The Fultons of Lisburn - American Connections Including

Please send any questions, suggestions, additions, or corrections to me at:

richardfulton@hotmail.com

My theory is based on interesting and perhaps convincing circumstantial evidence as outlined in more details in the sections with links in the left hand column of this page. In short my theory is that a number of American Fulton lines trace back to a group of Fulton Families in the 1600's and early 1700's in and around the town of Lisburn, on the border between Counties Antrim and Down in Northern Ireland and that one of these linked families of the family of the famous inventor Robert Fulton, 1765-1815, who among other inventions was the first to perfect working commercial steamboats. The net of my logic is outlined below. The links on the left provide more details on my logic and evidence.

1. Fulton is a relatively rare surname. Even in Scotland where it appears the suranme originates and is most common, less than 1 in 1,000 people carry the Fulton surname and in the 1790 US census only slightly more than 1 in 10,000 people carry the surname. Before steamship and railroad travel became common in the mid 1800's travel was difficult and people tended to travel in extended groups, either of related families or people from the same general area or both. Therefore, where ever Fulton families are found in close proximity prior to 1850, the odds are high they are closely related. In addition a relatively rare first name of Francis is found in the Lisburn Fultons as well as Maryland and Pennsylvania Fultons with traditions of connections to Steamboat Roberts family.

2. Kilkenny: Traditions in the Family of Steamboat Robert Fulton that his ancestors came to America from County Kilkenny in Ireland are likely true. I find the earliest writing stating this comes from the first biography of Steamboat Robert Fulton written in 1817 by a close personal friend. There is also a 1903 Family History of The Fultons of Lisburn by Sir Theodore Hope that mentions their family tradition of an early ancestor being a William of Kilkenny. Hope seems unaware of the Steamboat Robert Fulton tradition of a Kilkenny connection and uninterested in connected his Lisburn Fultons to American Fultons. Therefore I believe these two traditions are independent and provide evidence that a Kilkenny connection is true and provides a link between Steamboat Robert Fulton's line and the Lisburn Fultons. There is also evidence of a link between Lisburn and Kilkenny via the linen industry which may well have provided the reason for a branch of the Lisburn group to go to Kilkenny and even perhaps for other Lisburn branches to move to other parts of Ireland such as Londonderry or Coleraine.

3. Other Place Names: As people often traveled in groups, when they were the first settlers in an area of America, they often reused local place names common to places they were from. Steamboat Robert Fulton was born on a farm in what was originally named Drumore Township in Lancaster County, PA., in an area with a number of Fulton Families. Drumore is the name of the Diocese covering parts of Counties Down, Antrim, and Armagh in Northern Ireland in which the town of Lisburn is located. I think this is a strong clue that a significant number of the first Scots-Irish settlers of the area, which included Fultons came from Drumore Diocese, the home of Lisburn. Another place name providing clues is Rising Sun. It is not a commonly found place name. Yes it is found in Kilkenny dating to 1644 and in Northern Cecil County Maryland in an area with Fultons with links to Steamboat Robert's Family and in Dearborn County, Indiana where one of the first families was a Fulton Family claiming close relationship to Steamboat Robert. I assessment is that this is highly unlikely to be coincidental and provides additional evidence of linkage.

4. My experience in genealogy is family legends and traditions are most often true or at least contain a core of truth. I have tracked Fulton Families in America with traditions of close relationship to Steamboat Robert Fulton and found that they also are connected by geography, place/names, and/or other naming patterns that seem to confirm a close relationship.

Summary: So I have tried to illustrate the case with the information in the links to the left showing a likely connection of Steamboat Robert Fulton's Family with the Fultons of Lisburn as well as other American Fulton Families also connected to both Steamboat Robert's Family and the Lisburn Fultons. In the section on the Overview of the Fultons of Lisburn is shown potential links to Lisburn for the Fultons of Augusta County, VA.; Colerain, Mass.; and Craven County, SC. In the Sections of Fultons of SE PA and Northern Maryland I provide a survey of early Fulton Families in those areas and suggest which are likely to be closely related to Steamboat Robert's Family and therefore to the Lisburn Fultons. I last small item that may be coincidence or be due to incomplete data, but looking at the number of Fultons listed in Northern Ireland in the 1660's Hearth Money Rolls and then in the 1740 Prostestant Householders lists seem to indicate Antrim as the likely source of most of the Fultons who migrated out of Ireland. See the links on the left for more information.

These are theories, that I happen to believe, but I also realize they are based on circumstantial evidence and educated guesses and some or all of the major propositions might be wrong. I hope readers will find the information interesting. I welcome suggestions and corrections and I hope to continue to fine tune this information over time.

You can send your questions, suggestions and corrections to me at:

richardfulton@hotmail.com