Major William Thompson Fulton

Copy taken from the History of Chester County by Hon. J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope. Page 555.

William T. Fulton was born in West Nottingham, February 27, 1835. He was educated in the common schools, and later at the Jordan Bank Academy. He engaged in farming, then learned the blacksmithing trade, and later taught school some two years. He read law with "the Great Commoner," Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, and afterward with Hon. J. Smith Futhey. He was admitted to the bar May 13, 1861. He settled at Oxford.

In August and September, 1861, he helped to recruit Company E, Purnell Legion Maryland Infantry, made up of the bordermen of Pennsylvania and Maryland.

He was captain of the company until August, 1862, when he was promoted to be major of the regiment and was subsequently discharged on account of physical disability. After leaving the Army he resumed the practice of his profession which he continued until the invasion of the State by Lee in 1863, when he volunteered in the State service to repel the invaders.

He was elected a Justice of the Peace in 1863, reelected in 1868 and again in 1873, resigning November 1, 1876, to accept a seat in the legislature to which he was that year elected and to which he was reelected in 1878. In the legislature he was a member of many important committees among which were those Judiciary general and local, and of Federal Relations of which he was chairman. He is a staunch Republican and very active in politics. In 1865 he was married to Hannah A., daughter of Joseph Kirk, of West Nottingham, and in 1876 to Annie E. Neeper, of Oxford. By his first wife he had two children, Kirk and Annie E. and by his second marriage one daughter, Jennie. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church and one of its trustees ; also belongs to Fairview Lodge, No. 334, I. O. O. F. and a Past Commander of Thompson Post, Grand Army of the Republic ; is a director in the Oxford National Bank and associate counsel of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad. He gives his full time and attention to the practice of his profession in which he has been successful. He is a public-spirited citizen and his influence is largely felt in all measures for the public good.

From a circular issued by his friends when his name was announced as candidate for Judge, we take the following:

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William received a common school education and then attended an academy conducted by Evan Pugh. In the spring of 1852 he commenced learning the trade of a blacksmith and worked at the business about four years, when he resolved to desert the hammer and anvil and enter one of the "learned professions". With this object inview, in the fall of 1856 he entered the office of Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, at Lancaster, and remained there eighteen months. During this time he was an assiduous student' but his limited circumstances prevented him from completing his studies in the usual period alloted to the study of the law.

Leaving Mr. Stevens' office, he taught school and pursued his studies at intervals. On the 18th of May, 1861, he was admitted to the bar of Chester County. Soon afterward he opened an office at Oxford, in that county.

The rebellion breaking out, and clients being scarce, yount Fulton threw down hiw law-tomes and entered the service. He assisted in raising a company, and on the 1st of September, 1861, was mustered into the service of the U.S. ass Captain of Co. E., Purnell Legion, Maryland Volunteers. He remained in the army until the last of January 1863, when he was honorably discharged on "account of disability.".

While in the army, he took part in many engagements in the Shenandoah valley and Eastern Virginia. At the battle of Antietam he held the third position in his regiment. The colonel and lieutenant-colonel being absent, the command of the regiment devolved upon Major Fulton (he having been promoted previous to this battle).

It was ordered into action at sunrise of that day and remained under fire until one o'clock P.M. During this battle, many of those in the regiment were killed or wounded, but Major Fulton came out of the action unscathed.

Since the war he has resided in the borough of Oxford, where he practiced his profession.[1872]

Source:

Title: A Genealogy of the Kirk Family

Author: Charles H Stubbs

Publication: Wylie & Griest, Lancaster PA, 1872

Repository:

Media: Book