James A. Fulkerson

Born in Colonial America before the civil war, James Fulkerson spent his early life in Virginia, where he and his wife raised a small army -- nine children in 22 years. The family seems to have felt the pul of the frontier, moving continually westward in their lives. After two decades in Lee county, Virginia, the famiy moved to Campbell county in Eastern Tennessee -- and eventually joined a wagon train of pioneers further east, the hearty souls who founded Cole county in Missouri.

Early life in Virginia

James was born in 1786 ... or was he? A small mystery surrounds James's age, however: His tombstone suggest he was born in 1768, yet the census records from 1830 and 1840 seem to suggest he was substantially younger. Would he have married a woman several decades older than him? Unlikely ...

Shortly after marrying in Feb 1791 (at the tender age of zero, if that clipping is to be believed!), James and his new bride Sarah Gibson moved to Lee Virginia, where his uncle Isaac had his family lived. The Fulkersons bought and sold land at dizzying clip, and grew their family at a similar breakneck pace, giving birth to six children in the first 11 years of their marriage. In 1804 with the seventh child on the way shortly, James sold his land to his brother John, whether due to financial hardship or simply to help him out. The family would soon move to Tennessee -- and to war, and on to Missouri.

The Creek Indian War

In the southern US, the Creek Indian War (1813-1814) was a war within the War of 1812. The Creeks
(also known as the Red Sticks), led by Chief Menawa, were supported by the British and Spain. In early 1814, about 1,000 Creeks established camp on the Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River in what would become east-central Alabama. On 10 January 1814, in Jacksboro, the seat of Campbell County, Tennessee, Captain John Inglish enlisted volunteers into the 2nd Regiment of East Tennessee Militia, under the command of Colonel Samuel Bunch. Among the men that joined that day were 1st Lieutenant James English, Corporal William Fulkerson -- James and Elizabeth's first-born son -- Martin Gouge, and Private James McKinney. Captain English marched his men to Knoxville, Tennessee, where they remained about two weeks as other units joined them. From Knoxville, they marched to Camp Ross on Lookout Mountain, near the present-day site of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Perhaps on cold nights during the war, Captain John English and his comrades from Campbell County sat about the fire talking about what they would do after the war. Perhaps one of their dreams was to pack up and move 600 miles to the western frontier of the United States, to a spot near the mouth of Lewis and Clark's Little Moniteau Creek -- because that's precisely what they did.

Cole county, Missouri

Goodspeed's History of Cole County, Missouri states: "The earliest settlement made within Cole County
as now constituted was that by the Tennessee colony in 1815-16, at the mouth of the Moniteau. The war waged with England to maintain the rights of the young Republic was won by the soldiers of Tennessee and Kentucky. Lewis and Clarke [sic] had made known throughout the country the beauty of the Missouri region, and the United States had completed treaties with the original red owners, built forts for their protection from other warriors, and opened the highway for immigration.

Among the members of the Moniteau party were John Inglish [Captain English] and his four sons
{including 1st Lieutenant James], Henry McKenney and three sons [including James William], James
Miller and five sons, James Fulkerson and three sons [including Corporal William], David Young and three sons, William Gooch and four sons, Martin Gooch [Gouge] and two sons, John Harmon and one
son, and Joshua Chambers and two sons."

In Cole, Fulkerson was appointed commissioner to the courthouse for the county, and superintended the building of the courthouse and jail.

Elizabeth Fulkerson died February 22, 1832 in Cole County, Missouri. James followed her on December 16, 1847, having lived a long life of 79 years. He was buried in Boone, Missouri.