CHAPTER 1

Robert Fulton Early Life

His ancestors were of Saxon origin, having crossed from Scotland to Ireland at an early date. From Kilkenny, the Fulton family came to America before the year 1735. The senior Robert Fulton was among the prominent men of Lancaster, his name having been on record upon all the town organizations which existed at that period. He married Miss Mary Smith, a sister of Colonel Robert Smith of Chester County. They were the children of Joseph Smith of Oxford township, Pennsylvania, whose will, dated May 22, 1760, bequeathed “To my beloved Daughter, Mary, wife of Robert Fulton, the sum of Five Pounds, to be levied off my Estate.”

On August 23, 1759, the elder Robert Fulton bought the brick dwelling-house on the northeast corner of Penn Square, afterward known as Center Square, in the town of Lancaster. Two children, daughters, were born in this house, and Mr. and Mrs. Fulton lived there until 1765. On November 8, 1764, he purchased a farm of 393 ¾ acres, situated on the Conowingo Creek, in Little Britain township, and during the following spring moved his family to the farmhouse which is still standing at the country crossroads. There Robert Fulton the inventor was born.

In 1844 the township of Little Britain was resurveyed, and a new section was set aside, to be known as “Fulton Township,” in honor of the child who lived for the first few months of his eventful life within its quiet borders. The farmhouse which sheltered his infancy was built of plastered stone, two stories high, and at one end the roof sloped to a low porch.

Robert Fulton’s father was not a successful farmer; perchance he yearned for the companionship of his Lancaster friends. One thing is certain: during the following year he and his wife mortgaged the property, and moved back to the town of Lancaster.

Not long ago the present owner rebuilt the house and the old section of the homestead was encompassed by the new. The two parlors, low-ceilled and broad, remain; and in one of these rooms, formerly the kitchen, the original fireplace is intact, the crane still swinging within the sooted inclosure where Robert Fulton’s father laid the logs so many years ago. Above the parlor is the room where the inventor was born. Only the broad window-sills show age; the remainder of the house is placidly and emphatically modern.

Joseph Swift, a cousin of Robert Fulton, in writing years ago from Philadelphia, said that his grandfather well remembered in his youth “the great preparations which a visit to Aunt Fulton required in the way of baking, boiling, and roasting, and in getting ready the camp equipage which the journey through the wilderness required. It was only less formidable than a journey across the Atlantic.”

FRIENDSHIP WITH THE FAMILY OF BENJAMIN WEST

The Fulton portraits were found many years ago in the attic of an old house in Lancaster County, and were thought by the owner to be representations of the inventor and his wife. This is manifestly impossible, not only from their lack of resemblance to other authenticated portraits, but also because of the discrepancy in the date of the signature, which is “B. West 175—,” the last figure being indistinct. It is therefore concluded that they are the only known representations of the father and mother of the inventor. The daily sight of these portraits in his home, and the knowledge of the success of his energetic young neighbor Benjamin West, may have proved the inspiration of Robert Fulton’s subsequent study and love of art.

In 1756, Benjamin West’s mother died, and he went to reside in Philadelphia, although it is probable that he frequently returned for visits in Lancaster. It is known that he painted signs for local taverns, and some of these have been preserved by collectors. In Philadelphia he gained reputation as an artist, and an increased patronage. For his portraits, at this time, he received two and a half guineas for a head, and five guineas for a half-length. Desirous to increase his prices, he went to New York for a period of eleven months, where he executed many portraits.

The elder Robert Fulton was an ardent Presbyterian. A letter from Edward Burd of Philadelphia to William Rawle, published in the “Pennsylvanian Magazine,” concludes with these words: “Having lived in Lancaster till I was eleven years of age, I recollect that the father of the famous Robert Fulton, who had a sonorous and stentorian voice, used to raise the Psalm in the Court House, where Presbyterians occasionally preached.” He was one of the founders of the First Presbyterian Church in Lancaster. His death occurred in 1768.

In Delaplaine’s “Repository,” which may be seen at the Lenox Library, New York, the writer on “Robert Fulton” states:

Although highly respectable, the elder Fulton was far from opulent, and the small fortune he left at his death was to be divided between his widow and five children. The patrimony of Robert was, therefore, but slender. To this circumstance, however, he never looked back with the false shame of common minds, but rather rejoiced on being considered, as he really was, the founder of his fortune.

ANECDOTES OF EARLY LIFE

He entered school one day very late, and when the master inquired the reason, Robert, with frank interest, replied that he had been at Nicholas Miller’s shop pounding out lead for a pencil. “It is the very best I ever had, sir,” be affirmed, as he displayed, his product. The master, after an examination of the pencil, pronounced it excellent. When Robert’s mother, who had been distressed by his lack of application to his studies, expressed to the teacher her pleasure at signs of improvement, the latter confided to her that Robert had said to him: “My head is so full of original notions that there is no vacant chamber to store away the contents of dusty books.” These incidents to the contrary, it is nevertheless true that Robert Fulton did absorb a good knowledge of the rudiments of education.

In 1777, Congress held session in the old court house at Lancaster, and during this time the town became famous as a depot of supplies for the American forces. Rifles, blankets, and clothing were manufactured there, powder for the troops was stored in the town, and in that year a certain Paul Zantzinger furnished General Wayne’s men with 650 suits of uniform.

ANDRE’S PAROLE

I, John André, being a prisoner in the United Colonies of America, do, upon the honor of a gentleman, promise that I will not go into or near any seaport town, nor farther than six miles from Lancaster, without leave of the Continental Congress or the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania, and that I will carry on no political correspondence whatever on the subject of the dispute between Great Britain and the Colonies so long as I remain a prisoner.

Mr. Cope had five sons, of whom John was the eldest. André gave lessons in art to his young pupil, and also to Benjamin T. Barton, who became a clever draftsman. The prisoner also played marbles and other boyish sports with his young friends. Robert Fulton was then eleven years old and eager for every form of activity. It is quite possible that when the Cope boys received their lessons in art, Robert may also have been included in the class and thus profited from the excellent tutor.

At a very early age, a love of art became to Robert a profound delight. One of his classmates in the Lancaster schoolhouse told, in after years, an interesting story of those days. He had an older brother, he said, who was fond of painting, and had learned the art of mixing and preparing colors, which he displayed upon mussel shells. The War of the Revolution at that time made it difficult to obtain painting materials from abroad, and few people had money or thought for such quiet pastimes. This painting outfit fell into the possession of the younger brother, who carried it to school and showed it to Robert Fulton. Immediately the latter pleaded for a share, and his productions were so superior to those of the donor that the entire outfit was ultimately given to him.

“QUICKSILVER BOB”

The firm of Lsch and Messersmith were employed by the Continental authorities to make and repair arms for the troops. Guards were stationed at the doors of their shops, and to fill the orders the workmen labored night and day and also on Sundays, a rare trespass upon sacred time in those days. “Quicksilver Bob” came and went daily among the workmen, and it has been said that his mechanical judgment was so highly prized that his suggestions and drawings were frequently followed. It is asserted that he also painted signs for the village taverns and shops, as did his famous predecessor, Benjamin West.

In 1779, when Robert was fourteen years of age, he formed a friendship with Christopher Gumpf, an apprentice in the machine-shop of Mr. Messersmith. Christopher was eighteen years old. His father, Deter Gumpf, an experienced fisherman in the quiet waters of the Conestoga Creek, used to take Christopher and Robert with him, and the boys would pole the flat-bottomed boat from place to place, over the good fishing-grounds. The exercise was severe, for the boat was cumbersome. Robert and Christopher agreed that they were tired of the work.

About this time Robert went to Little Britain township for a brief visit with his aunt; and, during his absence from the machine shops, he busied himself with the manufacture of a small working model of a fishing-boat to be propelled by paddles. He left this model in his aunt’s attic with the request that it be kept, and in subsequent years it was an object of curiosity in the old lady’s parlor. When Robert returned to Lancaster, he made a set of paddle-wheels for Mr. Giunpf’s boat, to be operated by a double crank motion. He tried this invention on the Conestoga River, opposite Rockford, and found it so satisfactory that it was used in subsequent fishing-trips.

At one time in 1777, as many as 2000 British prisoners were quartered at Lancaster, and the natives greatly feared an outbreak. The privates were kept at barracks, and the British officers lodged at public or private houses. The prisoners fared poorly enough at times. One day rations were cut off from the women and children, and they were forced to appeal for relief from starvation. The Hessians, some of whom had their wives with them, occupied square huts of mud and sod. Their strange encampment was naturally attractive to the boys of the village, and Robert Fulton’s ready pencil caricatured them.

FULTON'S CAREER AS ARTIST

“Fulton, Robert: Miniature Painter. Corner of 2nd & Walnut Streets.”

His success during the subsequent four years in Philadelphia was due to indomitable perseverance, aided by the charm of an attractive personality. He seems to have possessed a positive faculty for friendships, and his choice, determined by social rather than sordid considerations, speedily won patronage. He enjoyed a personal friendship with Benjamin Franklin, who favored him with unusual attention and kindness.

After a severe attack of pulmonary trouble, which gave evidences of a tendency toward a hasty decline, Fulton decided, upon expert advice, to seek the recovery of his health at the famous springs of Virginia. At this then fashionable place of resort, he formed friendships with several persons of wise judgment, and through their recommendation, and his own personal desire to seek out and profit by a study of the art treasures of Europe, he began to arrange his affairs for a voyage to the Old World.

In ill health, and desiring to provide a permanent home for his mother and sisters, he invested his savings of more than four hundred dollars in a farm in the township of Hopewell, Washington County, Pennsylvania. The adjacent town of Washington was at this time enjoying a land boom, and in addition to the purchase of the farm for his mother, Fulton also bought four lots in Washington as laid out by Mr. Hogl, the pioneer settler. During the year 1793 Fulton wrote from London to Mr. Hogl to convey deeds for three of these lots to his sisters, Mrs. Mary Morris, Mrs. Isabella Cook, and Mrs. Peggy Scott. From this fact it is known that all the sisters had married.

In 1786, Robert Fulton sailed for England, bearing numerous letters of introduction to distinguished Americans abroad. Among these, a letter from his friend and patron Benjamin Franklin to Benjamin West, the Pennsylvania artist who had attained high honor in London, was of special help in launching Fulton in the art circles of Europe. The connection between the West and Fulton families, and the pronounced similarity of taste and ambition, attracted them to an immediate and intimate comradeship.

EARLY EXPERIMENTS OF WILLIAM HENRY AND JOHN FITCH

An intelligent German, Herr Shoepff, who visited the United States in 1783, while in Lancaster made the acquaintance of Henry, and was shown a machine intended for the propulsion of boats. He reported that Henry himself had been doubtful whether such a machine would find favor with the public, “as every one considers it impracticable to make a boat move against wind and tide.” But Henry was credited with the assertion that “such a boat will come into use and navigate on the waters of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers,” although the time for appreciation and application had not yet arrived.

John Fitch, whose name is also rightfully honored as a pioneer experimenter in steam navigation, was a frequent visitor at the house of Mr. Henry in Lancaster. There were doubtless discussions between the two men in regard to the project which Henry had under consideration. On the 2d of December, 1785, at a special meeting of the American Philosophical Society, John Fitch was personally presented to the members, and consulted a few, including Henry, as to his project.

Of Henry and Fitch, and of Robert Fulton’s ultimate success in solving the problem of steam navigation, the late Dr. Robert H. Thurston, former Director of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Cornell University, wrote:

Fitch evidently made the first successful experiment in the propelling of boats by steam; but William Henry has probably the honor of originating the idea, and building the first steam-boat ever built in the United States. Fitch improved on Mr. Henry’s model, and Fulton improved on both. . . Fulton took the products of the genius of other mechanics, and set them at work in combination, and then applied the already known steamboat in his more satisfactorily proportioned form, to a variety of useful purposes, and with final success. It is this which constitutes Fulton’s claim upon the gratitude and the remembrance of the nations. And it is quite enough.

FULTON‘S COUNTRY TOUR IN ENGLAND

Professor Renwick tells us, in somewhat veiled terms, that several years after Fulton had returned to America, the heir of the title and fortunes of the Courtenays, became a refugee in our land under circumstances of disgrace and humiliation. Every door was closed against him except that of Fulton. The feelings of Fulton were probably those which lead the benevolent to minister to the comforts and to soothe the mental anguish of the condemned criminal; but in the instance we allude to, it required not only the existence of such feelings, but a high degree of courage to exercise them, in the face of a popular impression, which, whether well or ill founded, was universally entertained.

During Robert Fulton’s sojourn in Devonshire, he formed friendships with several men of distinction, and it is said that portraits and landscapes painted by him at this period are to be found in many of the stately homes of England. It should be remembered that during all these years he was supporting himself entirely by his own efforts with palette and brush.

In Devonshire he won the personal interest of two influential peers of the realm, whose scientific investigations were a keen joy and an important factor in defining his subsequent career. These men, the Duke of Bridgewater and Earl Stanhope, were scientists of advanced thought. The former had inherited a vast estate, which, although it abounded in mineral wealth, failed to render an adequate financial return, because the mines were inaccessible through lack of a proper development for the transportation of their output. The growing town of Manchester had need of coal for its manufactories, and there was plenty of coal in the lands of the Duke of Bridgewater. But all products had to be carried from the estate in sacks upon pack-horses.

The duke, therefore, with the aid of a native genius, Brindley by name, whom he termed his engineer, opened canal navigation throughout his lands. This was attained only at great cost in the face of appalling difficulties and much opposition. It is said that, at one time, he barely escaped confinement as a lunatic, so ridiculous did his plans appear to critical friends and relatives. At the time Fulton met him, the success of his canal project was manifest, and he was already amassing wealth through the aid of this new method of water carriage.

Similar schemes were projected throughout the country, and the duke became the proprietor of several navigation companies which were at that time in formation to construct a great system of waterways through England. It is thought that the duke’s plans, if not his solicitation, had much to do with Fulton’s abandonment of art for civil engineering; for, from this time on, his thoughts were occupied with canal navigation and allied subjects of practical utility.

With the Earl of Stanhope, whose talent ran to mechanical devices and scientific research, Fulton entered into a spirited correspondence. The earl was an enthusiast; his inventions, though they bordered on great discovery, and were based upon noble aims, were never carried to a degree of commercial perfection.

One of his plans was for the application of steam to navigation, by the use of a curious paddle, resembling the webbed foot of a waterfowl. He communicated his ideas on this subject to Fulton, who showed the practical impossibility of the project. Cadwallader D. Colden and Professor Renwick both authoritatively stated that Fulton, in a letter written during the year 1793 from Devonshire, briefly gave, in exchange for the earl’s impracticable plan for steam navigation, the very principles of his own later application, which afterward was successfully demonstrated on the Hudson River. Earl Stanhope, however, proceeded with his own design, and in an experiment made at the London docks, met with failure. But his generous nature continued to find interest in Fulton’s plans and aspirations, and upon several subsequent occasions he gave evidences of his sincere friendship for the American inventor.

From Devonshire, Fulton went to Birmingham, where he took up his residence. Although his name does not appear in the list of engineers who were engaged upon the Duke of Bridgewater’s project of building canals from Birmingham to the chief seaports, there is little doubt that he went there with the aim of studying the new enterprise.

It is asserted by several biographers of Fulton that during his eighteen months’ residence in Birmingham he met and entered into confidential correspondence with Watt, the inventor of the steam engine. One narrator states that Fulton actually superintended the construction of an engine, where no other aid could be obtained. This friendship has been questioned by others, whose proof against it lies in the fact that a letter from Joel Barlow stated that Fulton had never met Watt. Mr. Colden agrees with Renwick that as early as 1793, Fulton had turned his thoughts toward steam navigation as an important possibility, and had outlined his plan for putting it in practice, and this fact is conclusively proved by the first reproduction of Fulton’s letter to the earl.

But these dreams did not keep him from the development of other practical contrivances. In 1794 he secured from the British government a patent for a double inclined plane for raising and lowering canal-boats, and also received from the British Society of Arts and Commerce the thanks and an honorary medal of the society for a submitted invention for sawing marble. About the same period he obtained English patents upon a machine for spinning flax, and for a new invention for twisting hemp rope.

He appears to have been reaching out in many directions of thought, to try to solve some industrial problem, great or small; but his energies were chiefly turned toward the further development of canal systems. He designed and obtained English patents for a dredging-machine for scooping out earth to form the channels for canals or aqueducts, and later patented “The Market or Passage Boat” for use upon canals; and still later, a “Dispatch Boat,” devised for special speed in transporting goods which required expedition. These smaller inventions, although they were useful at the time in furthering the utility of canal navigation, were but steps toward a greater development of the inventor’s knowledge of practical science.

The distinguished John Owen, founder of English Socialism, a one-time partner of Fulton in the enterprise of the dredging machine, in his autobiography tells of the interesting fact of a meeting in 1794 between his friends, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the poet, and Robert Fulton, whom he terms “the famous American engineer and inventor and introducer of the steamboat.” It is a significant coincidence that the author of “The Ancient Mariner” should have known the inventor who was so soon to change the world’s methods of navigation. Fulton answered in practical fashion the dreamy question of the poet,

But why drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind?

Throughout the succeeding pages he endeavored to show the advantages of a system of small canals, which, if introduced in any fertile country, would increase the financial resources of all the inhabitants of the inland districts, by enabling them to offer their farm products to the inhabitants of the larger coast towns. He acknowledged that his first study of the subject of canal navigation was inspired by the reading of a paper descriptive of a canal proposed by Earl Stanhope. Fulton’s treatise dealt with the’ practical contrivances necessary for such a waterway, and described his patents already secured for the easy transportation of boats from one level to another by use of inclined planes.

Fulton did not confine himself to a mere recital of the technicalities of his invention; with broad-minded prophecy he viewed the possibilities of canal navigation as contributing to the best form of political economy for any nation which would adopt it. He calculated the profits to be derived, the expenses incident to the development of his plan, and the immense advantage which would result from an enlarged system which, like arteries of the body, would unite all parts of the country. He especially emphasized the advantages which America would gain from the system.

Fulton sent copies of his treatise to Governor Mifllin of Pennsylvania, and to George Washington, who was then President of the United States, urging their thoughtful consideration of the project. Washington wrote a courteous acknowledgment, but there is no record of official action on the part of the Federal government. The “Treatise on Canals,” with Fulton’s letter to Governor Mifllin, was translated into French and published in Paris in the seventh year of the Republic. It won the attention of many engineers and mechanicians, but apparently produced no large constructive results.

Universal free trade was the avowed motive of Fulton’s various experiments, and for this cause he wrote several treatises during his residence in Birmingham and later. In 1795 he published some essays on canals in the London “Morning Star,” and two years later addressed a paper to the French Directory which he entitled “Thoughts on Free Trade.” It should be remembered that only a short time before Fulton’s removal to Birmingham, the French Revolution had charged two nations with new desires for political advancement. This great historical event had immense weight in the definition of Fulton’s subsequent career.

That Fulton was studying these international disputes is proved by an extract from a letter written to his brother-in-law, David Morris, in 1794. It is published by permission of the Chicago Historical Society:

“As to Europe it is all in alarm, the united efforts of England, Prussia, Spain, Holland, Germany, Russia, and all the allied Powers have not been able as Yet to ‘mount Another King on the Back of the French Nation. It is almost incredible with what Vigor the French meet their enemies, while Live the Republic is the Constant Song; and Liberty or Death their Motto. Thus determined to Establish Republickism they have at this moment, five hundred thousand Men under Arms, Ready for the ensuing Campaign.

The Allies Seeing so much unshaken firmness Ready to meet them begin to despair of King making, And think it time to Look to their own Safety, As the discontented enumerate fast in all the Belligerent States, the People Contemplate the Nature of a Republic, and the more they think, the more they admire it. When a Revolution once takes place in the mind it will Soon make its appearance externally. And I Can assure you there are numbers who do not hesitate to say that Monarchial Governments are going out of Fashion. Things Being thus situated it is the report of the day that the King of Prussia has withdrawn from the alliance. The Empress of Russia has certainly found work at home with the turks. And thus the French are eased of two powerful adversaries—how things will terminate God only knows.

But as far as Man Can penetrate into events it is believed the French will prove Successful and establish a Republic, the Natural Consequence will be Republicks throughout Europe (In time.) It has been much Agitated here Whether the Americans would Join the French. But I Believe every Cool friend to America Could wish them to Remain nuter. The americans have no troublesome Neighbours, they are without foreign Possessions, and do not want the alliance with any Nation, for this Reason they have nothing to do with foreign Politics. And the Art of Peace Should be the Study of every young American which I most Sincerely hope they will mentain”

But in 1796 the excesses of the French Revolution had ceased, and Great Britain commenced an aggression on the seas through which the United States were the greatest sufferers. Fulton shared the resentment which England’s attitude excited among Americans and set himself the task of abolishing piracy upon the seas. Temporarily he turned his attention from canal structure to the study of a new weapon designed to provide universal peace; and this resulted in the invention of the torpedo, a work of equal magnitude to his later production, the steamboat.

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