1. Gay Arritt, “Fulton Pottery,” in Gay Arritt, Historical Sketches, (Covington, Va.: Alleghany Historical Society, 1982); Kurt C. Russ, “The Traditional Pottery Manufacturing Industry in Virginia: Examples from Botetourt and Rockbridge Counties,” Rockbridge Historical Society Proceedings (Lexington, Va.) 10 (1990): 453–89; Kurt C. Russ, “Exploring Western Virginia Potteries,” Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts 21, no. 2 (1996): 98–138; Kurt C. Russ, “Making Pottery in Botetourt County,” Journal of the Roanoke Historical Society 13, no. 2 (1996): 59–74.
2. Paul Mullins, “Historic Pottery Making in Rockingham County, Virginia” (paper presented at the Archaeological Society of Virginia Symposium, “Ceramics in Virginia 1988,” Virginia Piedmont Community College, Charlottesville); Paul R. Mullins, “Defining Boundaries of Change: The Records of an Industrializing Potter,” in Text Aided Archaeology, edited by Barbara J. Little (Boca Raton, Fla.: C.R.C. Press, 1992), pp. 179–93; Kurt C. Russ, “The Archaeology of Nineteenth-Century Virginia Coarsewares,” in The Transformation of Virginia from 1800 to 1900: An Archaeological Synthesis, edited by Ted Reinhart and John Sprinkle, Special Publication No. 31 of the Archaeological Society of Virginia (Richmond, Va.: Dietz Press, 1995).
3. Brenda Fulton Booker (bbooker955@aol.com), personal communication, 2003; Nancy Pruter (bobpruter@earthlink.net), personal communication, 2003.
4. Edward F. Witsell, Major General, Dept. of the Army, September 23, 1948, to Ms. Edna Cantrell, Covington, Virginia.
5. Virginia Fincastle Herald, June 23, 1938; interview with Edna Cantrell, granddaughter of Fulton, by Chris Donahue, Washington and Lee University, 1987.
6. Richmond Whig publication dated April 15, 1865; William C. Ketchum, The Pottery & Porcelain Collector’s Handbook (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1971), p. 191.
?7. Virginia Fincastle Herald, June 23, 1938; Arritt, “Fulton Pottery”; interview with Edna Cantrell, 1987.
8. Wood County Marriage Record (West Virginia), no. 2, p. 35.
9. Alleghany County Deed Book 6, p. 444.
10. Alleghany County Census Records, Boiling Springs District, 1880; Alleghany County Deed Book 7, pp. 388, 554.
11. Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Richmond, Virginia, site files number 03-14 and 03-15. This is most likely the same site referred to by Mr. Arritt in his interview with Ms. Rawson as being the location where he collected the clay and transported it to Fulton’s shop for processing; Marion N. Rawson, Candleday Art (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1938), p. 104.
12. Virginia Gazetteer, 1884–1885.
13. Alleghany County Census Records, 1850, 1860, 1870.
14. August 15, 1857, land deed shows Waddell was apparently granted two-and-one-half shares in this ninety-eight-acre parcel adjoining J. D. Scott’s land and on which Jacob Wolfe had previously resided. Land Deeds for Alleghany County, Alleghany County Court House, Covington, Virginia.
15. Rawson, Candleday Art, p. 107.
16. Alleghany County Census Records (First District, July 20, 1850) list John Brown (49 years old) as being a potter born in Maryland and having a wife, Elizabeth (37 years old), five daughters, and three sons, two of whom—Gustavus A. (16 years old) and John W. (16 years old)—are listed as being born in Virginia circa 1834 and as being potters working with their father in Alleghany circa 1850.
17. Rawson, Candleday Art, pp. 104–5.
18. Ibid., pp. 105–6.
19. Ibid., p. 106.
20. Interview with Edna Cantrell, 1987; Owen Barnes, “George Fulton Made Pottery in Potts Creek Area,” Covington Virginian, August 7, 1975.
21. See a similarly decorated five-gallon churn manufactured by Fulton in Russ, “Archaeology of Nineteenth-Century Virginia Coarsewares,” p. 109, fig. 2.
22. Virginia Gazetteer, 1884–1885.
23. Dorothy Sue Simmons Kessler, G. N. Fulton Pottery Booklet (Fincastle, Va.: Historic Fincastle, Inc., 1987). Unfortunately, no references are provided in this booklet relative to Fulton’s wares being marketed or sold on Back Street by the Lusters. In fact, the general lack of proper referencing throughout this brief consideration and the absence of citations make it impossible to know the source of the information or to whom it was originally attributed, in order to properly evaluate, investigate, and confirm or refute its accuracy. We must look to continuing thoughtful research and hope for the possibility of discovering ledgers from their (the Lusters and/or Fulton’s) operations, which would surely prove enlightening.
24. Botetourt County Court House, Fincastle, Virginia. One characteristic of Fulton’s signature is that the horizontal line meant to cross the “t” is typically found above the “o” and “n,” having missed its intersection with the vertical line intended to form a “t.”
25. Kessler, G. N. Fulton Pottery Booklet, pp. 7–8.
26. Fulton passed away in 1894 in Botetourt County and his wife died in 1910 in Roanoke, Virginia, but both are buried in the Noftzinger family cemetery located south of Fincastle along Route 220 to the northeast of its intersection with Route 640, adjacent to a residence formerly owned by a Commander Ware. The Noftzinger pottery kiln was located in the same vicinity just southwest on the intersection of Route 640 with Route 602; see Kurt C. Russ, “The Fincastle Pottery (44bo304): Salvage Excavations at a Nineteenth-Century Earthenware Kiln Located in Botetourt County, Virginia,” in Technical Report Series, no. 3 (Richmond, Va.: Department of Historic Resources, 1991); see also Virginia Fincastle Herald, June 23, 1938; Cantrell interview, 1987; and Russ, “Making Pottery in Botetourt County.”
27. Virginia Fincastle Herald, June 23, 1938; Arritt, “Fulton Pottery”; Cantrell interview, 1987; Kessler, G. N. Fulton Pottery Booklet.
28. Katherine C. Harris, “Fincastle Building,” in Historic Fincastle 1772 (Fincastle, Va.: Historic Fincastle, Inc., 1976), pp. 6–11. Also see Harold Eads, “Town of Fincastle,” in Historic Fincastle 1772, p. iv; and Kessler, G. N. Fulton Pottery Booklet, p. 9.
29. Russ, “Fincastle Pottery,” pp. 59–74; Russ, “Traditional Pottery Manufacturing Industry in Virginia.”