History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 4 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

APPENDIX No. 1. Vol. iv., p. 50.

Robert Fulton.

In the life of Henry Bell by E. Morris (Glasgow, 1844), there is the following letter from Mr. Bell to a Mr. John McNeill. It is dated, Helensburgh, 1st March, 1824, and is as follows:—

“Sir, I this morning was favoured with your letter. In reply to your enquiry respecting the late Robert Fulton the American engineer, his father was a native of Ayrshire, but of what town or district there I cannot say. He went to America, where his son Robert was born.”

As Ayrshire is my own native county, I was curious to ascertain if the Robert Fulton of whom Henry Bell writes was any connection of an old man named Fulton who rented a farm belonging to Lord Ailsa in the district of Carrick about four miles from the town of Ayr where I was born, and where also I was educated under a very dear uncle, the Rev. William Schaw, after whom I was named. Old Fulton (or rather old “Ballig,” which was the name of his farm, and that by which he himself was better known) and his family were members of the United Presbyterian Church, of which my uncle was minister. On his ministerial visits to Ballig, I used, as a boy, frequently to accompany him, perhaps, more for the good fare which was produced on these occasions, than for anything else. Old Ballig or Fulton would be then (1827-1829) a man of somewhere about 80 years of age, and I remember he frequently spoke of an elder brother who had settled in America whose son became a “great man.” What that greatness consisted of, I do not recollect, but as it was something which in my boyish days had, with the good fare, made a lasting impression on my mind, it came fresh to my recollection when I read the letter I have just quoted in the life of Henry Bell, and I wondered if the “great man,” the nephew of old Ballig, was the Robert Fulton of worldwide fame.

Through my friend Mr. T. M. Gemmell, of Ayr, I ascertained that the grandson of the old man whom I knew now occupied the farm of Ballig. From this person, however, no reliable information could be obtained as to the position or fate of his ancestors. Perhaps, that was not surprising, as the schoolmaster does not appear to have paid many visits to Ballig since the days of my boyhood. Resolved to trace the matter still further, I applied to my friend and school companion, Mr. H. G. Reid, of H. M. Stationery Office, who, from his literary tastes as editor of his father-in-law’s great work ‘McCulloch’s Commercial Dictionary,’ readily lent me a helping hand. He, in turn, applied to his friends in Scotland, and among others to Mr. Cochran Patrick, of Woodside, in the parish of Beith, Ayrshire, where the Fulton family appear to have had their origin.

Mr. Patrick himself, a gentleman of considerable literary acquirements and fond of antiquarian research, heartily joined us on our voyage of discovery and, after some trouble, found a Mr. James Stevenson, residing on his own property in Lochwinnoch, who said he knew all about the Fulton family, and who made the following statement in writing, which I give in his own words as follows:—

“Knows, 31st March, 1875.

“Robert Fulton was born at Mill of Beith, parish of Beith, Ayrshire, in the year 1765. His father, William Fulton, was born at Threepwood, also in the parish of Beith, about the year 1720. He took a lease of Brownmuir and Mill of Beith, corn mill, about the year 1742. He married Rose Mitchell, a native of Dumbarton, in the year 1744. He had issue five daughters and two sons. The eldest son, William, was born about the year 1747 or 1748; he became a partner in the firm of Fulton, Buchanan, and Pollock, who erected a large cotton mill in Lochwinnoch. William Fulton was manager, and carried on the engineering connected with the mill. Among the workmen employed were the late William Dunn of Duntocher, and Henry Bell of Glasgow. Robert Fulton, when young, was educated in the highest branches of learning, being master of nine different languages. He had a cousin, Henry Fulton, in London, who had a warehouse, and Robert’s father intended him to go there. He was educated so that he might be able to transact business with foreign merchants. He went to London about the year 1788, but he did not like to be confined in the warehouse or office. He went to sea many different voyages, was at Greenland, America, and the Indies. He was often in London, and came different times to Scotland to see his father, mother, and his brother and sisters, and also got models and machines made by his brother’s workmen at Lochwinnoch for some of his inventions. He was in Scotland about the year 1801, and visited a steam-boat in the Forth and Clyde Canal along with Henry Bell. He was about London after that. He had inventions of different things, which he made offer of to the British Government, but they would give him no encouragement, after that he went to Paris and made offer of them to Bonaparte. The British Government, hearing that he had made offer of them to Bonaparte, issued an order for his apprehension. He was in Paris about the year 1803, and left for America in company with the American Consul Livingston. He got acquainted with his daughter or niece, Harriet Livingston, in the vessel, and was married to her in a short time after. It was after that that he started the steam-boat on the Hudson River. He had been at great expense and got into difficulties for want of money. He left America and went to Antigua, and commenced business, and remained there, except when visiting his friends in Scotland. I recollect him being here, in this house, visiting my father and mother, my sister and elder brother very well recollect the same; it was in the year 1821. He returned to Antigua and died in about a year after that; also his wife died about a year after him. His will and settlement came home and was in the hands of Martin and Simpson, writers, Paisley; the way I know this he was uncle to both my father and mother, their mothers being both sisters of Robert Fulton.

“The few statements herein contained are within my own knowledge.

“John Stevenson.”

By this very distinct statement, it appeared we had discovered that the celebrated Robert Fulton was not merely of Ayrshire parentage, but was himself born in Ayrshire, a fact, if substantiated, of no ordinary importance to us as Scotsmen, who, proud of our countrymen Watts and Symington, could now rank with them as a countryman also of our own, the only rival claimant, of note, to the invention of the marine steam engine. It may have been the case that he was a renegade, who having propounded to Napoleon a scheme for the invasion of England, had disowned the land of his birth, and sought protection as an American subject—an opinion, however, which tended to confirm our belief that the Robert Fulton of engineering fame was really a Scotsman. Indeed, considering the statement made by Mr. Stevenson, there were many reasons for supposing that such was the case; and our belief was strengthened when, on searching the parochial register of the parish of Beith, deposited in the General Register House, Edinburgh, we found the following entry: “Robert, lawful son to William Fulton and Rosie Mitchell in Miln of Beith, April 17th; baptised April 22nd, 1764.” The only real differences (apart from the dates 1764 instead of 1765, in the statement) which required to be cleared up, was his death in Antigua in 1821, instead of in New York in 1815, as stated by his biographers, and, also, the fact of his marriage to Miss Livingston. To ascertain these points I communicated with the Governor of Antigua, who courteously obtained and forwarded, in due time, a copy from the register of the parish of St. George in that island of the entry of the death of a Robert Fulton at the age of fifty-three, and his burial on the 25th November, 1819. As this Robert Fulton was buried two years before Mr. Stevenson saw the Robert Fulton of whom he speaks, as the copy of his will which the Governor of Antigua was also good enough to obtain, makes no mention of the name of Livingston, and as no record could be found of the death in that island of any other person of the name of Robert Fulton, we reluctantly arrived at the conclusion that, after all, we had not found the man for whom we had made so diligent a search.

The incidents in the lives are, however, so much alike, that they are worthy of record, and may give my readers some idea of the labours of an author to arrive at the truth; labours which are frequently made in vain, as in the present instance. But, though the Fulton from Beith was apparently not the Fulton of fame, I have a strong impression that the nephew of my old friend Fulton of Ballig was so, though I have not the time, at present, to make further researches, as this volume is now on its way to press.

W. S. Lindsay.

Shepperton Manor, Nov. 1875.