Marcus Alexander Fulton (March 9, 1836August 4, 1892) was an American businessman, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was the 17th mayor of Hudson, Wisconsin, (1878) and represented northwest Wisconsin in the State Senate (

1866 Events January–March * January 1 ** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. ** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine '' The Liberator'' is published. * January 6 – Ottoman tr ...

1867 Events January–March * January 1 – The Covington–Cincinnati Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, in the United States, becoming the longest single-span bridge in the world. It was renamed a ...

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Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

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1868 Events January–March * January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries. * January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...

Early life

Fulton was born in Bethel, New York, in March 1836.One source gives his birth year as 1826, but the overwhelming majority agree on 1836. In 1854, he moved to Hudson, Wisconsin, with his parents and siblings.

Career

In Hudson, their father became a pioneer merchant in the northwest, but died just four years after their arrival, in 1858. Fulton and his brother, David, inherited the business and operated it successfully, moving from general merchandise into real estate dealing. Fulton also became involved in politics; in 1864, he was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly running on the

National Union Party National Union may refer to: Political organisations *National Union (Chad), a political party *National Union (Chile), an alliance during the Government Junta of Chile (1924) *National Union Movement, a pro-Pinochet political party from 1983 to 1 ...

ticket. He represented a district comprising all of

Pierce Pierce may refer to: Places Canada * Pierce Range, a mountain range on Vancouver Island, British Columbia United States * Pierce, Colorado * Pierce, Idaho * Pierce, Illinois * Pierce, Kentucky * Pierce, Nebraska * Pierce, Texas * Pierce, We ...

and St. Croix counties. Rather than running for re-election, he ran for Wisconsin State Senate in 1865 and won election in the 28th Senate district, running as a Republican. At the end of his two year term in the Senate, he won another term in the Assembly. He ultimately served in the

18th 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...

19th 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

20th 20 (twenty; Roman numeral XX) is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units may also be referred to as a score. In mathematics *20 is a pronic number. *20 is a tetrahedral number as 1, 4, 10, 20. *20 is the ba ...

, and

21st 21 (twenty-one) is the natural number following 20 and preceding 22. The current century is the 21st century AD, under the Gregorian calendar. In mathematics 21 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 3 and 7, and a defici ...

legislative terms. After his terms in the Legislature, Fulton became associated with the Liberal Republican faction of

Horace Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congressm ...

, and—with his brother—started the ''True Republican'', a Liberal Republican newspaper in Hudson. Fulton soon became a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

as the Liberal Republicans merged into that party in the mid 1870s. In the 1870s, both Fulton brothers served as mayor of Hudson, Wisconsin. David Fulton was elected in 1877, and Marcus was then elected in 1878. He also served on the Hudson board of education and city council. Later in life he was an advocate for

silver coinage Silver coins are considered the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–330 ...

, and wrote letters published in newspapers around the country under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

"Village Merchant".

Personal life and family

Marcus Fulton was a son of James Fulton. He had at least one younger brother,

David C. Fulton David Clements Fulton (February 1, 1838March 30, 1899) was an American banker and politician. He was the 16th mayor of Hudson, Wisconsin, and represented St. Croix County in the Wisconsin State Assembly during the 1873 session. During the fir ...

, who also represented in the Wisconsin State Assembly, was the 16th mayor of Hudson, Wisconsin, and served as U.S. marshal for western Wisconsin in the 1880s. The Fultons were descended from

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

emigrants who arrived in America in 1770. Marcus Fulton's grandfather fought in the War of 1812. Marcus Fulton married Mercy Augusta Ansley on April 9, 1863. They had six children together, though at least one died in infancy. After his first wife's death in 1876, Fulton married her sister, Adelia Frances Ansley, in 1877, and had at least four more children. Fulton died of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

at his home in Hudson on August 4, 1892.

Notes

References

External links

Geni.comWisconsin Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulton, Marcus A. 1836 births 1892 deaths Businesspeople from Wisconsin People from Bethel, New York People from Hudson, Wisconsin Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Wisconsin state senators Mayors of places in Wisconsin Wisconsin city council members School board members in Wisconsin 19th-century American businesspeople American people of Scottish descent