Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
O. B. Fulghum
"Earn thy reward; the gods give naught to sloth," said the sage Epicharmus, and the truth of the admonition has been verified in human affairs in all the ages which have rolled their course since his day. The subject to whose life history we now direct attention has, by ceaseless toil and endeavor, attained a marked success in business affairs, has gained the respect and confidence of men, and is recognized as one of the distinctively representative citizens of Richmond. He is a leading insurance agent and real-estate dealer, and has that keen discrimination and sagacity in business affairs which when combined with energy and industry lead to success.
Mr. Fulghum is one of Richmond's native sons, his birth having occurred February 28, 1859. His parents were Jesse P. and Susan (Benton) Fulghum. The former was born September 8, 1829, in Randolph county, Indiana, a son of Frederick and Piety (Parker) Fulghum. The great-grandfatherof our subject, Michael Fulghum, was a native of Wayne county, North Carolina, and there spent his entire life, his death occurring in 1804, at the age of sixty-five years. He owned a large plantation of several hundred acres and was one of the leading planters of his district. He married Molly Bunn, a lady of French-Huguenot extraction. Tradition says that their ancestors fled from France at the time of the persecution of the Huguenots and took refuge in England. Later they came from that country to America, settling in North Carolina. To Michael and Molly Fulghum were born eleven children, five sons and six daughters, several of whom emigrated to Indiana. Among these was Anthony Fulghum, who located in Richmond, Indiana. He was the father of Benjamin Fulghum, a minister of the Friends' society. He preached for thirty years and was well known in church circles.
Frederick Fulghum, the grandfather of our subject and the youngest of this family, also came to Indiana. He. was born in Wayne county, North Carolina, in 1799, and emigrated westward in 1820, being one of the first to seek a home in this state. He took up his residence in Randolph county, where he remained until called to the home beyond in 1879. He made farming his life work, and was the owner of a valuable tract of land of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which stood a good residence and other substantial improvements. An active member of the Society of Friends, he was an elder in the church, and for fifty years was the leading representative of the Arba meeting. In politics he was first a Whig and afterward a Republican, but was never an aspirant for office. He married Piety Parker, a lady of English descent, born in Guilford county. North Carolina, in 1818, a daughter of Jesse Parker, who spent the greater part of his life in that county, engaged in merchandising. About 1830, however, he came to Indiana and spent his last days in the home of Frederick Fulghum, in Randolph county. He was also a Friend, and the members of the family were prominent in the work of the society. To Frederick and Piety Fulghum were born four sons and five daughters: Edah, who became the wife of William Hunt, and both are now deceased; Michael, who also has passed away; Anna, who became the wife of Nathan Overman and has also passed away; Sally also married George Overman and is now deceased; Jesse P. is the next of the family; Martha is the wife of Alpheus Test, of Richmond; Mary is the deceased wife of Joshua Thomas; Francis A. died in infancy; and Frederick C. is the secretary of the Richmond Business College.
Jesse Parker Fulghum, the father of O. B. Fulghum, was reared in Randolph county, where he remained until twenty years of age; and then he came to Richmond, where he began working at the carpenter's trade, which he had learned with his father. A year later he entered the employ of Gaar, Scott & Company, in their machine shops, where he remained for eight years, when he went to Milton, Wayne county, to accept the position of superintendent of the Joseph Ingels drill works. After acting in that capacity for a year he purchased a half interest in the enterprise, and the following year, 1866, in connection with Joseph Ingels, organized the Hoosier Drill Company, of which he became secretary. The following year, however, he sold out, and in 1869 went to Dublin, Indiana, as a superintendent of the Wayne Agricultural Works, with which he was connected until 1873, when he returned to the Hoosier Drill Company as mechanical expert in charge of the machinery. For four years he occupied that position and in 1877 removed to Richmond to accept a similiar position in the Wayne Agricultural Works, which in the meantime had been removed from Dublin to Richmond. When that enterprise went into the hands of a receiver in 1886, he became mechanical expert for M. C. Henley, in which capacity he is still serving. He is a man of remarkable mechanical genius and has taken out about forty patents, having secured more patents on agricultural implements than any other man in the west. To his enterprise, energy and ability is due not a little of the commercial activity of this section of the state, and the welfare and progress of any section depends upon its commercial activity.
Jesse P. Fulghum married Miss Susan Benton, a daughter of Thomas Benton, who was born near Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and came to Wayne county, Indiana, in 1838, locating in Boston township, where he engaged in farming for a few years. He then sold his land and removed to Richmond, where he engaged in freighting by team from Cincinnati, Ohio. A few years later he abandoned that enterprise and established a hardware and grocery store as a member of the firm of Fletcher & Benton, his partner being S. F. Fletcher. He became the leading hardware merchant of the city and continued to carry on operations in that line until his death, which occurred in 1871, when he had reached the age of sixty-five years. In politics he was a stalwart Democrat. He belonged to the Elkhorn Baptist church, was one of its active workers and for many years served as deacon in the church. He married Miss Susan Rhodes, and to them were born two sons and four daughters. The elder son, Thomas H., was killed at the second battle of Bull Run.
O. B. Fulghum, whose name introduces this review, was reared in Richmond, Milton and Dublin, Indiana, his parents living at the three places during his youth. His literary education, acquired in the common schools, was supplemented by a course in the Richmond Business College, and he was thus well fitted for the practical duties of life. When fourteen years of age he began earning his own livelihood as an employe in the Wayne Agricultural Works in Dublin. When sixteen years of age he accompanied his parents on their removal to Milton, where he attended school and also worked in a shop. In Richmond he was employed by Gaar, Scott & Company, and on leaving that service he spent three years with the Singer Sewing Machine Company as bookkeeper. Later he went to Cambridge City, from which point he superintended the sale of the Singer sewing machines through a considerable territory. Upon his return to Richmond, in 1883, he assumed the management of the White Sewing Machine Company, acting in that capacity until 1887. Since that time he has been extensively engaged in the fire insurance business, representing a number of well known and reliable companies, including the Springfield Fire and Marine, of Springfield, Massachusetts; the Firemen's Fund, of San Francisco; Hamburg-Bremen, of Germany; the American Central, of St. Louis; the American, of Newark, New Jersey; the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company, and the Ætna Indemnity Company, of Hartford, Connecticut. In 1889 he also began dealing in real estate and now has control of considerable valuable property. He is a man of keen foresight and sagacity, and therefore is enabled to make judicious investments, which yield him a good profit. He is energetic, enterprising and reliable, and has the confidence as well as a liberal share of the patronage of the public.
In 1882 Mr. Fulghum was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Tracy, of Richmond, and they have one child, Myra G. He belongs to the First Presbyterian church, in which he holds the office of deacon. To church, charitable and benevolent work he contributes liberally and is always found on the side of progress and advancement. Most of his life having been spent in Wayne county, he is widely known among her citizens and is held in uniform regard.
Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899