[IMAGE]
George F. Fullinwider

George Fairbank Fullinwider, was born in Mechanicsburg, Sangamon county, Illinois, October 19, 1854. He is the eldest son of Marcus Lindsay Fullinwider and Sarah Calista Fairbank. His father was a native of Shelbyville, Ky., of German descent, and one of the pioneers of Sangamon county, Illinois. His mother was a native of New Hampshire of Scotch ancestry. His grandfather, Rev. George Fairbank, and whose name he bears, was one of the pioneers of Methodism in Illinois, a co-worker with Peter Cartwright, J. L. Crane, Hiram Buck and others of blessed memory. When George Fullinwider was three years old his mother died, and, with his infant brother, he was taken to the home of his grandparents, then at Georgetown, Ill., where he remained until August, 1863, when his father having married again, George went home with him to Champaign, Ill. In March, 1867, his father removed to Vermillion county, near Fairmount, where he had landed interests and where George remained until he came to Kansas in January, 1883. In 1871 his stepmother died, and the family was badly broken. His father remained on the farm, however, and George remained a part of the time in that vicinity and a part was spent near the old home in Sangamon county.

December 7, 1876, Mr. Fullinwider married Miss Priscilla Jester, the eldest daughter of a prominent farmer in the community. With no children of their own, they adopted a motherless baby girl in 1884, and she was the light of their home until her marriage to William J. Thompson, a prominent young farmer near El Dorado. The past ten years, two motherless babes, a little niece and nephew, have shared their home and love.

In August 1882 Mr. Fullinwider purchased a farm in Rosalia township, the southwest quarter of section 3-26-7. At that time the Santa Fe branch from Florence, which extended to Douglass was the only railroad in the county. Surveys for the Missouri Pacific had been made and the stakes stood in the prairie grass, but the road had not been

built west of Eureka. Track was laid to El Dorado in January, 1883. Rosalia township was but thinly settled, and much of pioneer days remained. In October, 1885, he removed to the farm on which the town of Pontiac is located and remained there until the fall of 1886, when he again moved to a bottom farm on the Walnut, three miles northeast of El Dorado. He remained there until March, 1887, when he moved to El Dorado and engaged in the marble business. In March, 1890, he accepted a position on the reportorial staff of the Daily Walnut Valley "Times." He continued in this position until April 1, 1897, when he purchased a one-half interest in "The Advocate," and later became sole proprietor. He conducted the paper for sixteen years, or until September, 1913, when he sold it. He then returned to a position on The Walnut Valley "Times," which position he holds at present. He has the distinction of ranking as the second oldest newspaper man in Butler, having completed twenty-six years of active work. J. M. Satterthwaite, of The Douglass "Tribune," is the oldest, in point of service.

Mr. Fullinwider, like his ancestors, is a Methodist, and for the past thirty years has been a licensed exhorter in the church. At one time he had charge of the Chelsea circuit, which then comprised Chelsea, Satchell Creek, Cole Creek, Durachen, Pontiac and Rosalia. He served these points ably and satisfactorily, doing most of his studying between the plow handles while caring for his farm. He did this extra work, that the regular pastor might be enabled to go and file on a claim in western Kansas. He has served with distinction as Sunday school superintendent, and was for several years president of the Butler County Sunday School Association. He has conducted many funerals in these years and has always been ready to go where he was needed at any time. He has always been interested in the church and Sunday school work, has been a strong advocate of temperance and a firm adherent of righteousness in all things.

In 1871 he joined the Independent Order of Good Templars, and has since remained a member of that worldwide organization. At the Topeka session of the Grand Lodge in 1893, he was elected to the office of Grand Secretary of Kansas and held that position for fifteen years. During this time he spent not only his time but his money in the promotion of the cause of Good Templary, represented Kansas in the International Supreme Lodge at Boston in 1895, and in Toronto, Canada, in 1897. In 1902, he was again elected to represent Kansas in the session held in Stockholm, Sweden, and was the only Kansan on the floor of that august assembly. On this trip he made a tour of the continent and visited Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Holland and England. He learned much of the Old World and its people. In the line of duty, in connection with the temperance work, he has lectured many times, has traveled in thirty-six States and territories and the Dominion of Canada, has crossed the Atlantic twice, the North Sea twice, sailed hundreds of miles in the Baltic and its tributaries, has seen the Hebrides

Islands, the coast of Scotland, the Shetland Islands, the coast of Ireland and the coast of Newfoundland. To him this experience has been one of the most interesting and educational of his life.

Politically Mr. Fullinwider is a democrat, and his entire sympathies and interest lie in the direction and along the line of the interests of the common people, and especially of the laboring classes. He has been honored on several occasions by election as delegate to State conventions. Especially was this true during the Populist regime. He was very active at that time and during those years. He was a delegate to the last National convention of the Populist party, held at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and was closely associated with men of National as well as State reputation.

Previous | Main Page | Biography Index | Next

Pages 496-498,