LOWER CAPE FEAR

HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc.

BULL ETIN

Volume XLVl, Number 2 Wilmington, North Carolina July 2002

Catherine Ann McKay Fulton, Sometimes

referred to as Kate, posedfor her portrait garbed in a

dark coloredpleated gown with long open Sleeves. She

is adorned with earrings and a lace collar pinned by a

vside ribbon. Her hair is pulled up in the back with a

slight curl, covering her ears. Her lefi hand rests on a

short stack ofbooks signifying she could read and was

educated In her right hand she holds a rosary. Her

expression implies confidence, goodness, respectability.For comparison studies. such as Catholic elites

in the slaveholding south. Mrs. Fulton‘s an appealingtheme for historical investigators. She lefi much

evidence of her life. for instance through real estate

transactions, census appearances. personal papers

and according to Wilmington city directories

she occupied 114 North 4m Street for half a

centim‘. These vestiges help us trace her

easily. She also was pretty, and if we

can choose our subject matter. or

ancestors matter of fact,wouldn’t we choose them

to be attractive?

Please continue to the

third page.

ARE you LOOKING

FOR

NORTH CAROLINA

QUAKERS?See the second page

Catherine Fulton. 1860

Photograph courtesy Neu

Hanover Public Librar}

Lower Cape Fear Historical Society Bulletin

Volume XLVI, No. 2, July 2002

126 S Third St.,Wilmington,NC 28401

email: bifimerfiflbningdamnet

waatz'menwibninflmnrg© Copyright 2002 All rights reserved

Ofiicers

lan Broadfoot, President

John Golden= Vice-President

Beverly Wilson, Treasurer

Jean Anne Sutton, Secretary

Constance Knox, Past President

Catherine Myerow, Executive Director

Board of Directors

Paul Allaire, Priscella Bergamini= Walter

Conser, Joe Fox, John Haleyr Vollers Hanson,

Pat Hardee, Jeanie Lessing, Peggy Perdew,

Tom Potratz, Joseph Sheppard, Catherine Stiibling,

Mimi Whitt‘ord, Wade Wilson, Blonnie Wyche

Staff

Lynda Page, Eli Naeher

Archives

Merle Chamberlain Rush Beeler, Susan Block,

lle, Hiram Maxim

Editor

Joseph E. Waters Sheppard

The Bulletin Committee wamily thanks

Mrs. Lev T - Opheim for reviewing and proofing the

prior issue on Early SPG Missionaries (February

2002). We also thank those who complimented the

article. Look for a continuation of the story in a

future publicationOur current narrative I wrote about one of

my favorite Wilmington citizens, Catherine Fulton.

She lived in the 19‘h Century and saw many changes

of our growing City. At last, she is best described as a

Southerner who maintained manners= regard for

family and community loyalty.

Original written works and first person

accounts are welcome by the Bulletin Committee for

I‘EVICVU. Articles may be three to eight pages in length,

of Lower Cape Fear historical interest, sited and

researched from primary sources. Please submit

manuscripts to the editor in care of the Lower Cape

Fear Historical Society.

Plain SpeechPlain Dress

The Religious Society of Friends

So just why are the Quakers called Quakers

The term "Quaker" refers to a member of the

Religious Society of Friends, which is the proper

name of the sect. There are two reputed origins of

the term, the first refers to people "quaking" or

trembling when feeling moved by the Holy Spirit

to speak in Meetings for Worship. The other

according to Elfi'ida Vipont Brown, is: GeorgeFox was arrested in Derby in October 1650 and

charged with blasphemy. The magistrates Who

tried him were Gervase Bennett and Colonel

Nathaniel Barton. George Fox was questionedintermittently over an eight hour period, duringwhich at one pomt George Fox told the

magistrates "Tremble at the word of the Lord". It

was Justice Bennett who coined the name

"Quakers" for the followers of George Fox.

http://www.pendle.netJAttractions/quakershtm

As early as 1730's we know of Quakers

settling in the New Hanover area. Elizabeth F.

McKoy, Early Wilmington Block by Blackfrom ] 733

on (© 1967) page 129, mentions “afiirmations” in the

New Hanover Court records and a Quaker burying

ground east of Fifth Street and north of Walnut, just

beyond Block 221.

Quaker history may be found in local public

libraries. Ellen T. Berry Wrote Our QuakerAncesiors:

Finding Them in Quaker Records (© 1987 by

Genealogical Pub. Co., Inc. Baltimore) The author

reveals a history of the Quaker movement and

discusses its organization and structure. She also

describes Quaker migrations to and within America

and types of records that are available.

In 1926, William Wade Hirishaw began

gathering family lineages. He published his

extractions into six Encyclopedias of American

Quaker Genealogy. Volume 1 contains items found in

records and minutes of the thirty-three oldest monthly

meetings which belong to the North Carolina Yearly

Meeting of Friends.

Try Cyndi Howell’s, Cyndi ’3 list

higJ/wwmgmdislist. cam/guaker.hnn , good luck.

Catherine Ann McKay was born at

Smifhville, now Southport, North Carolina on

September 9, 1821,’ the daughter ofWilliam McKay]

and Henrietta Berry, William McKay was from

Bladen County, NC, his immediate family having

come to North Carolina from Scotland He moved to

Wilmington where he was engaged in the mercantile

business.

Henrietta Berry, was the daughter of

William Graves Berry and Sarah Ancrum, and the

sister of Dr. William Augustus Berry, of

Wilmington.3The marriage of William McKay and

Henrietta Berry was performed at St. James Episcopal

Church in Wilmington". By this union there were two

daughters. First Caroline Eliza, born on July 30, 1819

and second, Catherine Ann.

Mr. McKay died as a young man on

February 7, 1823. Mrs. McKay married a second time

to William Hogan. Unfortunately, she died two years

later on January 1, 1826.5

James Iver McKay (l792 - 1853?, also from

Bladen County, a close fiiend of William McKay,

although of no knovm kinship, was appointed

guardian of the two children. As he was a member of

the House of Representatives from North Carolina he

took the girls with him to Washington DC.

There the eldest child Caroline was taken ill

and died. James McKay fearing the climate of

Washington had something to do with the girl‘s death

asked Catherine Ann’s uncle, Dr. Berry, to take over

guardianslup. From that time until her marriage Miss

McKay lived with the Berry family. Ann Eliza Usher

Berry, Dr, Berry‘s spouse, was Roman Catholic. By

her aunt‘s model, Catherine Ann McKay joined this

church and remained a loyal member through her life.

At the age of 25, Miss McKay met and

married David Fulton, a strong acquaintance of the

family. He was born in County Donagal, Ireland, on

August 28, 1821. He came to America with his father

and brother James in 1838,7 first living in Raleigh,

then in Sampson County, North Carolina where he

practiced law,

To further the cause of the Democratic Party

in opposition to the Whig Party, Fulton moved to

Wilmington, establishing a weekly newspaper, In

partnership with Alfred Price, a practical printer, they

started the Wilmington Journal, first issued on

September 21 ,1844.

According to the St, Thomas Baptismal

Register, Catherine Fulton’s two year four months

July 2002 Bulletin 3

marriage with David Fulton prodmzed a daughter,

Mary Katherine, born on November 21, 1847, and

baptized January 9, 1848.

Tragically, Mr. Fulton’s health began to fail.

The Wilmington Journal kept updates on his

declining vitality even reporting the family's youmey

to Charleston, South Carolina in the hope the climate

there would improve him.8 It did not.

At the age of 27 years, on December l7,

1848, David Fulton died at the Mansion House Hotel,

Meeting Street, in Charleston.9 His remains were

returned and buried in Wilmington.James Fulton, ‘a sound and tried Democrat.’

formerly editor of Charlene, NC’s “Mecklenburg

Jejj‘ersonian," continued the Journal newspaper with

Mr. Price on March 30, 1849.”

Confusion about the Fulton brothers occurs

ofien. Namely times and placements, even going so

far as the Wilminglon Morning Star naming James

Fulton as the father of Mary Katherine Fulton, later

Mrs. Thomas Henry Wright, in her obituary on March

18, 1935. James Fulton resided with his srster-in-lavr

Catherinell until his death on December 14, 1865.”

This is a remarkably good example of family and

kinship bonds practiced in the lTlld-l 9‘“ century.

Households of the time were made up of rec-1y

different relations and generations of farmly.Mrs. Fulton remained a widow for fifiy

years. The “Fashion ofMourning,”a diversion the

19‘“ Century olfered Western culture, was

popularized by Queen Victoria, for whom the period

is named. Whether it be for a parent, spouse or child,

people donned their sorrowing black garb. Sometimes

for decades. The act was already in vogue by colonial

Cape Fear residents as evidenced by the 1756 will of

Rebecca Dry, She ‘gave and bequeathed unto her

beloved sister, Mary Clifford, a suit of mourning, also

a mourning ring.’13 Customs for expressing loss have

changed over the centuries, One example, in l4Lh

Century England, Catherine, widow of Thomas (4th)

Lord Berkeley, after the death of her husband, was

"given licence” to take a journey beyond sea. for a

year of mounting pilgrimage, Her lord‘s grandfather'swife had before done the same.“

We don’t know ifMrs. Fulton selected this

grieving occupation out of loving devotion for her

dead spouse. Even though she controlled her own

fortune, she lived in a society that inhibited female

autonomy, where community, not gender, bound

women.”

July 2002 Bulletin 4

Self-sacrifice in the Victorian’s belief was

clearly identified with a woman‘s lot to suffer. They

are usually referred to as pious flowers of pleasingdemeanor who had a tear for the pity and hands open

for melting charity.1°

Society may have forced public

grieving upon Catherine Fulton preventing new

suitors. Plus, this kept her in check. A rich Woman in

organized mourning was rarely outside her home,

therefore obstructing her from using her influential

funds for empowermentOn the practical side, Catherine Fulton was

economically independent of the need for marriage as

many women were. Mrs. Fulton had her own money,

land and servants to meet her every need. She had the

conununitys respect and prestige of a “Mrs.” title

without the mister to drain her fi‘eedom. By that

period‘s law, all the property a Wife owned before

marriage or inherited during it Came under her

husbands control.” Why woulb 5‘79 marry again?Mrs. Fulton continued to live in Wilmington,

conducting her ‘realty business.’ ‘3

The New Hanover

County Real Estate Conveyance grantor index lists 12

transactions alone. She also performed charitable acts

as women of her station practiced, such as preparingthe body of Confederate spy Rose Greenhowe for

burial.

Mrs. Fulton’s character is always described

as good natured in personal letters. In her later life

she moved to Portsmouth, Virginia to stay with her

daughter, Mary Wright. She died in Portsmouth on

January 5, 1898, her body was brought to

Wilmington, where she was buried in Oakdale

Cemetery next to her husband David and brother-in-

law James Fulton.15‘

A great scholarly interest with Mrs. Fulton,

nee Miss McKay, was her association with the

Church of St. Thomas Apostle. St. Thomas Parish

was formed under Ignatius Aloysius Reynolds (1798 -

1855) DD. Bishop of the Diocese of Charleston on

January 1, 1845.70 Thomas Murphy (1806 - 1863)21was appointed Vicar Forane. He became the first full-

time Roman Catholic priest in Wilmington, North

Carolina. Under Murphy’s superintendence the

Church of St. Thomas Apostle, a Gothic Revival style

Structure was completed by, dedicated and opened for

Christian worship on July 18, 1847. The building,

presently called St. Thomas Preservation Hall, stands

at 208 Dock Street.

Acting first as a benefactor towards the

purchase of the church lot, Mrs. Fulton is noted often

in the St, Thomas registers. She is listed, for example,

sponsoring children’s baptisms or as an entry

participant herself, such as her marriage with David

Fulton on August 10, 1846.22 Also noteworthy, are

the numbers of persons identified as the “Slaves of

Mrs, C. Fulton.”23

Antebellum Christian churches on the whole

never Warmly embraced their Negro communicants,

and they moved with unbecoming caution in

extending religious instruction and social services to

them. In the countryside, almost nothing was done to

confirm or nourish Christianity among blacks, slave

or free.“

These feelings slowly changed after 1865

when religious orders that specifically ministered to

African-Americans gained momentum.” Rev.

Murphy provided good will to all within his parish.2°Mrs. Fulton‘s example, by sponsoring slaves, such as

Maria Anna Jones (1838 - 1929), encouraged other

slaves to come forward for baptism and other rites.

Maria Anna Jones, who’s ovm story is appealing to

historians, is ofien mistakenly referred to as North

Carolina’s first and oldest baptized Black Catholic

We know from Bishop John England‘s vistts to North

Carolina in the 18205 he provided sacraments for

African Americans.”

The Church of St. Thomas Baptism.

Marriage and Death Reg'sters normally name the

slave, his holder, age, date of birth and sometimes

parents names. For instance, Maria Anna Jones, also

know in various county records by the surname of

McKay, Fulton and Howard, was baptized on

September 15, 1849; She was born in November

1838 and her parents were Daniel and Elizabeth. She

married John Howard, slave of Mrs. Mcllhenry, on

July 13, 1857. Their first child, John 13., was born and

was baptized September 19, 1858.73 Mrs. Jones later

died at her home on Myrtle Grove Sound on October

21, 1929.29

This data is valuable for those seeking slave

ancestors. These records suggest patterns of values

and behavior that provide revealing, if brief. glimpses

into the interior world of slaves. They also faintly

outline the nature of master-slave relations on the

sensitive subject of religion. The end.

i I‘— Tome-*5

July 2002 Bulletin 5

1. Henry B. MeKoy, The McKay Family ofNorth Carolina (Greenville, $01955)> 103.

2. Marriage Notice, Weekly Journal. August 12, 1846.

3 McKoy, ibid.

4. June 4, 1818. St. James Marriage Register.

5. St. James Death Register.

6. Dumas Malone (Ed), Dictionary ofAmerz'con Biography, vol. 12 (New York: Charles Seribner’s Sons, 1933) 75.

7. James Fulton‘s death notice printed he died at the age of 39 and that he came to America with his father at the age

of twelve. Daily Journal, December 16, 1865, 2.

8. Wilmington Journal, December 15, 1848, 3.

9. Wilmington Journal, December 22, 1848, 2.

10. Wilmington Journal, March 30, 1849.

1 1. Wilmington City Directories 1860-61 and 1865. 1860 New Hanover County Federal Census page 388.

12. Church of St. Thomas Death Register,

13. New Hanover Deed Book D, page 47.

14. Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, British Monachism; orMannen~ and Customs of the Monk: and Nuns ofEngland

(London: M. A. Nattali, 1843) 361.

15. Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South (Chapel

Hill, NC: UNC Press, 1988) 47.

16. The Landmark of Norfolk, Virginia actually printed in Mrs. Fulton>s obituary on Jan. 6, 1898, “.praetical and

pious, an exemplary woman and charitable Christian.”

17. Helen Leary, North Carolina Research: Genealogy and Local History 2“:1 Ed. (Raleigh: NCGS, 1996) 43.

18 The New Hanover County 1860 Federal Census, page 399, records C.A. Fulton‘s real estate value as $33,600.

Index to Real Estate Conveyanees, New Hanover County, NC - Grantors/Grantees.

19. Section Ht Lot No. 22. Oakdale Cemetery Records.

20. The Diocese of Charleston was founded in 1820, and comprised the three states of North and South Carolina and

Georgia. It embraced an area of 127,500 square miles, John England (1786-1842) served as bishop fi'orn 1820-1842

Peter Guilday, The Life and Times ofJohn England (New York: America Press, 2 volumes, 1927). Ignatius

Reynolds was a native Kentuckian and was consecrated to bishop on March 19, 1844, taking his See the following

April. he served eleven years. Charleston, SC News & Courier newspaper, March 9, 1855.

21. Thomas Murphy (1806-1863), was a native of County Carlow, Ireland, and began his studies for the priesthood

in that country. He transferred to the Diocese of Charleston and completed his studies in the seminary there and was

ordained by 1836. By 1838 he was stationed in Fayetteville, NC. In 1844 he was transferred to Georgia and the

following year was assigned to Wilmington. Wilmington: NC Daily Journal newspaper, Aug. 18: 1863. Church of

St. Thomas Death Register.

22. The opening page of the St. Thomas Church register notes= “On the 1“ of November 1845 a suitable lot for the

erection ofa Church was purchased for the sum of $797, by these individuals, viz. Mr. William A. Berry: Bernard

Baxter & Miss Catherine McKav." There are six volumes of haptisms, mam-ages= deaths and miscellaneous church

depositions dating fiom 1845 to 1968. Copyright St. Mary Pro-Cathedral, Wilmington, NC. Microfilm of the original

registers may be Viewed in the Special Collections Department, New Hanover Public Library.

23. The 1860 Federal Census, slave inhabitants in Wilmington, North Carolina; page 300, lists C. A. Fulton as the

owner of 14 slaves.

24. Randall M. Miller(Ed.). Catholics in the Old South: Essay: on Church and Culture. (Macon: GA: Mercer

University Press= 1983) 36.

25. Look up sources on Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and .losephtte Fathers. (Yes: you Merle.) William M

Reaves‘: Strength through Struggle, the Chronological and Historical Record ofthe African-American Community in

Wilmington, North Carolina, 1865 — 1950 (Wilmington: New Hanover County Public Library, 1998) 121.

26. Harry Hayden, Gibbons and England Found Catholicism in North Carolina (Wilmington St. Mary F‘ansh=

193 81 Biography on Murphy.

27. Stephen C. Worsley, Catholicism in Antebellum North Carolina, The North Carolina Historical Revtew, Vol.

LX. Number 4‘ October 1983 (North Carolina Ofi'ice of Archives and History) 407

28 Church of St. Thomas Marriage & Baptism Records.

29. New Hanover County Standard Certificate of Death: 158.

'D‘N ‘umfiuiwum

90E 'ON JHIUGd

CIIVcI

HDVLSOd 'S'nIOVSZ VNHOHVD HinN 'NOlDND/WIM

uonezmggjo IUO-‘d'UON

13132115 Claim HLHOS 9U.

‘ '

HHIDOS "lVDRIOLSIl—I EIVEH EchVD HELMO’I