Shaver, F. A., Arthur P. Rose, R. F. Steele, and A. E. Adams, compilers.  "An
Illustrated History of Central Oregon." ("Embracing Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam,
Wheeler, Crook, Lake, & Klamath Counties")  Spokane, WA: Western Historical
Publishing Co., 1905.  p. 512.
 
COLONEL JAMES FULTON

     was one of the best known men of Sherman and Wasco counties, being a
forceful and leading character in all good work of forwarding the interests of
the country, as well as in pioneer efforts. He was born in Indiana while his
father and mother were natives of Virginia and North Carolina, respectively,
being of Irish and German extraction and were married in 1793. He was reared in
his native haunts until the time of his marriage, which, also, was celebrated in
Indiana. His chosen bride, Priscilla Wells in maiden life, was born in Kentucky,
her parents being natives of North Carolina or Virginia. The family of Wells
came on to the territory now embraced in Kentucky in very early days and, in
fact, Mrs. Fulton's father was a scout for Daniel Boone, which celebrity was a
relative of the Fulton family. The Wells family was one of the strong American
families of early colonial days and was well known, possessing many members who
were personages of note. General Wells, a noted Indian fighter and pioneer of
Indiana, was a member of this family. The Fulton family, also, was one of those
strong ones which furnished patriots for the various struggles that fell to the
lot of the colonists and the rising young republic destined to throw its shadow
around the globe. Our subject partook of the strong pioneer spirit that was so
developed in his family, and sought fields to explore, and determined to take
forward in its onward course the star of empire that was shining westward. Soon
after his marriage he took his bride and together they traveled to Missouri
where they opened a place and remained for seven years. Then, it being 1847, his
spirit burned to try the fortune of the westmost west, and, accordingly, he
prepared ox teams and with his young family started across the plains toward the
mecca of the west, the Willamette valley. They threaded the unknown regions with
the help of the light trail so recently marked out and in due time, after
innumerable hardships, they came to, the Cascades, having utilized their wagon
boxes for, ferries, as occasions required, especially having a hard time at Buck
Hollow on the Des Chutes, where they had thus used the improvised boat. They
made their way over the new Barlow trail across the Cascades and in the end
landed, weary and worn, in the Willamette valley. After search, Mr. Fulton made
settlement in what is now Yamhill county, and at once set to work to improve and
subdue the donation claim he had taken. The next year, 1848, he went to
California to mine, was successful and then returned in a Spanish sailing vessel
to Astoria. He was a prominent man in all lines of worthy endeavor there from
the start and was soon elected colonel of the militia. Later, in 1855-6, he
served in the Indian wars, being private and quartermaster.
     During his business life Colonel Fulton was engaged in general farming,
stock raising and speculating in land and on stock drives. He used to drive
stock to the mines and as early as 1857, he located a stock ranch east of the
Cascades, his home being on Tenmile creek, but the stock being placed mostly
east of the Des Chutes. The winter of 1861 was a hard one and his losses
aggregated one thousand head. From the time of this move until his death the
colonel was a resident of Wasco and Sherman counties.
     On March 16, 1896 the summons came for him to lay down the cares of life
and enter upon the realities of another world. He lacked then but one day of
being eighty years of age. He had hosts of friends and many evidences of sincere
mourning, widespread and universal, were to be seen on every hand. In January,
1902, the widow, aged eighty-six, was taken by death, being at the time in St.
Vincent hospital in Portland.
     Colonel Fulton always took an active part in political matters and held
many responsible positions. In 1870 he represented the county of Wasco in the
state legislature. In 1880 he was presidential elector for eastern Oregon. From
Paoli, Orange county, Indiana, his birth place, he traveled by wagon to the
coast and was a sturdy and progressive man. His mother Catherine (Lynch) Fulton,
a native of North Carolina was a cousin of Thomas Lynch who signed the
Declaration of Independence. She was, also, the granddaughter of Mollie Souther,
who loaned the Continental Congress two hundred thousand dollars of Dutch money
to assist in the prosecution of the war of independence. The families on both
sides have not been wanting in that patriotism and stamina which marks the real
American citizen, and before the United States existed they showed that same
commendable spirit, and Colonel Fulton, a worthy descendant of such ancestors,
lived and died a man of honor, uprightness and wisdom.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in July 2007 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.