Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 13] is a member of the firm of Wick & Fulkerson, proprietors of the leading restaurant of New Castle, located at No. 10 Apple Alley. He was born in New Castle July 8, 1869, and is a son of J. Smith and Jennett (Pattison) Fulkerson, grandson of William and Margaret (Tidball) Fulkerson, and a great- grandson of John and Mary (Alky) Fulkerson. John Fulkerson was descended from German forefathers, and we find him first as a resident of Virginia, living near Rappahannock, Fredericks County, where his son William, our subject's grandfather, was born. As he was neither a slave owner, nor a sympathizer in that practice which permitted the greatest inhumanities and outrages to be performed upon a down-trodden and enslaved race, he set out in 1810 with his wife, and traveled three hundred miles on horseback to New Castle, where he secured a farm of 200 acres, lying between the present farm of the Hon. Robert J. Fulkerson, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work, and the city of New Castle. He then returned to Virginia, and with horses and wagons transported his personal effects and household furniture, and all the children but two, who chose to remain in Virginia. The farm was slightly improved, there being a small log-cabin and, a few acres cleared of the original timber land, which made a very fertile garden plot. So it was with comparatively little trouble, after reaching the destined spot, to install his family, and accustom himself to the strange surroundings; there he reared his family and with the assistance of his sons cleared the land. Both he and his good wife were over eighty years of age at their death. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and helped to construct the first religious edifice. There were eight children born to him, as follows: Lewis; John; Roger; James; Eliza, the wife of Thomas Gillespie; William; Richard; and Margaret, the wife of William Cox.
William Fulkerson, our subject's Grandfather, was born in the old State of Virginia, and with his parents came to New Castle, and helped to establish the new home on the frontier. He inherited a part of the large tract his father bought, and followed farming in New Castle all his life, dying at the age of seventy-five years. His wife, who was a daughter of David Tidball, never lived to pass the half-century mark. Their children were: Isabella; Harry; Rose; William; David; J. Smith; and Margaret.
Our subject's father was born in New Castle, Feb. 19, 1833, and when thirteen years of age became a workman in the nail manufactory, and later went into oil speculation. In 1862 he enlisted in Co. C, of the 10th Pa. Reserve, and served three years, and is to-day a member of the U. V. L. Lodge. He was wounded at Charles City Cross Road, losing by the fortune of war the end of one finger; and having his collar-bone and three ribs broken. After being discharged from the hospital, he returned to his regiment, and soon after experienced a sun- stroke, from which he has never fully recovered. When the war was over, and he once more made New Castle his home, he indulged in gardening some, and also assisted his son in the restaurant. He has a fine home on West Washington Street, which he bought some years ago and enlarged and beautified. His wife was born Sept. 3, 1836, and died Aug. 23, 1891. His children were: Agnes M., born Feb. 20, 1858, the wife of Revillian T. Wick; David P., our subject; Jennie A., born Aug. 28, 1872; and Samuel J. R., born Sept. 21, 1877, a designer and engraver.
Our subject at sixteen years of age entered the Shenango Glass Factory, and worked four years as a gatherer, but was compelled to forsake that occupation by reason of an injury to his hand. In 1891, in company with R. T. Wick, he bought the Maitland restaurant, and refitted it throughout and put in a fine range; the restaurant occupies two floors. It was started as the second restaurant in New Castle, and although many have come into the inviting field, it easily heads the procession with the largest and best trade of any that run day and night. Their patronage is very select, and they take pride in keeping up their reputation by catering in the most satisfactory manner to the wants of the inner man.
Mr. Fulkerson married, Oct. 13, 1892, Miss Anna Dean, daughter of Hanson Dean of Brighton, Pa., and has one child, Verna, born Oct. 19, 1895. Like every Fulkerson in the county, in his political views he countenances no candidate for public office who is not of the Republican complexion.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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