The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Per Find-A-Grave memorial, this stone is a cenotaph and the actual place of his burial is unknown
Headstone photos published with permission of Compatriot Norman Dickey
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
Located on the east side of South Main St, near the intsection with Reynolds St
Photo: 1 of 2
Photo: 2 of 2
Author: Jerry Bowen
Philip Fulkerson was born at New Brunswick, New Jersey on 23 March, 1753. He had a brother John, who was also a Revolutionary War soldier. There were two others brothers, Volkert and Jacob. and a sister Jannetje. Philip Married Elizabeth Bruner about 1775. He was commissioned a Captain in the 2nd Battalion of Colonel Quick’s Regiment, Somerset County Militia, almost a year before the Declaration of Independence. One account states he began his service “prior to 1 July, 1776” while another states he commanded the 2nd Battalion in October 1775, and a third states he “commanded his company in service in New York March 1776.” He was in the battle of New York, which ended with the American army retreating all the way across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.
Philp was a prisoner of war confined to New York in September and October 1777. [He may have been captured at the Battle of Brandywine in which Washington had more than 1,000 men killed, wounded, or captured. There were “Jerseymen” in Washington’s 11,000 man army at that time.] A further record adds that he continued as “Commander of the Second Battalion, Somerset County, New Jersey Militia from 1777-1780.” However, there were no other major battles in the northern colonies after Monmouth. He served under Colonel Van Dike, apparently near Hackensack, beginning September 1779. His final mustering out was recorded as “Certificate No. 1316 for 22 pounds 5 shillings and No. 982 for 11 pounds 2 shillings, depreciate of his continental pay in the Somerset County Militia, dated May 10,1784 and signed by William Verbryck.”
The pension application of Daniel Covertt, Sr., born in Somerset County NJ, dated September 3, 1832, stated he “volunteered October 1775 in the New Jersey Militia for 5 months under Capt. Philip Fulkerson, Col. Frelinghuysens’ Regiment, and that this unit was used to surprise torries [tories].” His own account states, “ I volunteered in Capt. Fulkerson’s company of Col. Quick’s Regt. Of the Flying corps troops, marched to Amboy and served one month. I was stationed in Newark and once again in the city of New York, my company again retreated to Newark. When the Declaration of Independence was read I volunteered for two months in Henry Valagras Company and in June 1778 I was in Col. Quick’s Regt. At the Battle of Monmouth when we were as a means on the flank of the main army. Capt. Fulkerson was my captain in the year 1779. I was again stationed at Hackensack under Capt. Fulkerson. I removed to Kentucky in 1790.”
Philip did not remain in New Jersey after the war ended, but moved on to the Kentucky frontiers. Kentucky had been explored by John Finley, Daniel Boone and other hunters before 1700. Small bands of settlers soon followed. In 1776 the Virginia Assembly created Kentucky with virtually the same boundaries as the current state of Kentucky. Virginia subdivided this region into three counties in 1780 Fayette, Lincoln, and Jefferson, and began making grants of “Military Land” to veterans of the Revolution. These grants were issued one at a time by legislative action, with the size of the grant based on the veteran’s rank and service record. About 400 grants were authorized by the Virginia legislature.
On 20 April 1782 Philip obtained a land patent, Warrant No. 1024 for 250 acres on Pottinger’s Creek in Jefferson Co., Va. After Kentucky was admitted to the Union in 1792, the part of Jefferson County where Philip lived became Nelson County. [One account states he received this tract of land “from Henry Lee, Governor of Virginia.” Lee, the famed “Light Horse Harry Lee: of the Revolution and the father Of Robert E. Lee, did not become Virginia’s Governor until 1791. However, the land grant may have been verified by Virginia in order to be transferred and recorded in the new state in 1792.]
Philip moved to Mercer County, KY by 1792. Philip and Elizabeth sold their Nelson County land on 18 January 1807 to Daniel L. Morrison for the sum of $100. In the same year, 1807, he bought from Daniel L. Morrison 500 acres on the waters of Green River in Ohio County. This became his Land at Pond Run. The Pond Run (Baptist) Church was founded, primarily by his children, on one acre of this property in 1820. Philip died in Ohio County, in 1813. His will was recorded, June 21, 1813.
Captain Philip Fulkerson is buried at the Beaver Dam First Baptist Church Cemetery in Beaver Dam, Ohio County, Kentucky.
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