Reference: Note dated Mon, 24 Jan 2000 23:59:39 from Glenda & Doug Ripple <dgripple@atlascomm.net> on Subject:William Fulton Dear Glenda, Regarding your search for information on William Fulton born 1 March 1 1839 Red River, Texas and Sarah William Dinwiddie born 29 June 1844 Red River, Texas and their descendant Lucy Ada Fulton born 8 March 1871, have you checked out the following tax list/census sources listed on Ancestry.com ? 1846 FULTON, WILLIAM Lamar County TX No page No. listed, No Twnship listed, TX Tax List Index 1840-1849 1870 FULTON, WILLIAM Red River County TX page 10, Clarksville P.O., TX Federal Census Index 1880 FULTON, WILLIAM Red River County TX page 194, E.D. 99, TX Federal Census Index A William Dinwiddie appears on page 15, Clarksville P.O., Red River Co, TX 1870 census. I am assuming the Red River you mentioned is a county. When I checked the Geographic Names Information System at URL: http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/gnisform.html Red River is listed not only as a county, but also as other features (cemetery, stream) in different counties. Lamar Co TX is just west of Red River Co TX. I checked the Ancestry's Redbook and Everton's Handybook for Genealogists that states that Lamar Co. was formed in 1840/41 from Red River Co. The Red River Co, TX was an original county formed in 1836. Since these areas are so close, perhaps the William Fulton in Lamar Co in 1846 is related to your William Fulton in Red River Co. When checking the Fulton-L archives for Dinwiddie, it appears that this is one of the surnames that co-exists with Fultons in other geographic areas. One note posted 12 Oct 1997 mentioned the will of a Mary Polly Dinwiddie's father that was probated in Bath Co, VA, where there is lots of Fulton activity in adjoining counties of Rockbridge and Augusta, VA. (For information on those VA Fultons, please see Norma Jennings web site on Fulton Manuscripts at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~jennings/manuscript/fultindx.htm - scroll to the bottom for the VA groups). The note further states that Mary Dinwiddie migrated to Jessamine, Shelby Co, KY. Shelby Co, KY is another Fulton area. I am NOT suggesting that this has anything to do with your relatives, but rather knowing the general migration patterns can be of help. Your best bet is to focus on where you know your relatives are from - the Red River TX area (verify you have the correct Red River area) and "dragnet" for all appropriate records. On a side note, the Bath Co, VA area is relevant to Robert Fulton of steamboat fame. In the book, Robert Fulton A Biography by Cynthia Owen Philip, 1985, NY on pages 11-13 states: "Early in 1786, Fulton was taken ill with blood-spitting inflammation of the lungs, probably tuberculosis, a common Philadelphia scourge. Contemporary cures for consumption included blisters, purges, prunes, salt in large doses, laudanum, clear mountain air, and exercise. Poor Richard's Almanack advocated a concoction of red roses and niter to be taken by the teaspoonful four to eight times a day depending on the urgency of the case. Fulton chose to visit the Warm Springs at Bath, Virginia. "Ye Famed Warm Springs," as George Washington called it when he visited as a young surveyor in 1748, had developed into a rustic but fashionable resort. In addition to a high elevation, from which the upper Potomac could be viewed, and its healthful waters-hot enough to boil an egg- it offered dancing, gambling, theatricals, horse racing, and a chance to rub shoulders with such luminaries as the Fairfaxes, the Carters, and the Washingtons. Among the local residents of Bath was an innkeeper and carpenter named James Rumsey. After having entrusted him with the building of his house at the spa, Washington was so impressed with his abilities that he sponsored his appointment as the chief engineer of the canal that was to bypass the Great Falls of the Potomac River. At the same time, Rumsey was secretly working on a boat that would be capable of ascending a river using the current as a propelling force. A catamaran, it had a paddle wheel in the center that activated long poles by means of which the boat "walked" up stream. Rumsey had demonstrated his invention privately for Washington in September 1784, and Washington was convinced the machinery was so easy to build, it would be a great boon to inland navigation. In 1785 or 1786, Rumsey began thinking about applying steam as a means of propulsion; the exact year was later a matter of fierce debate between him and Fitch. However, he had made virtually no progress, for he was preoccupied with the recalcitrant engineering problems presented by the Potomac canal. Because of Rumsey's penchant for secrecy, it is highly unlikely that Fulton heard about his work with steam at the time, even as gossip. Fulton returned to Philadelphia in splendid health and moved his shop to a more peripheral location, Front Street above Pine. He was not to reside there long, however, for within a few months he was making plans to study painting in London. He had acquired a letter of introduction, said to be from Benjamin Franklin to Benjamin West who, as the official history painter for George III, was one of the leaders of the London art world. Generous with his talent and his time, West had long served as the mentor of aspiring American artists who sought the instruction abroad that they could not find at home. In addition to the letter, Fulton had a purse of forty guineas, enough, he optimistically thought to last him at least a year. In May 1786 Fulton bought his mother a small manageable farm in Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania. Her older brother, the Reverend Joseph Smith, had moved there the previous year as a minister to the Presbyterian congregation, and the land was part of the property on which he settled. In September, Fulton also acquired three building lots as an investment in Washington, Pennsylvania, not far from his mother's farm. Where Fulton found the eight pounds for the down payment on the farm and the five pounds on the lots as well as forty guineas for his trip to England is puzzling. Philadelphia was suffering from the extended financial crisis that gripped the country as a postlude to the Revolutionary War. Bartering was prevalent, and it was exceedingly difficult for anyone, let alone a young artist, to accumulate hard money. The most realistic explanation for Fulton's prosperity is that he found a patron, perhaps one of the rich frequenters of Bath. Joseph Delapine, in his early nineteenth-century work on distinguished Americans, points to one Samuel Scorbitt. This may have been a misreading of Samuel Turbitt, Fulton's boyhood companion who, from later correspondence, seems an unlikely candidate. Always proud to announce that from the beginning he had made his own way, Fulton never spoke of an American patron, even to his closest friends." Roberta R. (Fulton) Hirth Harriman, New York 10926 FULTON web page at: http://www.frontiernet.net/~elisa96/hirth/fulton.htm