Judge Fulton


James "Judge" Fulton was justice of the peace, judge, surveyor, politician, and founder of the village of Bass River, Nova Scotia.
Born in Belfast, Fulton is believed to have migrated from Ulster to New England around 1760, where he worked as a surveyor. Arriving in Nova Scotia in what is believed to be 1765, he settled by 1767 in the Township of Londonderry, an area settled primarily by Ulster families since 1761. He was appointed JP for the district of Colchester soon after in what was then still Halifax County. He was one of the first land grantees of the township. In 1791, he was appointed a judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for Colchester and in 1793 was commissioned as captain of the local militia regiment. He also made the first complete survey of the township and its villages.
By then a prominent local figure, Fulton was elected to the House of Assembly in 1799. He joined Edward Mortimer of Pictou and William Cottnam Tonge of Halifax to form a "country party" that opposed powerful Halifax merchants allied with then Lieutenant Governor, Sir John Wentworth and the Privy Council, who favoured development of Halifax town at the expense of rural areas and were known at the time as the "court party". The country party took three of four Halifax County seats contested, including Fulton who finished third.
As a Member of the Assembly, Fulton however voted independently on matters and would at times side with court party members. He served on Assembly committees, particularly ones dealing with road or bridge construction. He does not seem to have run for the 1806 elections. Fulton spent the remainder of his days a farmer on his Bass River homestead until his death. He and his wife Margaret had seven sons and seven or eight daughters. His great-grandson George Fulton founded Dominion Chair Company in 1875.