James, Jr., was born in East Fallowfield, Chester Co., 4th mo. 8th,
1813. His parents, James and Ann Fulton (of Sadsbury and Kennet
respectively), were the first to make their home in what subsequently
became the village of Ercildoun, which name it received chiefly through
the instrumentality of the son.
Even in youth the son was distinguished by an inborn sense of right, which, combined with a kind and loving disposition, restrained him from indulging in the rough games and wild pranks peculiar to boyhood. His opportunities for obtaining a scholastic education were very meagre, yet he became a remarkably well-educated man. His love of truth and justice were great, and in efforts to vindicate the right he was untiring. He became the peacemaker of his neighborhood.
While in his minority he identified himself with the friends of total abstinence from intoxicants, and also from tobacco, and thenceforward upheld these testimonies both by precept and example. At the age of fifteen he bacame a zealous Whig, and took an active part in the campaign of 1828. He was never satisfied to assist any one to a position of trust in the meeting, the county, the State, or the nation who had not given evidence in the past, or a pledge for the future, of a determination of the highest interests of mankind.
There was no form of wrong-doing, however shielded by place or power, that did not receive from him indignana protest. The slave fleeing from Southern bondage found in him a ready helper, as the records of the Underground Railway abundantly testify.
He was the leader in organizing the East Fallowfield Anti-Slavery Society. The first meetings were held in Taylor's school-house, near Newlin's mills, in the summer of 1835. The society dates from the 8th mo. 29th of that year. It numbered thirty-four members and held its meetings quarterly.
In the winter of 1835 he wrote a series of articles for the West Chester Register in opposition to the colonization scheme, feeling that it was not an adequate or even an auxiliary remedy for the evils of slavery.
In the winter of 1836-37 he was engaged in lecturing and securing subscriptions to the anti-slavery publications in southern Chester, Lancaster, and York Counties. In most cases he was granted respectful hearing.
On the 18th of 12th mo., 1837, he addressed a letter to Henry Clay, suggested by the inquiry, made by the latter in the Senate of Northern members, whether the continued excitement and multitude of petitions did not grow out of the manner in which Congress had treated the petitioners. In this he wrote that "by far the greater body of them have acted from a deep, abiding, thoroughly-fixed and immovably-grounded religious conviction of the sinfulness of slavery, of the constitutional power of Congress over it in the District of Columbia, the Territory of Florida, and over the inter-State slave-trade, and no power on earth can check them in the discharge of their duty in this matter, nor will the petitioning cease, nor will the 'excitement' abate until the cause is removed.
He continued to lecture and write against slavery and intemperance through the succeeding years of his life.
winter of 1839 he held many meetings in Lancaster and York counties. At
Soudersburg, notwithstanding the sheriff threw around him the protection
of the law, it was not sufficient to enable him to proceed; the meeting
was broken up in great confusion, the mob threatening violence to himself
and his friends. One who was present writes: "Never in all our
knowledge of James Fulton, Jr., did his loving amiability shine out more
conspicuously than in his behavior before these vulgar mobs.
He was subjected to many indignities while pleading the cause of the oppressed, even near his own home. He was insulted, maltreated, pelted with eggs, and on one occasion he and George H. Earle, of Philadelphia, were driven from an adjacent village by the mob with clubs and stones.
Although prior to 1844 he had been opposed to the formation of an anti-slavery political party, after that date he labored in its interests.
In the winter of 1844 an anti-slavery meeting, held in the Friends' meeting-house at Ercildoun, was broken up by a mob. Its further use for such meetings was refused. Being also denied access to the school-houses, the friends of freedom, although poor in means, conceived the plan of putting up a free hall. This was warmly seconded by the liberal-minded of various opinions, and resulted in the erection of the "People's Hall." whose use and benefits were untrammeled with conditions of sect, party, clan, or clime.
The rioters were arrested and tried (February term, 1845) and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and put the costs upon the prosecution, notwithstanding Judge Bell's charge to the contrary.
James Fulton was indifferent to no duty of philanthropy, negligent of no obligation arising out of ordinary relations of life, and was as diligent in the labor as he was fervent in spirit. Though born and educated in a secluded condition, and courting and enjoying retirement, his thoughts and aspirations bounded to the remotest verge of his country. Bred to the occupation of the farmer, he ever turned the furrow of thought as his plowshare was turning the furrow of the field. His life was one unbroken toil of the body and mind. He was one of the most active and efficient of those who have made Chester County famous for its reform spirit throughout the Nation. He died Aug. 24, 1850.
The last public measure in which he took part was the securing of daily mail to his vicinity, obtaiined, after persistent effort, a few months before his death.
JOHN FULTON, an emigrant from the north of Ireland, and of Scotch descent, came about 1750, and settled near Oxford, Pa. He was captain in the patriot army during the American Revolution. His son James was the father of James J. Fulton who married Nancy A. Ramsey. To them were born four sons--William T., Joseph M., James, and Hugh R., the latter an attorney in Lancaster--and two daughters,--Rachel and Jane, both deceased in their infancy.
WILLIAM T. FULTON was born in West Nottingham, Feb. 27, 1835, on the place where his grandfather had located. He was educated in the common schools, and later at the Jordan Bank Academy. He engaged in farminghen learned the blacksmithing trade, and later taught school some two years. He read law with "the Great Commoner," Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, and afterwards 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 f 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 justice of the peace in 1863, re-elected in 1868, and again in 1873, resigning Nov. 1, 1876, to accept a seat in the Legislature, to which he was that year elected, and to which he was re-elected in 1878. In the Legislature he was a member of many important committees, among which were those of Judiciary, general and local, and of Federal Relations, of which latter 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., is a director in the Oxford National He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and one of its trustees; also belongs to Fairview Lodge No. 334, I. O. O. F., is a director in the Oxford National Bank, and associate counsel of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Central 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.