Wapello County IA Archives Biographies.....Fulton, Charles Edward 1833 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 June 29, 2013, 4:21 pm

Source: See Below
Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher

MAJOR CHARLES EDWARD FULTON.

Many years have come and gone since Major Charles Edward Fulton passed away, yet
his memory is enshrined in the hearts of all who knew him while he was still a
factor in the world's work. In presenting to the public the representative men
of the city of Ottumwa and of Wapello county, who have by superior force of
character and undaunted energy, together with a combination of the qualities of
ability and sagacity, won for themselves commanding positions in public and
private life, there is no example more worthy of consideration and emulation
than that of Major Charles Edward Fulton. He rose above the commonly accepted
standard in business, and at the same time he possessed in high degree those
excellencies of human nature that win for men the regard of their fellows. His
enterprise and determination enabled him to surmount all difficulties and
obstacles in the path of business, and he advanced steadily to the goal of
success yet never concentrated his efforts upon professional interests so
entirely as to exclude an active part in public affairs. In fact, he was
numbered with that class of distinctively representative American men who
promote public progress in advancing individual interests and was a participant
in many movements and measures which have to do with the public good. His was an
honorable, upright life, characterized by loyalty in citizenship, by honor in
business and by fidelity in friendship. He was born in Loudoun county, Virginia,
November 13, 1833, a son of David and Jane (Carr) Fulton, likewise natives of
the same county. They removed with their family from the Old Dominion to Ohio
when their son, Major Fulton, was about nine years of age, settling near Urbana,
where they resided upon a good farm about two and a half miles east of the city
until called to the home beyond.

Major Fulton was one of a large family of children who reached adult age. He
resided on the farm through the period of his boyhood and youth, obtained his
education in the district schools and afterward engaged in teaching in the home
district. His father had landed interests in Iowa, and the son came to this
state to look over the property holdings of the father. Here he entered the Iowa
Wesleyan College at Mount Pleasant. He had previously been a student in the high
school of Urbana, Ohio, and throughout his life he was recognized as a man of
student tastes and habits. When his more specifically literary education was
completed he entered the law office of Judge Miller at Keokuk, who afterward
became United States supreme judge. Major Fulton further continued his studies
in the Harvard Law School, from which he was graduated in the class of 1860. He
then returned to Urbana, Ohio, but located for practice in Cincinnati, where he
entered into a partnership under the name of Fulton & Carr. In the summer of
1861 he was commissioned by Governor Tod of Ohio to raise a company of men at
Urbana for service in the Civil war. He accomplished this purpose and was
elected captain of what became Company A, Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
Late in the fall of that year they entered into active service in West Virginia,
becoming a part of the Army of the Potomac. They participated in the battle of
Port Republic in June, 1862, and following that engagement Captain Fulton was
promoted to the rank of major and was in command of his regiment at the battle
of Cedar Mountain, where he sustained a gunshot wound in the lung. He was then
in the hospital for several months, after which he returned home in September,
1862. A month or two later he was honorably discharged, owing to disability
occasioned by his wound.

Major Fulton then returned to Urbana and entered into partnership with his
brother, Judge R. C. Fulton, for the practice of law. In the autumn of 1865 he
came to Ottumwa and here opened a law office, engaging in active practice until
his death. He formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, I. N. Mast, under
the firm name of Fulton & Mast, this relation being maintained from 1868 until
the death of the senior partner, March 28, 1870. In his profession his
advancement was continuous. He achieved the highest distinction, and he deserved
it. It is the theory of the law that the counsel who practice are to aid the
court in the administration of justice. There was no member of the profession in
Wapello county more careful to conform his practice to a high standard of
professional ethics than Mr. Fulton. He never sought to lead the court astray in
a matter of fact or law and would not endeavor to withhold from it a knowledge
of any fact appearing in the record. He treated the court with the studied
courtesy which is its due and indulged in no malicious criticism because it
arrived at a conclusion in the decision of a case different from that which he
hoped to hear. Calm, dignified, self-controlled, free from passion or prejudice
and overflowing with kindness, he gave to his clients the service of great
talent, unwearied industry and rare learning, but he never forgot there were
certain things due to the court, to his own self-respect and above all to
justice and a righteous administration of the law which neither the zeal of an
advocate nor the pleasure of success would permit him to disregard. He was an
able, faithful and conscientious minister in the temple of justice and in his
private life was endeared to all by the simple nobility of his character.

It was on the 30th of June, 1863, that Major Fulton married Miss Tabitha A.
Mast, and after living in Urbana until the autumn of 1865 they came to Ottumwa.
Mrs. Fulton was born near Springfield, Ohio, December 10, 1841, and when three
years of age her parents removed with their family to Champaign county, Ohio,
where she spent about fifteen years, being reared upon her father's farm. They
then removed to Urbana, where she continued her education in the high school and
later entered the Urbana Collegiate Institute, from which she was graduated. In
1860 she went to Fort Edward, New York, becoming a student in the Fort Edward
Collegiate Institute, where she completed a course by graduation in the class of
1861. She has ever been a leading figure in the social circles of the city and
has also been very active in church and benevolent work. In 1882 she became a
charter member of the Shakespeare Club of Ottumwa, aiding in its organization.
This club has had a continuous existence and she is now its president. For the
past eleven years its meeting place has been her home. Mrs. Fulton is also a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, with which she became identified in
her early life. She has been actively identified with various branches of church
work and at one time was superintendent of the Sunday school. Out of the Mary
Brooks Thrall Bible class, which met in Mrs. Fulton's house, developed the idea
which took tangible form in the Ottumwa Hospital. The Ottumwa Hospital
Association was incorporated November 29, 1892, and the hospital opened July 1,
1894. Mrs. Fulton has since been identified with that institution and for six
years was president of the hospital association, which managed the business of
the hospital. Her work has counted for much in behalf of sanitary and health
conditions in Ottumwa as well as along various other lines of educational,
humanitarian and benevolent work in which she has been active, and her aesthetic
interest has found expression in her membership in the Ottumwa Art Club. Her
home is the meeting place every week of clubs and societies, for the spirit of
hospitality there reigns supreme. She is spoken of in terms of high esteem and
love throughout the city and county. To Mr. and Mrs. Fulton were born two
children: Florence, the wife of Bishop W. S. Lewis, a bishop of the Methodist
Episcopal church at Foo Chow, China, and Olive, the wife of Frank A. Nimocks, of
Ottumwa, and the mother of one son, Fulton A.

In all of her church and charitable work Mrs. Fulton had the earnest
indorsement, cooperation and support of her husband, Major Fulton, who was a
member of the church from his boyhood, his entire life being actuated by his
Christian belief and principles. His political allegiance was given to the
Republican party from its organization and he was mayor of Ottumwa for the years
1868-69. He made an excellent official record, discharging his duties with a
promptness and fidelity that left nothing to be desired. He held to high
standards in his profession and to even higher standards in private life. As a
citizen he did everything in his power to promote the welfare of the community.
He held friendship inviolable, and his devotion to home and family was one of
his most salient characteristics.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY IOWA
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1914


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