Tearing Down Monuments

Fulford Day Memorial at Municipal building

There has been a lot in the news recently about tearing down Memorials to Political and Military leaders, Wars and even Explorers.


As a person who studies family history that is intertwined with history of the place where family lived I'm very much opposed to this.


I'm sure some folks who want to remove memorials have sincere feelings but most seem to be involved for the blood sport or because they read only the news headlines.


I discovered a War Memorial to a family member several years ago and had not written about it because I got too busy with other things. I decided to do so now before it is bulldozed over.

Beaufort News May 12 1921

James Irvin Fulford was a distant relative, a 5th cousin. Far enough that the DNA connection would be slight, but I've researched his family for a while and know several family members who are also doing research.


We share a common ancestor, Joseph Fulford of Carteret County, North Carolina.



I learned of the memorial to him and Leonard Day while searching online newspapers for family surnames in North Carolina. I found several articles about the Fulford - Day Memorial in Morehead City, North Carolina from newspaper articles in the early 1920s.


I visit Morehead City several times a year and decided to try to locate the memorial.


In May of 1921 It had been erected on Arendell Street which is US Hwy 70, the main road through town at the intersection of 8th Street.


The memorial was originally a fountain in the middle of the road, next to the railroad track.



Fulford Day Memorial Fountain on Arendell Street

There wasn't any record of it in recent years but I did locate something that said it had been moved to several blocks to Evans and Jib Street at one point and then later to the Morehead City Municipal Building many years after the building was constructed in 1926.


Two years ago while making plans to visit the area I contacted the City Maintenance department and they said it was still outside the building. I stopped by one afternoon to get the photo.



Beaufort News March 31 1921

Irvin Fulford was honored with a memorial along with another local man because they both died in WWI.



Irvin was born July 15, 1898 to Walter Ernest and DeElla Sawyer Fulford.


He was killed on October 11, 1918, one month before the Armistice of Compiegne was signed which ended the fighting. We celebrate this Armistice and our Veterans every year on November 11th.


He died in one of the last great battles of the War, at the Hindenburg Line. This resulted in a win for the Allies and the Germans losing over 36,000 prisoners. Immediately after this defeat the Germans requested an armistice.


James Irvin Fulford WWI Service Card

His body wasn't returned home until the following March.

He was buried in the Bayview Cemetery in Morehead City in a family plot that thirty years later would make room for his parents.


James Irvin Fulford Gravemarker

Bewitched

I have to admit it, Bewtiched was one of my favorite TV shows growing up. I mean, what's not to like about it. A good looking woman who could do all kinds of magic when needed. I'm sure most guys would like being married to someone like her and women would like to be her.

I was reading a transcript of an interview my grandmother's cousin, Louise Lundy Simmons gave in 1988 to the Manatee Historical Society and found an interesting story about being Bewitched.

My great great grandfather, William Augustus Lundy died in 1903 in Manatee County Florida. The family story I heard was that he died of cancer.

Louise heard a different one, from his wife Marjorie Henry Lundy. Marjorie Lundy died in 1933 when Louise was 22 years old. Louise told the historical society:

Marjorie Henry Lundy - 1930

"Well, my Grandmamma told me that he was out riding in the woods on his horse. And there was a lady sitting on a log that had fallen over. And she was a fortune teller. And she asked him to give her $15 and she’d tell his fortune.

Well, he wouldn’t do it. And she said just to let him know what she was talking about, she told him something that was really true. But he still wouldn’t give her $15. And then he got sick, and they thought that the old lady had bewitched him."

"And they got him and they took him, my Uncle Jim and Aunt Ada, they went somewhere up north. There was somebody up there that could break that spell. And they went north and that man told them that the rest of the family had to go home. And leave him here with me. They wouldn’t do it so they brought him home."

I knew about them taking him to Glen Springs in South Carolina in 1902 shortly before he died, but didn't know it was an attempt to break the spell from a witch.

Legal immigrants

I found this record showing my entry back the USA after my family spent two years in Europe.

My father was in the Air Force and had to do a tour overseas so he took his family with him. I have a letter he wrote to my grandfather shortly after I was born saying he was being pressured to go overseas again.

He had been in the armed forces for parts of three decades by then and most of that time had been overseas, including the Pacific during WWII. He had been able to avoid going after he got married and had four kids.

We were in France for those years where he helped setup the Strategic Air Command bases that were part of NATO for many years.

When we came back we spent two year in Kansas, before he retired.

Ancestry.com just put these records online and it was surprising to see my name. Since today is Armed Forces Day, I though it was a good time to share this.

I apologize that I haven't been posting to this blog in a while, but that's not because I don't have stories to share. There have been a lot of other things taking priority recently so I've been putting them in the cue and hope to be able to have time to write them out here soon.