TRUE STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS
ROBERT FULTON
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.TORONTO
Robert Fulton.
From a miniature owned by Mrs. R. Fulton Blight.
ROBERT FULTON
BY
ALICE CRARY SUTCLIFFE
GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF ROBERT FULTON
AUTHOR OF “ROBERT FULTON AND THE CLERMONT”
AND “THE HOMESTEAD OF A COLONIAL DAME”
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1925
All rights reserved
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Copyright, 1915,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1915. ReprintedAugust, 1925.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
PREFACE
On board the fine passenger boat, Robert Fulton,one of the several queen steamers of the HudsonRiver Day Line, on a May morning when thebeauty of the incomparable river spread in calmperfection before contented eyes, a great-granddaughterof Robert Fulton began to write, foryoung readers, this story of the steamboat inventor’slife.
No “Hero of America” may lay more just claimto the title than Robert Fulton, the fearless, persistentlad of Pennsylvania. His boyhood of sternself-denial, his struggle for culture and advancededucation, and his constant industry place him in“the rank and file” of all students who may readthis book with the desire to learn his secret ofsuccess.
Fulton’s story reveals it. He solved problemslocked from the knowledge of man by a faithfuluse of the key of hard work. Born on a lonelyfarm in the country, deprived in early childhoodof his father’s loving care, he earned his own[vi]living and carved his path to fame and fortune.Therefore his progress is typical of possible similarachievements for all young Americans whowish to render good service to their country andto their fellow-men.
In writing the story of a man whose work forthe world has won fame, the seeker for historicfact must patiently piece together the threadsgathered from many sources to weave the fabricof connected truth.
For these facts concerning Robert Fulton’s lifeI have searched du