James Wheeler Fuller Jr. (March 16, 1843 – January 15, 1910) was a former officer of the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War who became an American industrialist known for manufacturing railroad axles and wheels.[1] In 1910, he was described by his local newspaper, The Allentown Democrat, as "one of Catasauqua's most useful and enterprising citizens."[2]
James Wheeler Fuller Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 16, 1843 Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Died | January 15, 1910 Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Founder of McKee, Fuller & Company |
| Parent(s) | James Wheeler Fuller Sr. and Clarissa (Miller) Fuller |
Formative years
editFuller was born in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania on March 16, 1843,[3] the second-oldest son of James Wheeler Fuller, Sr. and Clarissa (Miller) Fuller.[4][5][6] He joined the military during the Civil War although he had not yet attained his majority.[7] He later married Catherine Maria Thomas, from Beaver Meadow, Pennsylvania.[7]
Civil War service
editFuller enrolled for military service in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania on August 21, 1861. He then officially mustered in for duty at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg on August 30, 1861 as a Sergeant with Company F, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, under the command of Captain Henry S. Harte.[8][9]
Following brief light infantry training, he was transported with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers by rail to Washington, D.C. Stationed at "Camp Kalorama" near Georgetown, they mustered into federal service with the Union Army on September 24, 1861.[10]
On October 1 of that same year, he was elevated to the rank of first lieutenant and adjutant for the regiment. He held that position for just three months. According to James Franklin Lambert and Henry J. Reinhard in their A History of Catasauqua in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, James W. Fuller Jr. "suffered a protracted illness, which overtook him during the first year of the Civil War in Virginia", and "was honorably discharged from the army and returned to his home."[11]
Lehigh Car, Wheel & Axle Works
editIn 1868, he organized the firm of McKee, Fuller & Company, proprietors of the Lehigh Car, Wheel & Axle Works.[7] Beginnings of the plant had been made during the year preceding by Charles D. Fuller, an uncle and William R. Thomas. The capacity of the shop at this time was fifteen car wheels per day. The new firm at once commenced to enlarge the plant. They bought the defunct concern of Frederick & Company, built a forge and added an axle department. Since then the firm was known as the Lehigh Car, Wheel & Axle Works, and developed an enterprise of much benefit to the business prosperity of the community. So devoted was Mr. Fuller to his charge that he made daily trips to the works, personally superintended the mixing of irons for the casting of the wheels and made the rounds among his men in whose individual welfare he was vitally concerned.
He was president of the Catasauqua Manufacturing Company, a director in the Thomas Iron Company, the Wahnetah Silk Company, and the Ironton Railroad. At the time of his death he was vice-president of the Empire Steel and Iron Company (successor to the Lehigh Crane Iron Company) and a director in the Lehigh Foundry Company.
Death and interment
editFuller suffered an episode of apoplexy and died at his home in Catasauqua on January 15, 1910, and was interred at the Fairview Cemetery in West Catasauqua.[12]
Legacy
editThe town of Fullerton, Pennsylvania was named in his honor.
References
edit- ^ "James W. Fuller Dead." Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Intelligencer Journal, January 15, 1910, p. 4 (subscription required).
- ^ "Death's Awful Toll within Brief Period." Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Democrat, January 17, 1910, p. 1 (subscription required).
- ^ Note: Although a grave marker and other sources state that James W. Fuller Jr.'s year of birth was 1843, he wrote his birth year as 1845 when he completed his 1894 U.S. passport application.
- ^ Fuller Family Baptismal, Marriage and Death Records, in Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records. Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1820-1920.
- ^ United States Census. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 1840-1920.
- ^ Snyder, Laurie. The Fuller Family of Catasauqua – Leaders in War and Peace, in 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment's Story, retrieved online February 1, 2016.
- ^ a b c Jordan, John Woolf; Green, Edgar Moore; Ettinger, George Taylor (1905). Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Publishing Company. p. 518. ISBN 978-5-88357-306-3.
- ^ Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5. Harrisburg: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
- ^ Civil War Muster Rolls, in Records of the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs (Record Group 19, Series 19.11, 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry). Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1861.
- ^ Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown: Self-published, 1986.
- ^ Lambert, James Franklin and Henry J. Reinhard. A History of Catasauqua in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Catasauqua: Searles & Dresser Company, Incorporated, 1914.
- ^ "J. W. Fuller Is Dead." Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: The Star-Independent, p. 1 (subscription required).