Charles Merrill Fulkerson was the fourth
surviving child of William Lee and Nancy Ann Fulkerson. He was
born February 13, 1884, in Penneville Indiana, not far from Dunkirk. He was but seven when the family moved to Greene County, Ohio, and
he received primary and secondary schooling in Xenia. Charles
was quite an athletic young man, and (from a 1940 letter written by
Charles Merrill) in 1905 he was recruited to Berea College in Kentucky to
be the Physical Education Director for the college. It was his
responsibility to establish a nascent physical education program,
while simultaneously being enrolled as a full-time student. While at Berea, Charles earned a degree (1908) and gained a life companion,
marrying fellow student and native Kentuckian, Grace Alberta Hays
on June 7, 1909. After a short stay in Joliet, Illinois (1910
census), Charles and Grace moved to California, and by 1912 he had
earned another bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from Stanford University inPalo Alto. He was first a teacher, then a high school principal,
and then the superintendent of schools in Ukiah, California; a post
he held for many years. Charles and Grace had two sons,
both of whom lived well into adulthood: one becoming a doctor; the
other, a lawyer. Charles died in 1948, and Grace survived
until 1963.
The next child of William Lee and Nancy was Ivy Foy
Fulkerson, born on May 4, 1888, in Jay County, near Dunkirk, Indiana. Foy, who was often called “Tom” or “Dave” by family and friends, married
Ruth Ellen Gage on May 25, 1911, and they had two daughters. According to the 1920 census record, Foy and Ruth Ellen were continuing
the tradition of the family farm on the Lower Bellbrook Pike. The
untimely death of their first child, Esther, shortly before she would
have turned eight years old created such a family tragedy that the
marriage did not survive, and the ensuing turmoil left its mark for
many years. In 1934, Foy married Martha Fagan of Cleveland. No children were born of this marriage.
Ivy Foy was a unique
Fulkerson in many regards, not the least of which included his talent
for entertaining and his remarkable memory skills. Well past
his mid-life years he could always amaze those at the reunion with
recitations of poems he had learned in grammar school. He was
quite skilled with a ventriloquist’s dummy and was unparalleled with
prompt quips and quotes. The rapid backwards alphabet was always
a hit with the kids. He worked for many years at the Ohio Soldiers
and Sailors Orphans Home in Xenia. An active Mason and Eastern
Star participant, Foy died in Xenia in 1978; Ruth, his first wife,
did not remarry and died in 1985; and Martha died in 1984.
Last
of the children of William Lee and Nancy Fulkerson was Andrew Selvey
Krepps Fulkerson, born January 21,1890. The first middle name
(Selvey) may have been chosen to honor a local health care provider,
because Dr. Selvey is listed as attending the births of Harvey Earl
and Charles Merrill; and Samuel S. Selvey is recorded as a physician
on the 1880 census of Dunkirk. Family legend has it that Andy
was quite a joker as a youth. After he graduated from Xenia Central High
School, he pursued a course in accountancy at Miami-Jacobs Business College inDayton. Sometime before 1920, Andrew moved to Connecticut, where
he lived his remaining years.He married three times but there were
no known children. His wives included the following: Julia Peterson
(1911), Hazel Thurston (1924), and a woman known only as Anna. He is known to have lived in Putnam, Salisbury, and Danielson, Connecticut;
and he worked as an accountant for his entire career. Andrew died in Danielson, Connecticut, January 12, 1957.
