Thomas Fullerton Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1707-1708 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	THOMAS FULLERTON, president of the Fullerton Lumber Company, of 
Mitchell, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, July 14, 1853, a son of 
Samuel and Anna (Holmes) Fullerton, of whose fourteen children eleven 
are still living. The parents of our subject were likewise born in 
County Antrim, of Scotch-Irish parents, and there both were reared and 
educated, the father having been a seafaring man from his youth up, 
while for about twenty years he was a sea captain and ship owner. At the 
age of nineteen years he was a passenger on a sailing vessel bound for 
the United States, and after the boat was but a few days out the captain 
died, whereupon the first mate urged upon the passengers the expediency 
of making their peace with their Maker, since there was no one on board 
who knew aught about navigation. Mr. Fullerton, though but a boy at the 
time, had studied navigation and had considerable practical experience, 
and he forthwith took charge of the vessel, which he brought in safety 
to its port in New York city. For his services at this time he was 
tendered and accepted the position of first mate, and thereafter 
continued to follow the sea for a score of years, while he continued to 
own vessels for several years after his retirement. In 1884 or 1885 he 
became a resident of the United States, locating in Beloit, Kansas, 
where he has since lived a retired life, in the company of his devoted 
and cherished wife. They are members of the Presbyterian church, and he 
is a Republican in his political views. 

	The subject of this sketch was reared in his native county, where 
he received the advantages of the common schools. At the age of nineteen 
years he went to England and entered the government secret service, 
having relatives who held high office in said department. At the 
expiration of three and one-half years he resigned his position and came 
to the United States, locating in Clay Center, Kansas, in the spring of 
1876. There he secured employment in the lumber yard, receiving thirty 
dollars a month for his services. The yard was owned and operated by the 
Chicago Lumber Company, and after serving one year our subject was made 
manager of the business, retaining this incumbency until the 1st of 
January, 1881. In the following month he went to Niobrara, Nebraska, 
where he engaged in the same line of business on his own responsibility. 
In 1882 he sold the yard and came to Mitchell, South Dakota, where he 
has since been established in the lumber business, this city being the 
headquarters of the enterprise, in which Mr. Fullerton is associated 
with his brothers, James G. and George J. In the spring of 1903 the 
company was incorporated under the title of the Fullerton Lumber 
Company, and with official corps as follows: Thomas Fullerton, 
president; George J. Fullerton, vice-president; and James G. Fullerton, 
treasurer. This is one of the large lumber concerns of the northwest, 
owning yards in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, the entire 
number of yards being about forty and the same being located at various 
eligible places. The family name is most conspicuously identified with 
the great lumbering industry. Samuel H. Fullerton, a brother of our 
subject, is president of a lumber company which is capitalized for two 
and one-half million dollars, with headquarters in the city of St. 
Louis, and Robert, another brother, is vice-president of the 
corporation, which dates its foundation back to the year 1866, and which 
is known as the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company. The company of which the 
subject is president is incorporated with a capital of one million 
dollars, having unrivaled facilities for the transaction of its enormous 
business. 

	Mr. Fullerton is known as a staunch advocate of the principles and 
policies of the Republican party, and in 1896 he was the nominee of his 
party for state senator, but he was defeated by the small majority of 
but twenty-one votes, the usual Democratic majority in the district 
being fully three hundred. In 1893, when there was so lamentable a 
failure of crops throughout this section, he donated ten carloads of 
coal for the relief of the poor, and his benefactions in other ways have 
been wide but signally unostentatious. In 1895 he was elected mayor of 
Mitchell, serving two successive terms of two years each and giving a 
clean and business-like administration of the municipal government. He 
was a member of the first council of Mitchell after its incorporation as 
a city and served as mayor from 1896 to 1900. He is president of the 
Mitchell Club, whose personnel comprises the leading business men of the 
city and whose object is primarily to advance the best interests of the 
place. In 1901 Mr. Fullerton was appointed, under Governor Herreid, a 
member of the state board of agriculture, in which capacity he served 
two years, and in 1902 he was elected a member of the capital committee, 
his colleagues on the board being Harry L. Bross and U. L. Davidson. Mr. 
Fullerton is not formally identified with any religious body, but 
attends and contributes to the support of the Presbyterian church, of 
which Mrs. Fullerton is a zealous member. 

	In the year 1880 Mr. Fullerton was united in marriage to Miss 
Jennie Reed, of Clay Center, Kansas, and their only child, Robert, met 
his death at the untimely age of five years, having been accidentally 
shot and surviving his injuries but a few hours.