Biography of Bradley E. Fullington Excerpted from "Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1911-1912", Edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary. Vol XII., State Printing Office, Topeka, Kansas 1912. submitted by Teresa Lindquist (merope@radix.net); (copyright) 2001 by Teresa Lindquist ----------------------------------------------------------------------- KSGENWEB INTERNET GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In keeping with the KSGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other gain. Copying of the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- BRADLEY E. FULLINGTON was a sample of the heroic men who first came to open these prairies. He was born in Johnson, Vt., in the year 1819. As a boy he industriously followed the routine of work on the farm and in the district school. He became a man of strong religious convictions. At the age of twenty-four he was married to Miss Louise Carpenter. For ten years they followed dairy farming in Vermont. In consequence of failing health he took a long sea voyage in a sailing vessel from New York around Cape Horn to San Francisco in 1852. He remained in California three years, mainly in camp life, returning to Vermont in the fall of 1855. May 31, 1856, he started for Kansas with Albe B. Whiting. At St. Louis they bought a camp outfit and farm tools and took passage in the "Star of the West" for Westport Landing. They were one week on the river, and after landing they put in a week in Platte and Clay counties gathering up seven yoke of oxen. Their first night in camp in the territory of Kansas some roughs from Westport attempted to rob them, but a little gun play by Mr. Fullington prevented. They spent two weeks in reaching their destination. At Lawrence everybody seemed aroused for conflict; Topeka was but a rolling prairie, with here and there a hut; at Manhattan there was no sign of life, and Junction City was vacant prairie. Five weeks from home they pitched their tent on Madison creek, near the present town of Milford. The next morning being the Sabbath, a family altar was promptly set up in that tent. Mr. Fullington returned to Vermont in the fall, coming back to Kansas in the early spring of 1837, bringing with him a quantity of low-grade pine lumber which he purchased in St. Louis. This lumber, laid down at Leavenworth, cost $104 per thousand. It then had to be hauled 140 miles. Mr. Fullington represented Riley county in the legislature of 1863 and 1864, then annual sessions. After forty-three years of a very useful and strenuous life as a farmer, stock raiser and in general business, interested in all that was good in the country, he died December 26, 1899, and is buried at Milford. (Included with the article, "Account of a Blizzard in 1856.", page 119)