Alexander Fulton

Generation 4

Historical Notes

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Alexander Fulton's name has been listed in recent histories as 'Robert Alexander' or 'Alexander Robert', however, there is no record in his contemporary history to indicate that his name was anything other than simply Alexander Fulton.

It is believed that Alexander and Eliza Jones Fulton and their children traveled from Ohio to Iowa Territory by covered wagon. The possible route would be via the National Road from Columbus, Ohio as far as Indianapolis, Indiana. From there various trails could be taken west and slightly north to Keokuk in Iowa Territory, Keokuk and Buffalo [south of Davenport] being the only two places in 1843 having consistent ferry service across the Mississippi River into Iowa Territory. From either site it was possible to travel over stage coach routes to Fairfield.

The following entry appears in Charles Jacobs Fulton's "History of Jefferson County, Vol. 1, page 219:

Alexander had a deep interest in the Odd Fellows [International Order of Odd Fellows] and walked the approximately 60 miles from Fairfield, Iowa to Burlington, Iowa [and back again] to be initiated into, and receive a charter for, Jefferson Lodge, No. 4 in Fairfield, Iowa, thus becoming the first member of that Fairfield lodge.

Iowa received statehood in 1846, therefore, 1848 was the first presidential election in which Iowa voters could participate. Zachary Taylor was the Whig candidate for president and Millard Fillmore was the candidate for vice president. Alexander Fulton is listed as one of the voters from Fairfield, Iowa.

From the 1850 Census of Fairfield:

Household	Sex	Age	Occ.	Born
ALEXANDER FULTON	M	45	Farmer	PA
Eliza	F	42		Ohio
Robert J.	M	21	clerk	Ohio
G. Lafayette	M	19	farmer	Ohio
William	M	17	farmer	Ohio
Martha A.	F	12		Ohio

Alexander Fulton was instrumental in the organization of the Iowa State Fair which originated in Fairfield, Iowa in 1854. The Fair was held in various towns in eastern Iowa until 1879, at which time it settled in Des Moines.

[Please note that there are several errors in the following entry. Corrections have been made within the brackets. I'm also not sure when this information was gathered; by 1879 Joseph Warren was the only one of the children still living.]

Burial Permit: Alexander Fulton, age 79-4-19, male, d. Fairfield, Iowa Jan. 17, 1885; Disease of Stomach; Gibson & Beck, Undertakers.

Newspaper Clipping [Source probably the Fairfield Daily Ledger]
Death of Alexander Fulton

Death closed the earthly career of Alexander Fulton Saturday, January 17, 1885, at five o'clock P.M. at his home one mile west of Fairfield. Mr. Fulton was born in Huntingdon County, Penn. August 29, 1805, and was 79 years, 4 months and 19 days old at the time of his death. In 1807 he removed with his parents to Baltimore, Maryland, where they resided until 1814. His parents then moved to Ross County, Ohio. June 26, 1826, he was married in Ross County to Miss Eliza Jones. He then moved into Delaware County. Five children were born to them, only one of whom, Joseph W., is now living. In the Spring of 1843 Mr. Fulton and his family moved to Jefferson county, Iowa, and settled on the farm on which he died, and where the golden wedding of this aged couple was celebrated. He had always been a man of robust health, and endured many hardships in early life in Ohio and Iowa, and was always ready for the tasks allotted him. Several years ago, however, he was troubled with a disease of the stomach which finally carried him off. He suffered intensely, but bore his afflictions in a resolute and often cheerful manner. At the age of 17 he was converted and joined the M. E. Church, of which body he remained a member during life. He was a man of indomitable energy, and resolute, almost dogmatic, in expressing his views and carrying out his ideas. But his strong nature leaned upon the affections of his wife with the trustfulness of a child. He was generous to friends, but demanded his rights of all. His hospitality was unbounded, and nothing seemed to please him more than to have his friends visit him and enjoy themselves. The house of Uncle Alex and Aunt Eliza Fulton was always open. But he is gone from among us, and his place is vacant evermore. His faults-and he had them as all men have-are buried with him. His virtues-and he had many of them-it is for us to emulate. To his bereaved widow the voice of sympathy and the hand of help will be extended by all who know her, for none knew her but to honor her. Religious services were held at the M.E. Church Monday, the sermon being preached by Rev. M. Bamford. The Odd Fellows conducted the funeral exercises and perfomed the last sad rites to their worthy brother.

Alexander Fulton, Eliza Jones Fulton and four of their children are buried in the West half of Lot # 52 of the Old Fairfield Cemetery , Fairfield, Iowa. There is one large tombstone, #492, bearing the following inscriptions:

We do not know why Eliza's name is not included on the large stone or one of the small stones. Cemetery records indicate that she is buried beside Alexander.

Also, please note that four of the five Fulton children died within a four years and two months time span, and William and Robert died just two and a half months apart.

HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, Vol. 2, p. 456:

Alexander Fulton was very progressive in advancing the agricultural interests of Iowa. His name was well known throughout the state to which he had come with the early pioneers. He had a celebrated truck garden and exhibited specimans of his fine vegetables at the Iowa State Fair in the years when that institution, which he helped found, was still in its infancy [The Iowa State Fair began in 1854]. At one of the early fairs, held at Keokuk, he won a prize for milch cows, the interesting fact being that he drove the herd himself from Fairfield for the exhibit. [a distance of about 65 miles.]

The following stories about Alexander Fulton were written by his great-grandson, the late Robert Loyal Fulton.

"Much has been said about this man regarding his excellent character, his integrity, and other qualifications for good citizenship. Also, much has been said relative to his 'always being in the right, until proven wrong.' But show him the man who could prove him wrong! He was adamant in his established beliefs.

As example, when the first cultivator was produced with which both sides of a row of corn could be cultivated at the same time, he rebelled, saying that no man alive could produce such a machine. Therefore, he flatly refused to take the time to witness a demonstration, adhering to his established belief that corn could only be cultivated with a single or double shovel plow drawn by one horse. Of course, in due timehis idea was exploded.

He was a tall, rangy, bony framed Scot, built on the Abraham Lincoln plan, but with typical Scottish sandy hair and beard. He was very much like Lincoln in his physical prowess, and ever ready to exploit it for what he considered a just cause. For instance, when the Court House in Fairfield was being built, as an onlooker he one day saw two men, a very large one and a much smaller one, engaged in an argument which ultimately led to a fist fight. Robert Alexander [this is an error, his name was apparently only Alexander.], then an old man, truly believed the small man was in the right and was being unduly abused. He stepped into the fray, expressed himself in no small terms, and when opposed by the big man, he without compunction proceeded to break his cane over the head of the other, and then casually walked away as though nothing had occurred. He was a generous man, and during his married life he and his wife, affectionately known as 'Uncle Alex' and 'Aunt Eliza' by all, took into their home a number of homeless children, educated and raised them as their own.
[According to Joseph Warren Fulton, Jr., there were at least three girls; "the one who married Samuel Jacobs; Ellen Brown, to whom John Wesley Stever would bring great big apples; and another. One boy, Morris Fulton, took their name; they were to give him either money or a team of horses and a wagon when he reached twenty-one".]

One day when Robert Alexander [see NOTE above] was walking from Fairfield to his farm a mile west of town, a small but vicious mongrel dog attacked him, biting him on the ankle. In an attempt to free himself from his antagonist, he made such a powerful attempt to kick it off that he threw his leg out of joint at the hip, and was compelled to lie down at the side of the road in the grass until some one went to bring the old family doctor. It is not related what he said, but his vocabulary was reputed to be quite voluminous and able to cope with such an occasion."

The following information about Alexander was written by Susan Fulton Welty: "At one time, Robert Alexander [see NOTE above] conducted a combination drug and bookstore in Fairfield. It was said to be the first in the county. Both these utilities were in those days considered a necessity in the community. He at one time operated an ox-drawn wagon train, hauling supplies from Keokuk, Iowa, to various destinations. He hauled a great amount of the materials used in the construction of the new Capitol building at Des Moines, Iowa, following the change of office of State Government from Iowa City to Des Moines. Later, even before the building was completely finished, he was elected by his community to a seat as Representative in the legislative branch of State government, where he served faithfully and well. [Error, Alexander R., son of James Fulton (Gen. 4) served in the legislature, not Alexander.] A very excellent portrait of him now hangs in the archives department of the State Historical Building in Des Moines. [In 1992 a search was made for this portrait by the staff of the Historical Society, but a picture of neither Alexander nor his nephew Alexander could be found.] His first home, on his Government-acquired farm, was a one room log house, later incorporated into a new frame house which he built. A considerable number of his descendants lived in that home, even down to and including great grandchildren. The original farm is still in the family [this was written in 1960, it has since been sold] having been given to a grand daughter, Elizabeth Fulton [Eliza, not Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Warren and Sarah Elizabeth Minear Fulton]. The deed and abstract show only two prior transfers, one by the Department of the Interior to Alexander Fulton, the other to his son Joseph Warren Fulton. In settling the latter's estate, the third transfer was approved by all heirs, and the farm deeded to the only daughter.

Joseph Warren Fulton, Jr. recalled that his grandfather [Alexander] went in 1876 to the Philadelphia Centennial as the Governor's representative. He [Joseph Warren, Jr.] and his brothers went to meet him [Alexander] when he came home. Joseph Warren was with his grandfather when the news came that Garfield was assassinated. He [Alexander] was picking green beans and garden truck to sell in Fairfield.

The following information about Alexander Fulton and the Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant Plank Road Company is from Susan Fulton Welty's book "A Fair Field":

"The second [Jefferson County] Court House, a brick building, was finished and placed in charge of the sheriff on May 2, 1851. He was ordered to keep it closed except for judicial purposes, meetings of political parties, church groups with no house of worship, lectures of a scientific, moral or religious character, plank road or railroad meetings, and medical conventions. It was often used for all these purposes. The plank road in question was one expected to be built from Burlington to Fairfield, a route used increasingly for both stage coaches and private travel. It was to mean an all season 'outlet to the river' assuring future prosperity. A plank road from Burlington to Mt. Pleasant was completed in 1851. Fairfield leaders in March that year organized the Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant Plank Road Company with W. H. Wallace as president and Barnet Ristine as treasurer. Samuel Jacobs surveyed the road; H. B. Mitchell and Alexander Fulton were hired to grade it for three miles east. A toll bridge was finished in 1853 over Skunk River. Then Charles Negus, the new president of the company, drove a horse and buggy for its quarter mile length to open it to the public. For a time tolls ran as high as $50 a month, for it was well patronized. But the Burlington-Mt. Pleasant plank road soon showed dangerous signs of wear, and talk of a coming railroad was in the air. Fairfield stockholders neglected or refused to pay their subscriptions, and the plank road from Mt. Pleasant to Fairfield was never built."

Other information from Susan Fulton Welty's book "A Fair Field" includes that fact that in the fall of 1854 Alexander Fulton of Jefferson County won first prize in a wheat contest with a yield of 26 bushels per acre.
Also, that Alexander Fulton contracted for $245 to put in the foundation walls at the Fairfield branch of the State University of Iowa.

In 1951 Eliza 'Lila' Fulton Morrissey told Susan Fulton Welty about Eliza's grandfather, Alexander Fulton: "He was very blunt and many people disliked him. Once someone hated him enough to girdle all of the promising young trees in his orchard one night. Another time he got disgusted with the way his wife was making his pants, and he cut out a new pair with his axe on his chopping block". Eliza 'Lila' Fulton insisted that her "grandfather was not mean...just abrupt. He was just Scotch!" she repeated again and again during the conversation.

From: The Fairfield Ledger, March 8, 1930, Page 1, col.3

FIVE GENERATIONS OF ODD FELLOWS (FULTON)

The September 24, 1946 Centennial of the State of Iowa Edition of the Fairfield Daily Ledger, Section P, page 2, highlights several family farms including the following information about Alexander Fulton's homestead West of Fairfield:

MANY FARMS IN SAME FAMILY FOR OVER CENTURY

Fulton Farm - 103 Years

Photograph of Homestead

The Fulton farm, one-fourth mile west of Fairfield, has been in the possession of a member of the same family since the land was acquired from the government in 1843. The family has owned it for 103 years.

Alexander Fulton was the original owner. The first house was a log cabin which was later enlarged. The house now standing on the farm was erected in 1893 after the old one had been torn down.

The original owner remained on the farm until his death in 1884. In his will he left half of the 40 acre farm to his widow, Eliza, and the other half to his son J. W. Fulton. When the mother died the son acquired the entire 40 acres. He kept the farm until his death in 1904.

The farm then went to his [J. W.'s] daughter, Eliza Fulton, since his wife had preceded him in death. The present owner is now Mrs. J. J. Morrissey [Eliza], of Ottumwa. She is the brother [sister] of Joe W. Fulton, 300 W. Hempstead, former member of the city council. Joseph Warren is a popular name in the Fulton family. The first came to Iowa from Ohio with his father, Alexander Fulton, in 1842 and became the second owner of the farm.

The second J. W. Fulton is Mr. Fulton who now resides at 300 West Hempstead street here in Fairfield. He has a son, J. W. Fulton who resides in Shrevesport, Louisiana, who also has a son by the same name, making four generations of J. W.s in the family.
[The property was sold and the house razed in 1966. A Hy Vee grocery store now stands on the land originally owned by Alexander Fulton.]

Alexander Fulton

Generation 4

Historical Notes

"1879 History of Jefferson County",

West face:

North face:

East face: