The Fulkerson Family Pages
I'm Linda, and I'm a Fulkerson, born and raised in Kentucky (like a lot of other Fulkersons). When I was a child, I lived in a rural community in Kentucky having deep Catholic roots; I was surrounded by youngsters whose families took up entire sections of our local church. It was strange that, even though I had lived in that town since I was a year old, and now my mother is buried in the cemetery of that very church, somehow I never could shake the feeling of being an outsider.
As one of two children (and having a much older brother who left home when I was six, leaving me as, what today I call "a lonely only"), I could not help being a bit envious of my peers and all their brothers and sisters and cousins and aunts and uncles and great aunts and great uncles and grandmothers and grandfathers.
Where I was raised, family reunions seemed a weekly occurrence. Many of these families were kind enough to allow me to fill a plate at the picnic, but it just wasn't the same for me as having my own blood kin to celebrate a connection with.
On the way to Murray State University, where I attended my first few years in college, my father would wave his hand in the direction of Beaver Dam, a town just off the WK Parkway, and tell me we "have some family there." Years later, I would do some research at the library, looking at the area phone directories.
Lo and behold, I found not one, not two, but dozens upon dozens of Fulkersons in the listings. No longer did I feel like an alien from outer space. I told Dad about it, but he passed away before he could tell me any more of the family stories, or explain to me just who those "Beaver Dam people" were to me.
It was 2008 or so when I made the acquaintance of Bob Fulkerson, who had invested untold energy, money, and time in putting together the incredible Fulkerson.org site, which is the foundation of this site.
Bob was looking for someone to take over the work. He was tired. Perhaps it was the onset of the leukemia that took his life in 2012 which was dragging him down. I wanted to take over at that time, but my family was young, life was demanding, and I knew nothing about putting together a website. But I kept in touch, checking back from time to time to see what was new.
I was shocked when I saw the announcement from Bob's sister, Lori Jayne, that the family was looking for someone to take over the site, because Bob had died.
Being in a better position as far as family obligations, and knowing much more about website creation (not really, but the current tools make it a lot easier than it used to be), I stepped forward to take over. Since doing so, I have learned more American (and even some European) history than I ever did in school. I've met and corresponded with wonderful people from all over the country, and I've had time to give serious and deep consideration to just what our parents and grandparents have endured across these past couple of centuries of the American experiment.
In fact, the greatest reward has been going from a feeling of being disconnected from the world to understanding I have a connection to one of the largest and most rooted families in the United States, starting with Bob's kindness and that of his wonderful family. I think that's pretty neat.
This site is a work in progress, and I'm a perfectionist--I'll "take a wild hair" and redo whole sections from time to time, so do, please, be patient with me. I'll be starting a blog soon to let cousins know ways you can help. Many of our older family members are passing on--we need to get as much family history recorded as we can before these treasured folk move on in their journey...
This is a HUGE endeavor--yes we'd LOVE an extra hand or two.
