Pendleton County, West Virginia Biography of John A. FULTZ ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Sue Schell , March 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, Pg. 323 &324 BIO: John A. Fultz, Pendleton, Co., WV John A. Fultz. Probably there is no profession that demands so much tact, judgement, patience, specialized knowledge and natural executive ability as that of the schoolmaster, and the man or woman who enters into this important field, selecting it as his calling, must be prepared to make many personal sacrifices, to endure many disappointments, often to spend himself for others without apparent gratitude in return, and to give the best years of his life without the emoluments that equal effort would surely bring in any other profession. It is a profession for which there is no weights and measures. The material with which it deals is rather the life stuff upon which impressions are eternal and affords the man who would serve the race an opportunity than which there are none greater. One of the men who has dedicated his life to the work in this spirit is John A. Fultz, county superintendent of schools of Pendleton County, who has been connected with public school work since 1903. The birth of John A. Fultz occurred in Bethel District, Pendleton County, July 21, 1882, and he traces his ancestry back in this country to John Fultz, a Hessian soldier, who after his discharge from the British Army following the surrender at Yorktown decided to remain in the New World, and settled in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It is stated that the majority of these Hessian Soldiers who remained in America sent back home to Germany for their sweethearts, whom they married upon their arrival, and it is thought that probably John Fultz was one who did so. A son of John Fultz, Jacob Fultz was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, but left his native state for Rockbridge County, Virginia, being the first of the name to locate in the Old Dominion. Joseph Fultz, son of Jacob Fultz, and grandfather of John A. Fultz, was born at Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia in 1817, and about 1840 he came to Pendleton County, then still a part of Virginia. His original settlement was in the Sugar Grove community by the subsequently moved to the Brandywine locality, and there he resided during the remainder of his life. He was a hatter by trade, and also had mastered the trades of coopering and cabinet-making, and in addition to following all of these callings he engaged in farming upon a small scale. Joseph Fultz married Catherine A. Keister, a daughter of John Keister, and they had the following children: Susanna who never married, is living in the home of her brother Martin; Amos, who died at Brandywine, was a farmer; John A., who lived near Dale Enterprise, Virginia, and there died; Millie, who died unmarried; Jacob, who is engaged in farming in the vicinity of Brandywine; Martin, who is the father of Superintendent Fultz; and Elizabeth, who is unmarried and lives at Salem, Virginia. Martin Fultz was born in Pendleton County, October 4, 1853, and is still engaged in farming near Brandywine. He is a man of substantial means and stands deservedly high in the esteem of his neighbors. He married Mary Jane Bolton who was born on the top of South Fork Mountain, June 30, 1862, a daughter of George Bolton, the descendant of early German immigrants who came to Pennsylvania or Maryland at a very early day, and there made a permanent settlement. George Bolton married into the Guthrie family, Irish people and pioneers of Virginia. When the South withdrew from the Union George Bolton gave it his support, enlisted in the Confederate Army, and served with it until the close of the war, escaping without having been either wounded or captured. Returning home, he resumed his peaceful activities and was a farmer until he died at the age of sixty years. For many years he and his wife maintained their home on the top of South Fork Mountain. The children born to Martin Fultz and his wife were as follows: John A., whose name heads this review; Fannie E., who was second in order of birth; Frank A., who is a farmer and carpenter of Brandywine, is married; Sally P., who is the wife of William L. Guyer, of Columbus, Ohio; and Minnie O., who was formerly a public school teacher, is now living at home. From childhood John A. Fultz was an ambitious pupil, and after he had attended the country schools of his native locality he took courses at Harrisonburg, Virginia, and in the Keyser Prepartory School and the regular course in the Shepherdstown College State Normal School. For a number of years he was one of the most popular of the teachers in the rural districts, all of his work in this connection having been done in Pendleton County, with but one exception. During the summer months he also taught in different normal schools, and his experience has been a wide and varied one. Upon each of his schools he left the impress of his character. Possessed as he is with the highest educational ideas, his schools were brought into line with the best and a wholesome intellectual sentiment created. In the larger life if the community his influence has always been widely felt as an impulse toward progress and an enriched life. In July, 1919, Mr. Fultz entered upon a broader field of activity, at that time assuming the duties of the office of county superintendent of the school of Pendleton County, to which he had been elected in November of the preceding year, to succeed Supt. H. H. Cook. Mr. Fultz has inaugurated some very wise reforms and introduced a number of measures which are certain to be of great benefit to the pupils and teachers. A strong effort has been made under his administration to place a dictionary in every school in the county and to establish the nucleus of a library in each one, and this movement is nearing a successful conclusion. A man of unusual ability for stimulating others to a whole-souled effort, he has succeeded in having a 100-percent enrollment of his teachers in the State Educational Association. The organization of clubs of a literary character over the county has been urged and encouraged by Mr. Fultz, and these societies show much progress. The introduction of a program for the physical exercise of the pupils is another innovation of Mr. Fultz, and his teachers have been urged and instructed with reference to following this program. While these exercises are not inaugurated in all of the schools as yet, many have adopted the program, and Mr. Fultz expects the others will do so in the near future. He urges the teachers to take up the study of the higher branches so as to prepare themselves for work in the higher fields of education. Among other plans for the future at which he is earnestly working is that of a consolidation of the rural schools, which, if he can obtain the co-operation of the patron of the districts, will go a long way toward securing better facilities for training the youths of the rural districts. He is also planning a four year high school at Franklin instead of the three-year one now in operation, and the establishment of a junior high school. Mr. Fultz is one of the educational enthusiasts of West Virginia, and is prominently identified with the different associations of the commonwealth, especially with the State Teachers’ Association and the State County Superintendents’ Association. His personal acquaintance with the county superintendents of the state extends to all but two. Mr. Fultz is unmarried. During the late war he was one of the zealous workers in the county, and did everything within the power to assist the Government in carrying out its policies. His fraternal affiliations are limited to his membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He belongs to the Lutheran Church. Mr. Fultz is a deep student of the science of education, and, in addition, is a teacher by birth and temperament. He is also a maker of teachers, and those under him are fortunate in having his constructing and stimulating supervision. In fact, he possesses in full measure the supreme gift of the teacher, the perfect union of power and purpose to put light and joy and truth and beauty into other lives, and his prime interest is in character forming education, and because of these many excellent qualifications the pupils of Pendleton County are making remarkable progress.