DAVID M. FULTON, a respected citizen of Hanover township, is descended from natives of the Emerald Isle. His grandfather, John Fulton, was the first member of this family to come to America, and was a distant relative of the numerous other emigrants of the same name who came from Ireland and settled in Hanover township, this county, about the same date. John Fulton was born about 1756, in County Derry, and in 1786 was married to Jane Hunter. In 1788 this young couple came to America, making their first location on a farm in Franklin county, Penn., where he labored at various employments. About 1798 they concluded to go farther west, and crossing the mountains made a temporary location in Hanover township, Washington Co., Penn. They brought their household effects, farming utensils, and family, in a wagon drawn by three horses, their two cows being driven along behind. In 1801 they settled on the farm where David M. is now living. Mr. Fulton became a prosperous and successful farmer. He died in 1832, followed by his widow in 1840, who was laid by his side in Paris cemetery. Their children were as follows: James, born in 1787, in Ireland; Annie, who never married, and lived to the age of ninety years; Margaret, who never married, and lived to he seventy-five years of age; Jane, died unmarried, and lived to be eighty-five years of age; and Mary, who married Joseph Bell, of Columbiana county, Ohio. David M. Fulton, whose name opens this sketch, was born February 12, 1827, on the same farm in Hanover township which he now owns, where he was reared to manhood. He was educated in the country schools of the neighborhood, and in 1867 was married to Martha Aten, a native of Hanover township, this county. She lived but a short time after her marriage, and for his second wife he married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Margaret (McGonnigle) Caldwell, of Hanover township. Mr. Fulton has always resided on the old homestead, and has always been a successful tiller of the soil. In politics he was formerly a Whig, then joined the Republican forces, with which he has ever since been identified, and both he and his wife are members of the Paris United Presbyterian Church. They have two sons, James H. and Andrew C., both working on the home farm.

Text taken from page 1113 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed March 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project. Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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