James "Judge" Fulton (1739 – 25 September 1826) was a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, and founder of the village of

Bass River, Nova Scotia Bass River is an unincorporated rural community in western Colchester County, north-central Nova Scotia, in the Maritimes of Canada. It is shares the name of the river located there, that flows into Cobequid Bay. Location Bass River is locat ...

. Born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Fulton migrated from

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

around 1760, where he worked as a surveyor. Arriving in Nova Scotia in 1765, he settled by 1767 in the Londonderry Township, an area settled primarily by Ulster families since 1761. He was appointed JP for the district of Colchester, which was then still part of Halifax County. He was one of the first land grantees of the township. In 1791, he was appointed a judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for Colchester and in 1793 was commissioned as captain of the local militia regiment. He also made the first complete survey of the township and its villages. Fulton was elected to the 8th General Assembly of Nova Scotia, representing rural Halifax County from 1799-1806. He joined

Edward Mortimer Edward Mortimer (22 December 1943 – 18 June 2021) was a UN civil servant, journalist, author and academic. He was Distinguished Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, from 2013. From 2001 to 2006, he was the Director of Communications in the ...

Pictou Pictou ( ; Canadian Gaelic: ''Baile Phiogto'') is a town in Pictou County, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Located on the north shore of Pictou Harbour, the town is approximately 10 km (6 miles) north of the larger town of New Gla ...

and

William Cottnam Tonge William Cottnam Tonge (April 29, 1764 – August 6, 1832) was a judge and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Hants County from 1793 to 1799 and from 1806 to 1811 and Newport Township from 1799 to 1806 in the Nova Scotia House of ...

Hants County Hants County is an historical county and census division of Nova Scotia, Canada. Local government is provided by the West Hants Regional Municipality, and the Municipality of the District of East Hants. History Formation The county of Hants ...

to form a "country party" that opposed powerful Halifax merchants allied with then Lieutenant Governor, Sir John Wentworth and the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. The country party took three of four Halifax County seats contested, including Fulton who finished third. (At the time all candidates campaigned county-wide with the top four finishers receiving the four available seats.) As a Member of the Assembly, Fulton however voted independently on matters and would at times side with court party members. He served on Assembly committees, particularly ones dealing with road or bridge construction. Fulton spent the remainder of his days a farmer on his Bass River homestead until his death. He and his wife Margaret (née Campbell) had seven sons and seven or eight daughters. His great-grandson George Fulton founded

Dominion Chair Company Dominion Chair Company is the wooden furniture manufacturing company that operated from 1860 to 1989 in Bass River, Nova Scotia, Canada. History In 1860, George and William Fulton, brothers and great-grandsons of the first settler of Bass River, ...

in 1875.

References

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External links

Early 20th century poem written in dedication to Judge Fulton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulton, Judge 1739 births 1826 deaths British surveyors Canadian surveyors Irish surveyors Nova Scotia pre-Confederation MLAs Politicians from Belfast People from Colchester County Canadian people of Ulster-Scottish descent Colony of Nova Scotia judges Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Nova Scotia Lawyers from Belfast