CRAVEN COUNTY, NC - BIOGRAPHIES - Joseph Fulford, 1817-1885 ----¤¤¤¤---- Biography of Joseph Fulford New Bern, North Carolina by great-granddaughter, Florence Fulford Moore Information listed on the marble obelisk on the Fulford-Hyman family plot in Cedar Grove Cemetery, New Bern, North Carolina, indicates that Joseph Fulford was born on September 20, 1817, (in Beaufort, North Carolina), and died on October 6, 1885 (in New Bern). But the information on the obelisk does not reveal his dedicated life to his family, his work, and his God and church that Joseph lived during his nearly sixty-nine years. As a young man, Joseph kept a small chapbook of expenses and family information from the time he left the Fulford family home in the Beaufort area near North River and moved inland to New Bern. (That chapbook came into my possession in 1962.) Information that Joseph Fulford wrote in this small book reveal that he and a cousin, G. M. Granade, arrived in New Bern in August of 1831, where they lived with Mr. C. Slover. Joseph’s uncle, Stephen Fulford, also lived in New Bern and operated a mercantile store in the thriving downtown area. The father of Joseph Fulford was Enoch Fulford, Sr., who married Ann Martin. Enoch and Ann had four children before Enoch’s untimely death at age thirty on September 24th, 1824. Ann Fulford married again but died in 1835. (Both Enoch and Ann Fulford Thomas are buried in the Old Burying Ground, Beaufort, NC.) At this time, many Carteret County families were moving into different parts of the United States, leaving the area by boat, horseback, or wagon train. The Fulfords were no exception, and many of Joseph’s uncles, aunts, and cousins left the region around 1824 with the intent to relocate to the Mobile, Alabama, region. Many Carteret families decided while enroute to settle along the way, many of them staying in the Plains, GA, area. While Joseph made his decision to move to New Bern, his three younger siblings, William Clarence, Enoch Jr., and Mary Hellen Fulford, apparently accompanied their father’s sister (Keziah Fulford) and her husband, David Hellen, the children’s legal guardians, on the migration. Letters from William Clarence in Alabama to his elder brother, Joseph, indicate that they were happy. The family members were impressed with the country they were seeing, the potential to make money on farming, buying land as well as setting up new businesses. (These letters are in the possession of Susan Brown Palladino, Carrollton, Georgia, cousin of Florence Fulford Moore.) Joseph began working at the Bank of Newberne. He relocated to the Merchants Bank after the Bank of Newberne closed in 1837. On May 20, 1840, the nearly twenty-three-year-old Joseph married seventeen- year-old Sarah Frances Hyman, daughter of Samuel Oliver Hyman and Mary Carraway Nelson, daughter of Captain John Sedgewick Nelson. Joseph and Sarah, over the years of their marriage, had fourteen children, of which six --Mary Ann, Eugenia Elizabeth, Francis Joseph “Frank,” Walter (my grandfather), Sarah Josephine, and Emma Catherine reached adulthood. (Eugenia Elizabeth married William Bardwell Bogart, and they had two sons. She died after the second child was born, and William married the eldest sister, Mary Ann. She raised her two nephews. Sarah Josephine and Emma Catherine never married. They moved to Greensboro to live with the Bogart family. Francis Joseph became an apothecary in New Bern and married Ida Hargett from the Silverdale NC area. They had a son and daughter. Walter (the sixth son) married Florence Berry and had five children: Richard Berry, Sarah Emma, Florence Marian, William Clarence, and Gerald (who was stung to death by a swarm of bees when he was around four years old). In the chapbook that Joseph kept during his bachelorhood and early years of his marriage, he entered information about his family and his siblings. One of his notes reads: “Enoch Fulford came to live with his brother in Newbern July 20, 1841, was born May 22nd 1825. Departed this life Wednesday morning, 9 l/4 o’clock 20th Oct. 1843. Enoch Fulford, after an ilnefs (illness) of a fortnight of congestion of the brain aged 18 yrs. 5 mos. and 3 dys.” This child was named for his father, Enoch Fulford, Sr., who died on September 24, 1824. Enoch, the elder, never knew that his wife, Ann, was pregnant with their fourth child. (Note: Enoch Fulford, Sr., was named for his maternal grand- and great-grandfathers, Enoch Ward, Junior and Senior, Enoch’s mother being Hannah Ward, wife of Joseph Fulford, who was murdered ca 1804.) Joseph’s brother, William Clarence, and their sister, Mary Hellen Fulford, returned to eastern North Carolina and lived with Joseph, his wife, and their family in New Bern. William Clarence worked as a clerk in a store in New Bern. He never married. (After years of research, Mary Hellen Fulford is yet undiscovered and still unknown.) When the Civil War began, Sarah Hyman Fulford’s two brothers, John Sedgewick Nelson Hyman and Samuel Oliver Hyman, Jr., volunteered to serve the Confederacy. John served as a private with the C. W. Second Regiment and was killed on March 3, 1862. Samuel served with Company K, Second Regiment, NC State Troops (known as the “Elm City Rifles”). He was killed at the battle of Chancellorsville VA on May 3, 1863. Joseph Fulford briefly served in New Bern’s Athens Guard militia unit. As hostilities increased, Joseph--like so many other New Bernians--moved his family to the safety of Greensboro, North Carolina. Civil War military records indicate that Joseph was classified as a deserter, yet for his service with the militia, Joseph was recognized at his death with a stone placed at the foot of his grave indicating his military service in the Athens Guard militia. Interestingly enough, the Merchants Bank of New Bern also relocated its employees and business at the same time to Greensboro during the Civil War. Joseph remained with this bank during the duration of war and when its personnel came back to New Bern. Further, paper money in various increments issued by the Merchants Bank carry the signature of J. Fulford. Joseph Fulford was a devoted husband and father. But he had another abiding love: his faith and his church. Joseph’s grandfather, Joseph Fulford (ca 1690-1778), had assisted in establishing Anglican churches in Old Bath County and in what is now Beaufort, North Carolina. Page 27 of Historic Christ Church, New Bern NC 1715-1977, by Gertrude Carraway, indicates that “...vestrymen named were Christopher Gale, Esq., Joseph Bell, Jno. Shaw, Jno. Nelson, Richard Whitehurst, Richard Williams, Richard Rustell, Jno. Shackleford, Thomas Merriday, Enoch Ward, JOSEPH FULFORD and Charles Cogdail.” As there were no Episcopalian ministers serving in any of the eleven parishes of North Carolina in 1727 to 1728, Joseph’s grandfather, along with other vestrymen in the town of Beaufort, would come by horseback or boat to New Bern and other Anglican churches in the region as frequently as possible, volunteering to act as readers for the parishoners to keep the churches alive. On page 179, The Crown of Life - History of Christ Episcopal Church, New Bern, NC, 1715-1950, by Gertrude Carraway, is a statement that on “May 23, 1875, Joseph Fulford was appointed vestryman and was present when Christ Episcopal Church was consecrated. Joseph also served as treasurer for the church in 1859.” Joseph Fulford lived a devout life and died of consumption, known today as tuberculosis. At his memorial service in Christ Episcopal Church, the following remembrance was distributed to the parishoners who attended his funeral: In Memoriam “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” Sacred to the memory of Mr. Joseph Fulford, who died on Tuesday morning, October 6th, A. D., 1885 in the 69th year of his age. By his uprightness, by his integrity, by his faithfulness in the discharge of his duties, he gained the confidence and esteem of our entire community. Many were the obstacles he had to encounter. Although himself for a long time an invalid, with a large and singularly afflicted family, and having in a short period of time lost his wife, a daughter, and two sons, yet amid all his trials he was never known to complain, but manfully fought the great battle of life and only when completely worn-out, entirely exhausted, did he succomb. On Wednesday afternoon the funeral services were held at Christ Church. For near thirty-five years, Mr. Fulford had been an honored member of the vestry of this church. A good man has gone to rest. How comforting to his distressed family is the assurance that “All that to the end endure the cross, shall wear the crown.” “That they who oft have sown in tears Shall Reap again in joy.” ...................... This biographical material was prepared from research being undertaken by great-granddaughter, Florence Fulford Moore. Joseph and Sarah Fulford’s sixth son, Walter (1860-1944), married Florence Elizabeth Berry in March 1890, and they had five children: Richard, Sarah, Florence, William Clarence, and Gerald. Richard married Thelma Credle, and their only surviving child is Florence Fulford Moore. A son, Richard Berry Fulford, Jr., died at birth. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Florence Fulford Moore FFFMoore@aol.com ___________________________________________________________________