The second of William
Lee and Nancy Ann Fulkerson’s children was Clista Irene, born September
9, 1878. On September 16, 1896, she married Jesse Fernando
(Nan) Sanders who was a member of one of Greene County’s oldest families. Jesse Fernando Sanders’ grandfather (also Jesse) settled in the Spring
Valley area in 1805. Nan Sanders’ father (also a Jesse) served
in Captain John Clark’s Company in War of 1812, which service resulted
in his expulsion from the Quaker Church. Jesse and Clista Sanders
farmed the land and lived in Greene County all their lives. There
were twelve children born to this union, ten of whom reached adulthood. Clista died March 31, 1943 at the age of 64 in the small community
of Glady, 4 miles west of Xenia. All ten of her adult children
were still alive when she expired. Jesse Fernando Sanders died
April 8, 1938, and they are buried together in Xenia’s large Woodland Cemetery.
Harvey
Earl Fulkerson was the third child of William Lee and Nancy Ann Fulkerson. He was born January 30, 1881, near Dunkirk, Indiana. After the
family’s Ohio return, Harvey attended Greene County schools near the
Lower Bellbrook Pike home of his parents; and he graduated from Xenia Central High
School in 1900, reciting “A Sketch of Oliver Cromwell” at commencement
exercises. After completing secondary education, Harvey taught
common school (elementary students) in several one-room schools near
his home. In July of 1903 Harvey and Adella Jeanette (“Della”)
Gibbons of Bellbrook were married in the home of the bride’s parents,
with over seventy guests attending. Della was the eighth of
twelve children (six girls and six boys, five of each surviving childhood)
born to Patrick Gibbons and Etna Josephine (Lindner) Gibbons. Etna was a native of Warren County, Ohio; and Patrick has born inCounty Mayo, Ireland, immigrating at age three. In 1864, Patrick
enlisted in the 34th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, participated
in a number of major battles in the upper Shenandoah, and was captured
at Beverly, West Virginia, in January 1865. He served about
a month in the Castle Thunder Confederate prison camp in Richmond,Virginia and was released in an exchange of prisoners. After
the war, he was honorably discharged in June 1865.
Between 1905
and 1920, Harvey and Della had four children, three of whom survived
infancy. During his active working career, Harvey pursued
a number of diverse vocations in several different cities: school
teacher in Greene county, Ohio; civil engineer in Chicago (he earned
a degree in Municipal and Sanitary Engineering from Ohio Northern
University in Ada, Ohio, in 1913); educator in Coal City, Illinois;
“manufacturer of artificial gas” in Dayton, Ohio; farmer in Greene
County on the family’s Lower Bellbrook Pike land, and airplane inspector
for the US Navy in WW II in Columbus, Ohio. Upon retirement
from farming, Harvey moved to Dayton where he worked for some time
for White Bakery. With his three sons, the Fulkerson barbershop
quartet would sometimes entertain at the reunion or other family gatherings;Harvey would sing bass. He expired on October 27, 1950 of renal
failure and heart disease. Della died January 15, 1966,
and they are buried together, with their infant daughter Margery Irene,
in Xenia’s Woodland Cemetery.
