George N. Fulton
George William Newman Fulton (1834-1894) was a noted potter who worked in Allegheny County, Virginia and in Fincastle, Virginia.
Early life
George N. Fulton was born in Fultonham, Ohio in 1834 or 1835.[1] His father, James Fulton, was a local potter. His mother, Mary Ellen Newman Fulton, oversaw the family as George Fulton learned his trade from his father.
Military Service
George Fulton was 28 years old when he enlisted as a private in the Union Army on July 23, 1862, with Company E of the 9th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment. In November 1864 he transferred to Company B of the 1st West Virginia Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment. A family tradition says that George Fulton was made a prisoner by Confederate forces at White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia. It was while escaping from the Confederate troops that he saw the clay deposits in a cave near Potts Creek.
Pottery Business
After his military service and marriage to Sarah Ellen Schaffer and work in Parkersburg, West Virginia, George Fulton moved to Potts Creek in Allegheny County, Virginia, where he established his business from 1867 to 1875. There he provided stoneware for kitchens and business, as well as more ornate wares for the home. "He signed his more ornate pieces, but also crafted milk crocks and kitchen wares. Most were gray with indigo markings."[2]
The remains of his kiln are near Arritt's in Allegheny County. "The Fulton pottery kiln is located approximately one mile south of Boiling Spring, Virginia, being situated about thirty-five yards southeast of Route 18 in a relatively flat agricultural field. Recorded in 1936 in conjunction with a WPA project, the pottery site was tested archaeologically in 1987 by Washington and Lee University. The site consists of the remains of a circular stoneware pottery kiln forming a mound approximately twenty feet in diameter and rising some six feet above the ground surface, as well as an associated waster pile exhibiting heavy surface concentrations of salt-glazed stoneware waster sherds and various kiln furniture fragments located roughly six yards northwest of the mounded kiln remains. This site is identified by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources as 44AY184, Fulton Kiln A.[3]
Death and Burial
George N. Fulton died in 1894 and is buried in the Nofsinger Family Cemetery near Fincastle, Virginia.[4]
References
- ↑ Botetourt County Historical Society. "Fulton Pottery."
- ↑ Botetourt County Historical Society. "Fulton Pottery."
- ↑ "The Remarkable Stoneware of George N. Fulton, Circa 1856-1894". by Kurt C. Russ.
- ↑ "Pvt. George William Newman Fulton"
Bibliography
- Bess, Leila Blanche. 1936. "Fulton Pottery" and "Dan Arritt." IN: Nancy J. Martin-Perdue, Charles L. Perdue. 1996. Talk about Trouble: A New Deal Portrait of Virginians in the Great Depression. University of North Carolina. Pages 39–45. https://books.google.com/books?id=VfkPKhinsZ0C&lpg=PA39
- Ceramics in America 2004 (Ceramics in America Annual) Paperback – October 5, 2004. by Robert Hunter (Editor). Chipstone Press. ISBN 978-0972435338.
- Historic Fincastle (Fincastle, Va.). G.N. Fulton: George Newman Fulton. Fincastle, Va: Historic Fincastle, 1987. OCLC 53034011.
- Kessler, Dorothy S. 1987. "George Newman Fulton; Potter in Fincastle, Virginia. 16 pages.
- "The Remarkable Stoneware of George N. Fulton, Circa 1856-1894". by Kurt C. Russ.
- Russ, Kurt C. 1996. "Making Pottery in Botetourt County". Journal of the Roanoke Valley Historical Society. 13, no. 2: 59-74. OCLC 857064108.