Oxford Lodge A. Y. Masons in 1867, Lancaster Chapter 43 in 1873, and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He was for five years president of the Young Men's Christian Association and director for many years.
He was an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Lancaster for some years, was twice Commander of Post No. 84 Grand Army of the Republic, frequently a delegate to the department encampments, was Assistant Inspector at Large of the Posts of the county, and Aid-de-Camp on the Staff of Commander-in-Chief General Sexton.
THE TEACHER THOUGHT IT WAS PLUCK.
ELKTON, Cecil County, Md.
My Dear Sir: I received by this morning's mail your kind letter under date of the 10th instant, and I hasten to comply. With this you will please find the sum of 25 cents in postage stamps, with which to purchase the stereoscopic view of ex-President Buchanan's grave, and return postage.
There is a lawyer in your city who, when I taught school, was a student under me in surveying. He was a good boy, a faithful scholar, and honest as the day is long. His name is Hugh Fulton. I have not seen nor even heard of him for at least sixteen years. All that I know of him was what I knew over fifteen years ago, when he used to walk four miles to the school and four miles back home again, after he had recited. This is what I call pluck.
I remain, yours very truly,
REUBEN HAINES.
To Mr.