Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

FULTON Every American is justly proud of Robert Fulton, the famous inventor, whose persistent efforts in working out his ideas in regard to steam navigation have proved such a great blessing for the whole world. His life is admired all the more because he turned to the long, costly and tedious work which was involved in his studies and experiments from his chosen field of labor as a miniature painter, in which he had shown that he possessed considerable capacity and power as an artist, and that great successes in this line lay before him. He is also very dear to many hearts which read his life history with care because he devoted some of his first earnings to the purchase of a farm for the support of his mother, to whom his love ever went out in the most loyal manner. Every member of the Fulton family in America has also a most commendable pride in the fact that this wondeful inventor bore their family name, that he was of the same Scotch-Irish stock to which they all trace their origin, that Robert has long been a favorite name in all the branches of this sturdy family, and that the charcteristics of the famous Robert Fulton mark the progress of the other members of the family. He went to work in Philadelphia when but seventeen years old, and he worked diligently on everything which he undertook; his was a deeply religious nature and others of his name have wonderfully preserved all such noble traits. This is especially true of those who have lived in Maine and the British Provinces adjoining it, for they were of the same mould as the ancestor of Robert Fulton who had settled at an early date in Pennsylvania. Gowen Fulton, who landed in Boston with his wife, Margaret Caswell, in 1730, and came to Topsham, Maine, about 1750, was of the sturdiest Scotch-Irish stock, and one of his descendants, Judge Lewis M. Fulton, of Bowdoinham, is one of the many who have honorably borne an honored name. The members of the Fulton family which early came to Nova Scotia were the sturdiest people in the neighborhoods where they lived, and have sent some grand helpers for good work in Maine. The history of the Fulton family of Truro, Nova Scotia, and its vicinity is one of worthy deeds and lives of a high order. The family traditions emphatically state that the Fultons received their present name at the time of the celebrated siege of Londonderry, Ireland, in 1698. One of the men who brought in provisions to the starving inhabitants of that city was always noted for delivering a full ton, and so he became known throughout Londonderry as "the Full Ton Man," the name being adopted by the family, and afterward shortened to its present form. (I) James Fulton was born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1726, and died at Truro, Nova Scotia, in 1792. He was a man of great hardihood [trans note: well, there's a word I've never seen before], and of the strictest honestgy. He removed from Ireland to Nova Scotia in 1761, coming first to Halifax, and then staying a while at La Have, Lunenburg. In 1763 Mr. James Fulton and his family removed to Cumberland county, where they remained for twelve years. As there was considerable trouble in Cumberland county at the time of the revolutionary war, Mr. Fulton went to Pictou for four or five years. One more removal brought this family agvain to the Lower Valley of Truro. In making this last journey the family endured great hardships, but bore them with remarkable bravery. It took a week, with the assistance of several men, to travel this distance of not more than forty miles, as they had to make their way through dense forests where there were no roads, carrying their children and stuff on their backs. One night they nearly perished from the cold as their "fire-works," flint, steel and tinder, became so damp that it was a long time before they could build a fire. Mr. Fulton, with his wife and several of their children, spent their remaining days in Truro, and were people who were highly esteemed in that community. James Fulton married, in Ireland, in 1753, Anna Colwell, who was born in Ireland in 1728 and died at Truto in 1813. Children: 1. John, born in 1754, came to Nova Scotia with his parents; married in 1775, Ann Sampson, and removed to Ohio about 1860. [trans. note: no way 1860, they must have meant 1760). 2. William, born in Ireland in 1757 (mentioned below), came to Nova Scotia with his parents, and died at Truro in 1813. In 1784 he settled in the upper part of the Stewiacke Valley, about twenty-five miles from Truro, on the farm where his great-grandson, Ebenezer Fulton, now resides. In 1783 he married Sarah, daughter of John and Mary (Johnson) Dunlap, who died Sept. 20, 1814. They had a noble family of six sons and four daughters. 3. Samuel, born in 1757, removed to Ohio with his wife Alice (Tupper) Fulton, and his family. 4. Joshua, married Nancy Sampson and removed to the state of New York. 5. Ann, born 1765, died in 1812; married in 1786, James Johnson. 6. Elizabeth, died in 1821; married John Johnson and Robert Logan. 7. Jane, mararied in 1787, Caleb Putnam. (II) William, son of James and Anna (Colwell) Fulton, was born in Ireland in 1757, died at Truro, Nova Scotia, Dec. 11, 1812. In 1784 he settled in the upper part of the Stewiacke Valley, about twenty-five miles from Truto, on the farm where his great-grandson Ebenezer Fuller now (1908) resides. ' In 1783 he married Sarah, daughter of John and Mary (Johnson) Dunlap, who died Sept. 20, 1814. Children: John J., James, Joseph, Mary (married Major A. L. Archibald), Samuel, Adam, Jane (married Jonathan Marsters, a barrister), Ebenezer, Rachel (married Ebenezer Munro, judge of the probate courts), Ann. (III) Samuel, son of William and Sarah (Dunlap) Fulton, was born at Truro, Nova Scotia, 1792, and was a very successful farmer and lumberman. About 1816 he moved to a town of the St. John's river in New Brunswick. He married Margaret Lovely. children: 1. Thomas, who lived and died in New Brunswick. 2. Joshua, who located in Bridgewater. 3. Robert, born March 13, 1816. 4. John, who went to California, with first of the "gold seekers" in 1849; is supposed to be dead. 5. Sarah, who married Seth Squires. 6. Jane, who married Thomas Flannigan. 7. Catherine, remained unmarried. 8. Margaret, married Aaron Jones. 9. Mary, married Thomas Wakham. (IV) Robert, son of Samuel and Margaret (Lovely) Fulton, was born in Florenceville, New Brunswick, March 13, 1816, and died at Mars Hill, Maine in 1898. He was a man of untiring energy and great executive ability, and devoted his life to agricultural pursuits and lumbering. For a time he made his home at Wicklow, New Brunswick, but in 1868 he removed to Mars Hill, Maine, where he continued the pursuits which he had followed before going there. He married Martha, daughter of Ephraim Jones. Children: 1. James W. 2. Ephraim, who resides at Cass Lake, Minnesota. 3. Abigail, married John Bartley, of New Brunswick. 4. Dr. Aaron J., who resides at Blaine, Maine. 5. Adelaide, married (first) James Murray, and (second) Robert McKelvery, of Mars Hill. 5. [6?] Dorothy, married Richard Bell, of Mars Hill. 7. Alice, married William Larrabee, of Mars Hill. 8. Stella, married Fred Blackden, of Blaine. (V) Dr. Aaron J., son of Robert and Martha (Jones) Fulton, was born at Wicklow, New Brunswick, April 9, 1851. He received his education in his native town, at Mars Hill, and in Houlton (Maine) Academy, from which he graduated in 1883. Later he attended the University of Vermont, from which he graduated with the highest honors and as president of his class, in 1890, as a physician and surgeon. As he had before this been a very successful teacher in various towns in Aroostook county, Maine, and made many friends in that section of the state, his thoughts at once turned thither as a most promising field of work. Immediately after his graduation he began the practice of medicine at Bridgewater, and after two years of fine work he moved to Blaine, where he has since resided. He is a member of the Aroostook Medical Assocation, and a member of Aroostook Lodge, F. and A. M., No. 179; Blaine Lodge, No. 126, I.O.O.F., and member of the Independent Order of Foresters, Mars Lodge, No. 835, of Mars Hill. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, Lodge No. 11,678, at Mars Hill, Maine. In politics Dr. Fulton is a sturdy Republican, and has represented his district in the Maine legislature in 1905 and again in 1907. He married Emma, daughter of Otis Turner. Children: 1. Ellwyn, a student in the University of Maine, class of 1910. 2. Anita, a student at Aroostook Central Institute, Mars Hill.