George Taylor Fulford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Taylor Fulford (August 8, 1852 – October 15, 1905) was a Canadian businessman and politician.
Born in Brockville, Upper Canada (now Ontario), the son of Hiram Fulford and Martha Harris, he worked for his brother who was a dispensing chemist in Brockville. He was elected to the town council in 1879 and served as an alderman for 12 terms.
In 1890, he launched the Dr Williams Medicine Company and produced the patent medicine Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People, which eventually made him a multimillionaire.
He was involved with the Liberal Party of Canada and became friends of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 1900 representing the senatorial division of Brockville, Ontario. He served until his death in 1905 from a car accident in Newton, Massachusetts.
From 1899 to 1901, he built an Edwardian mansion in the Thousand Islands named Fulford Place with grounds designed by Frederick Olmsted, who designed Central Park. It was donated to the Ontario Heritage Foundation and is currently opened to the public as a house museum.
He married Mary Wilder White (1856-1946) in 1880 and had three children: Dorothy, Martha and George, Jr., who was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and a Member of the Canadian House of Commons. George Taylor Fulford died in Canada's first fatal automobile accident in 1905 when his car drove into a horse drawn bus. At the time of his death he was the largest single shareholder in General Electric and was considering buying a company called General Motors. Some of his descendants believe he was actually murdered. The driver who caused the fatal collision (but himself survived) had been given one weeks notice at the time of the crash.
[edit] External links
- Synopsis of federal political experience from the Library of Parliament
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Library and Archives Canada entry for Mary Fulford (1856-1946)
- Ontario Heritage Foundation historical plaque
 |
This article about a Canadian politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
