Randolph County, Georgia Genealogy and History - Presented by Genealogy Trails History Group

Angier, Nedom L., educator, physician, statesman, was born Nov. 10, 1814, in Acworth, N.H. In 1834-43 he taught school in Georgia. In 1843 he began the practice of medicine in Randolph County; and in 1847 moved to Atlanta, Ga. In 1867 he was a member of the Georgia state constitutional convention; and in 1868-72 was state treasurer of Georgia. In 1876-78 he was mayor of Atlanta; and took an active part in locating the state capitol in that city. He died Feb. 3, 1892, in Atlanta, Ga.
[Herringshaw’s National Library of American Biography: Contains Thirty-five Thousand Biographies of the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States, by William Herringshaw, 1909 – Transcribed by Therman Kellar]

HON. R.L. FULTON

In reviewing the records of the lives of successful men of the day and generation in which we live, it is interesting to the writer of such sketches to note from how many standpoints we much consider what may, and what may not be regarded as a successful career, and what is most worthy in such records of preservation, in order that we may present a true photograph of the character and achievements of the subject of such sketches.
The is peculiarly the case in undertaking the task of inditing, with any consideration for brevity, the political and official life of the subject of this sketch, the Hon. R.L. Fulton, of Galveston, Texas.
From the volumes of matter, in the way of newspaper clippings, carefully pasted in well-bound scrap books, it would be an easy matter to compile a voluminous history of interesting events of more than a quarter of a century, with which he has been a prominent actor; but to condense such a volume into a short biographical sketch, and at the same time preserve every feature of the strong characteristics of his life, is next to impossible.
Roger Lawson Fulton was born in Randolph county, Georgia, in 1839. His father, James H. Fulton, who died when the subject of this sketch was only four years old, was an educator of note in Georgia.
The death of his father left the responsibility of rearing and educating nine children upon his mother, Mary E. Fulton, with only limited means, but she was a woman of extraordinary energy and strong common sense, and she so wisely managed her small means as to give to each of her children a fair education, and to send them forth fairly equipped for the battle of life. Her high character and indomitable purpose seemed to have been impressed upon her offspring, and her influence over them was irresistible up to the time of her death, which did not occur until she was past four score years of age. She died respected and beloved not only by her offspring, but by all who knew her.
The eldest brother of the family, Thomas H. Fulton, removed to Texas in 1852, and settled at Lockhart, Caldwell county, and engaged extensively in mercantile pursuits. Six years later (1858), R.L. Fulton, the subject of this sketch, then only nineteen years of age, by his elder brother’s request, joined him in Texas and assisted him in business.
Being, however, in delicate health, and finding sedentary pursuits incompatible with a preconceived spirit of adventure, (which manifested itself before his leaving Georgia in his attaching himself to an expedition that had for its object the dislodging of the Indian Chief Billy Bowlegs from his jungle, in the Florida-Indian war), he concluded that inasmuch as the Mexican bandit Cortina, with a large force of Mexicans, was invading Texas, near Brownsville, to join Col. (“Old Rip”) Ford, who was raising a force to drive them from Texas soil.
Cortina, upon the advance of the Texas forces, retired into Mexico, and young Fulton, soon after, with ten gallant and adventurous young men, who had accompanied this expedition, went on horseback by way of El Paso, into Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico, and spent eleven months in those countries, encountering many dangers and difficulties, both from roving bands of Mexicans, and tribes of warlike Apache Indians, in one of which battles twenty odd Indians were killed, and young Fulton was shot through the thigh, with an arrow, from which he still carries an honorable scar.
Ascertaining, while in Arizona, that the Civil War, between the North and South, was in progress, he hastened to his home in Caldwell county, Texas, and joined a cavalry company in the Confederate states service, in which he was chosen a Lieutenant.
Later on he was elected a Captain, and his command being sent to Louisiana, to meet the threatened advance of General Banks into Texas, he saw hard service in that campaign, in which he had two horses shot from under him, and was highly complimented by the officers in command, both for his courage and devotion to duty.
After the surrender (or “Breakup”) of the Trans-Mississippi forces, congregated at Houston, Texas, many excesses were committed in Houston by the disbanded Confederate soldiers, half starved and desperate at the result of the struggle in which they had been so long engaged; but Capt. Fulton kept his Company together, and using them as a police force, guarded the persons and property of the citizens until every straggling soldier had left the city.
After giving each of his company an honorable discharge, and bidding each of them a sad farewell, he returned to Lockhart, where he again engaged in commercial pursuits, until the latter part of 1867, when he went to Galveston, where he has since resided.
Finding in Galveston many of his old soldier friends, with whom he was a prime favorite, he soon became the leader of the young Democracy of the Southern section of the State, and in 1869 he was put forward by that party as a candidate for Congress of the Galveston district. Nearly every newspaper in the district advocated his claims for the position, but owing to the fact that several other candidates of the same political faith came into the contest, which jeopardized the success of the Democratic party, and threatened the election of an extreme Republican to Congress, Captain Fulton, although the acknowledged favorite, withdrew from the contest for the purpose of securing harmony in the Democratic ranks. Other candidates, on the Democratic side, refusing to follow his disinterested example, caused the election of a Republican in the District.
Upon his withdrawal as a candidate for Congress, a strong pressure was brought to bear upon him by the press and people of the State, to become the Democratic Standard bearer for Governor of Texas, but he steadfastly refused upon the ground that his experience in public affairs was too limited to justify his entering upon such a contest.
Having been, for some years, a writer of acknowledged ability, in some of the leading newspapers in the country, he was, in 1872, employed by Col. Willard Richardson, proprietor of the Galveston News, the leading Democratic paper of Texas, if not of the South, as one of the editors of that paper, and continued in that position until he was nominated by the Democracy of Galveston as a candidate for Mayor, when he sent in his resignation, claiming in that document that he regarded his candidacy for the most important office within the gift of the people, as incompatible with the duties that developed upon him as an impartial chronicler and commentator of current events in a first-class newspaper.
During his connection with the Galveston News, Capt. Fulton waged a merciless and exterminating war against corruption, both in high and low places, and it was not to be expected that the corporations, combinations and rings that had their grip upon the throats of the people, would submit to his election, if fair or foul means could be sufficiently invoked to prevent it.
All that money could do to accomplish this feat was done; not only did his enemies induce a man, who was a delegate in the Convention that unanimously nominated him, to become a candidate against him, but by a fabulous expenditure of money induced the Republicans to nominate their candidate against him.
Because of his late warfare in the News, on capitalistic “rings” in Galveston, his enemies undertook, in the press and otherwise, to make it appear that Captain Fulton was a communist and agrarian by principle, and was seeking to array the poor against the rich, to the detriment of the established order of things, and to the damage of the welfare of the country.
Notwithstanding the falsity of these charges, unsustained by a single utterance he had ever made, they had a certain effect on the more conservative voting elements of the city, and together with the countless thousands of dollars that were spent to debauch voters and judges of election, resulted in his being counted out by twelve votes. The frauds perpetrated, in the vote and the count, became the by-word of all honest citizens, and not even the enemies of Captain Fulton had the hardihood to dispute that he was elected, though he was robbed for two years of the fruits of his well merited victory.
Two years later Captain Fulton was again nominated for Mayor, and although the same influences were used against him, and he was opposed by such a popular candidate as Ex-Governor F.R. Lubbock, he was triumphantly elected, by a majority of twenty-five hundred and thirty-three votes.
In his appointment to office he brought confusion upon his enemies, by appointing such men as forbid the thought that he was imbued with any other than patriotic principles, in his aspirations for place and power. For instance, he nominated for City Collector, his opponent for the nomination, Ex-Governor R.F. Lubbock; for City Engineer, General Braxton Bragg; and for City Attorney, Ex-Congressman and Ex-Supreme Judge A.H. Willie, and others of almost equal repute to fill all the other offices.
With such heads of departments, it was next to impossible for the administration to be otherwise than successful. At its beginning, city scrip was being hawked about the streets at fifty cents on the dollar; at its close all the city’s promises to pay were paid at par by the city treasurer. At its beginning the sanitary condition of the city was a stench in the nostrils of the community; at its close, two years later, it was acknowledged by press and people to be better than was ever before known. And so it was in every other department of the city government.
But in other respects he came into office at a fortunate time; at a time when he had an opportunity to do Galveston, Texas and the South, great good by cultivating amicable relations with Northern capitalists and people. In 1875 he received an invitation from the Mayor of Boston to accept the hospitalities of the city during the celebration of the centennial of the battle of Bunker Hill.
He visited Boston and participated with great credit, as shown by clippings from the daily press, in all of the festivities of that extraordinary occasion, and at the conclusion of the celebration, by invitation of the Mayors of New Haven, New York, Philadelphia and other great cities, he was the official guest of many of the largest cities in the country, and by his popular manners, his intelligence and his broad, patriotic views he did much to allay the bitter jealousies and animosities engendered by the war, and invite capital and emigration to the South.
He also in accordance with a resolution of the City Council of Galveston, which resolution recites the fact of his accomplishing much good by a former trip North, visited Philadelphia and was a guest of the city authorities of that City of Brotherly Love, during the Centennial Celebration of 1876, and again by invitation of the Mayors, before mentioned, he re-visited with his family, and was the guest of the cities he had formerly visited.
The complimentary mentions of Mayor Fulton, by the press of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, New Haven, etc., during his sojourn in the North and East, of which his plethoric scrap-book gives abundant proof, is satisfactory evidence of the creditable manner in which he discharged the delicate duties of representing properly, in these centres of wealth, culture and population, the best elements of the sentiment and manhood of Texas and the South.
Upon the expiration of the term of his office, his friends desired that he might again submit his name to the Democratic Convention for a renomination; but he declined to do so, insisting that if the people at large, without regard to political considerations, desired to retain his services, they could do so at the ballot-box, but not through convention manipulations.
Notwithstanding this determination, and the subsequent action of the Democratic Convention, in nominating a most unexceptionable candidate for the position, and the fact of another ex-Mayor running for the office on the Independent ticket, quite a large number of his old friends, regardless of the fact of the certain election of the Democratic nominee, voted for him on election day, as a testimonial of their unwavering confidence and esteem.
While the speculating element of the people of Galveston – those who desired to use the city government to further their own selfish schemes for plundering the honest tax-payers of their legitimate possessions – were delighted to see Mayor Fulton retired from the head of the city government, a great number of the best citizens deplored the event, for the reason that they knew him to be the personification of honesty, and that he would permit no jobbery in the administration as long as he could prevent it.
In all the wicked war of vilification and misrepresentation that had been waged against him, by those whose dishonest schemes he had exposed and thwarted, no person or newspaper had ever had the hardihood to so much as insinuate that we was wanting in personal honesty or official integrity.
It is not surprising, therefore, that at the next succeeding election, a large number of persons, who desired to have at the head of the city government a man above suspicion, should seek to induce Captain Fulton to again permit the use of his name for the office.
But he declined for the reason that he knew that the honest elements were not sufficiently solidified to contend with the sinister influences that were at work to get certain legislation of doubtful validity through the council, that it was known Captain Fulton would oppose, to the bitterest extremity, in the event of his election.
For the same reason he was unsuccessful, two years later, in overcoming the adverse tide of “ring” manipulation; but in 1883 – six years after the ending of his first term of office – the honest masses becoming again disgusted with the methods of the successive administrations, called in thunder tones for Captain Fulton to again come to the rescue, which he did; and he was elected by nine hundred and eighty-four majority, in spite of the vast amount of money spent to accomplish his defeat.
In 1885, two years later, another similar fight was made against him, and such frauds practiced at the ballot-box, through a lavish use of money, as to cause every honest Galvestonian’s face to blush with shame. Fraud triumphed, however, for only a short season, (one month), when it was overthrown by an honest election, and Mayor Fulton was again re-elected, by a majority of eight hundred and twenty-five votes.
In 1887, two years later, another effort was made, by the same influences, to overthrow the “Old Reliable,” as Mayor Fulton had come to be called, but it was no use, as he was again re-elected by eleven hundred and forty-six plurality – three candidates being in the field against him.
And again in 1889, with two formidable candidates in the field against him, he was re-elected by a plurality vote of eight hundred and fifty-three, and a majority vote of three hundred and forty-seven over both of his opponents.
Should he live to serve out his present term, it will be ten years he has served as Mayor of the largest and wealthiest city in Texas – a position second in honor, perhaps, only to the Governorship of the State – and when it is considered that four out of five of these terms have been consecutive, and by increasing majorities, it will give some idea of the strong hold he has upon the confidence, esteem and affection of the citizens of Galveston.
And it would be interesting, just here, to consider the peculiar characteristic of this “man of the people,” and find, if we can, the secret of the power that he has shown himself able, at all times, to exercise over his fellow-citizens, for the betterment of local self-government and the general welfare of the people.
It certainly cannot be claimed by any one that the influence he has shown himself able to wield comes from the lavish use of money, for it is known to every one in Galveston, and to people generally elsewhere, that Mayor Fulton has been a poor man ever since he entered public life.
Nor has he ever been patronized, in his political undertakings, by the wealthy and powerful of Galveston, or elsewhere, for the reason that all who know him are perfectly aware that he cannot be induced, for any consideration, to do the bidding of any person, company or corporation, in his official capacity, unless he conscientiously believes that what is asked for is for the benefit of the community at large.
If proof of this is wanted, it can be had, in abundance, by a perusal of his many able veto messages that have been written and published from time to time, during his many terms of office, all of which breathe the same spirit of adherence to the political motto he has always acted upon as a public man – “The greatest good to the greatest number of honest and law-abiding citizens.”
And it is doubtless to his firm and undeviating adherence to this principle, in political and official life, that he owes most of the success he has attained in public affairs, as well as his long continued popularity with all classes of good citizens in Texas.
It is his pride and his boast, that fortune so cast his lot that he was compelled, in his boyhood and youth, to work hard in the cotton and corn fields of his native State, at all times that he was not attending school, and it is to the experiences of this early training, and his mother’s fortitude and example under adverse fortune, that he attributed largely the sympathy he has always felt, and expressed, for the toiling millions whose future, for weal or for woe, so greatly depends upon the statesmanship of the law-makers of this and other governments of the world.
It was the strong sympathy, so often expressed in his public utterances, through the press and otherwise, that brought down upon his devoted head, from the hirelings of capitalistic power, the imputation that his political views were of a communistic and agrarian tendency, and that his utterances on his subject were the conceptions and voicings of the demagogue.
In defending himself against such a charge, he, in 1879, in an open letter addressed to parties who had written to him upon the subject, so eloquently vindicated himself, in the estimation of all just-minded men, that a biographical sketch of his life would scarcely be complete without giving a brief extract from this letter. It is as follows:
“Whatever political issue I have attempted to make, in Galveston, was not that of ‘labor against capital,’ but the more comprehensive one of ‘honest against dishonest methods’ of transacting official and other public business. And in my efforts in that behalf – in organizing the forces to carry out my views of political duty – neither the wealth of the man, the poverty of the man, the nationality of the man nor the occupation of the man, has had anything to do with the estimate I placed upon him, as a factor of the body politic.
“The question with me was, whether or not he was in favor of the perpetuation of the rule of a corrupt, speculating ‘ring,’ who were adding to their ill-gotten wealth by dishonest methods of transacting official, and other public business? If yea, I wished no further political fellowship with him. If nay, then I desired to have him as a political ally, whether he was rich or poor, learned or unlearned.
“This is my political creed -- this is the kind of demagogue I am, if demagoguery you can call it – this is the extent of my communistic sentiments -- and this is the ‘head and front of my offending’ against the capitalists of Galveston.”
It is needless to say, that while this letter has a local application – was addressed especially to a Galveston constituency – it is broad enough in its scope to include the whole universe, inasmuch as it is a public warning to all whom it may concern, that the author of it is at war with corruption, both in and out of office, in whatever position he may be placed; and his subsequent career, as the official head of the Galveston city government, proves, to a demonstration, that however well entrenched the enemies of honest government may have been, they have been driven from their stronghold, and forced to an unconditional surrender.
But the influence of Captain Fulton as a public man has not been confined to his connection with the city government of Galveston. It has been his good fortune to fill many places of honor and trust, and always with fidelity to his constituency. He has been chosen as a delegate to almost every Democratic State Convention held since the war, over some of which he has had the honor to preside, and in others has occupied positions on the Committee on Platforms and Resolutions, and at others placed on the State Executive Committee, and at all was an influential factor in shaping the policy of the Democratic party of the State.
He has also, as the representative of the city, filled for eight years the position of Wharf Company Director, and a Director in the City Railroad Company, and for over six years was a Trustee in the Public Free Schools of Galveston. He has also been, for six years, the President of the Board of Health of Galveston, and, for some time, a Trustee of the Texas Medical College and Hospital, all of which positions have given him a great knowledge of men and affairs.
The fame and popularity of Mayor Fulton is not confined to Galveston, or, for that matter, to the State of Texas. Considering the fact that he has never held a State or National office, he is, perhaps, better known throughout Texas than any other public man; and it is doubtful if there are any in Texas (who have not attained to higher official stations) who are more widely known outside of the State. If space permitted, we could give abundant proof of this fact, from letters and telegrams sent to him from the leading public men throughout the United States, congratulating him upon his several elections as Mayor of Galveston, as well as by the great number of complimentary editorial mentions he has received from the leading newspapers of the country, during his public career, which have been submitted for our inspection for such use as we might deem proper, but we must content ourselves with quoting from two leading newspapers – one representing the sentiment of the industrial classes of Texas, and the other the opinion entertained of Mayor Fulton by those with whom he came in contact while a delegate representing Galveston at the Deep Water Convention, at Denver, in 1888.
The Texas Farmer, published at Dallas, Texas, is, to all intents and purposes, the organ of the farmers of the State, and especially so of the Grangers and Patrons of Husbandry.
During the time its editorial management was under the direction of Captain J.F. Fuller, of Belton, Texas, who was at the time also the traveling orator of the Patrons of Husbandry, that gentleman, as the editor of the Farmer, wrote and published the following, as representing the views of the farmers of the State of Texas:
“Men of Mark
“Honorable John H. Reagan cheerfully admits that he has an ambition to become Governor of Texas. This is not strange, when we remember that such men as Hon. Barnett Gibbs aspire to the same honor. The wisest of our wise men might justly feel proud to occupy the executive office of so great a State, and, judging from the material politicians sometimes suggest for the head of State affairs, it would not be presumptuous for any well informed, practical minded citizen to aspire to such an honor.
“But if the Farmer wanted to name a man for the next Governor of Texas, and it may as well as others, have a weakness that way, there is one name we would suggest – the very synonym of official honor and personal integrity. A man who, in his official career, has done more to reform abuses, expose fraud and vindicate the rights of his fellow citizens, than any man in the State. Possessing to an eminent degree those high qualities of mind and heart that fit a man for executive duties in these days of political flunkeyism, his administration would mark an opoch in the annals of Texas history that would at once become the pride of the Lone Star State, and enshrine his name in the affections of his countrymen. Passing through the war with distinction for his brave and generous soldierly qualities, and in the civil service, having evinced those high qualities and civic virtues, moral courage and devotion to principle, he is conspicuously marked as the man of the hour, distinguished in many particulars above his fellows. To mention him is simply to record the name of Hon. R.L. Fulton, Mayor of the city of Galveston. We know no man in the broad limits of Texas more eminently fitted for executive honors and duties than Mr. Fulton. Schooled on the farm in early life to economical habits, and trained in the severe ordeal as Galveston’s executive in its conflict with rings and fraudulent intrigues to despoil the city and rob its people, he stands the embodiment of courageous manhood and devotion to duty. Mayor Fulton does not, so far as we know, aspire to gubernatorial honors, and he will not, perhaps, thank us for this notice; they may never be bestowed upon him, and the Farmer but little hopes to be influential in such an issue; but his name belongs not alone to Galveston, but to all Texas, and as a friend to the common people, an unyielding advocate of the greatest good to the greatest number; as an upholder of honest government, an economical expenditure of public money, we exercise the right to mention him as a friend to his race, as an honest man, possessing a strong, vigorous intellect, and a shrewd political sagacity that mark him as one of the most useful public men of the day.”
In 1888, Mayor Fulton, with other leading men of Galveston, went as delegates to the Deep Water Convention, at Fort Worth, and a few months later to an Inter-State Deep Water Convention, held at Denver, Colorado, where they met and became acquainted with many of the leading men of all the States and Territories west of the Mississippi.
To show what kind of an impression Mayor Fulton makes upon those with whom he comes in contact, on such occasions, and the reputation he bears outside of the State in which he lives, it is only necessary to quote a brief but significant editorial mention of him, in the Denver (Colorado) News, on the occasion of his fifth election to Mayoralty, in June, 1889. It is as follows:
“Hon. R.L. Fulton has been re-elected Mayor of Galveston, and enters upon his fifth term. It is seldom that a municipal officer receives so magnificent an indorsement at the hands of the people. In this instance, however, the News is glad to remark that the indorsement is fully deserved. Mayor Fulton is one of the most capable of the public men of Texas, or of the entire Southwest, for that matter. He is a man of high personal character, rare executive ability and fine business capacity. Furthermore, he is a gentleman of courtly manners, a brilliant conversationalist, and a most agreeable companion. He has not only given Galveston an honest, capable and well ordered administration, but has been active in forwarding all the great enterprises in which the city is interested, and on which her future so much depends. Galveston is fortunate in possessing so excellent an official, and in having the good sense to retain him in the difficult position he has so long and so worthily filled.”
Captain Fulton was married, October 7, 1870, to Miss Mary Eliza Newby, a daughter of Mrs. S.B. White, with whom he had been acquainted since her early girlhood.
He is the father of four children – two boys and two girls. Walter, the eldest, was born July 4, 1871. Ernest, was born August 22, 1872. Minnie, was born January 11, 1874. Nellie, was born April 9, 1878.
Captain Fulton is about six feet in height, weighs about one hundred and seventy-five pounds, has hair and mustache that were originally black as jet, but is prematurely gray; is fifty years of age, is an Odd-Fellow, a member of the order of the Knights of Pythias and Chosen Friends.
His scrap-book, from which most of this biographical sketch has been compiled, is filled with the most complimentary notices of his career, from his boyhood to the present time, but want of space has compelled us to leave out much that it would be necessary to publish in order that full justice might be done to his fame, both at home and abroad. [Source: Types of Successful Men of Texas by Lewis E. Daniell, Publ. 1890. Transcribed by Kim Mohler]