Old Soldiers Home

I've written several times about my great uncle William Burgess Fulford. The Florida Archives recently put some records from the Old Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Home in Jacksonville online.

The Old Soldiers Home was opened in 1893 and provided a place to live for aged Confederate veterans until the last one died in 1938. The home was run by the State but the money to build it was donated by the United Confederate Veterans (a group of CW veterans) and two descendant groups, Sons of Confederate veterans and Daughters of the Confederacy.

During the years it was open the home had a resident population that ranged from forty seven to three. After it closed the home was sold and the money donated to the State of Florida to endow scholarships at Florida State College for Women and the University of Florida.

William Fulford enlisted June 3, 1861 in the 2nd North Carolina Infantry. He was wounded and taken prisoner on November 7, 1863 at Kelly's Ford, Virginia. He was sent to the POW camp at Point Lookout Maryland and held there for a year and a half.

He moved to Florida in 1888 about the same time his nephews settled the fishing village of Cortez, Florida. I found him listed in several articles in the Tampa, Florida newspaper. Once in 1909 said he was charged with selling goods out of a wagon on the street without a license. The Judge ruled that as a War Veteran he didn't need a license but told him to get a permit from the Mayor so the Police wouldn't bother him again.

He was living in Tampa, listed as a Sewing Machine Repairman on the 1910 census. At 70 years of age on June 21, 1912 he sent in this Application for Membership with the Florida Confederates Home so he could live there.

His application said that during the war he had received gunshot wounds to the abdomen and testicles and that his arm was broken and never set. A physician documented his injuries and said he was unable to work. The application was approved on July 12, 1912.

He lived in the Old Soldiers Home until December 25, 1924 when he passed away. He is buried in the Confederate Plot of the Old Jacksonville City Cemetery.