She was 9 years of age, when she came to Santa Rosa in 1853 by ox-driven wagon, with her parents as members of the Hagans-Cockrill immigration.

My grandfather, Milton Wendt, would often stay with "Grandma Fulkerson," at her home on 729 Santa Rosa Avenue, particularly after his mother had passed away when he was 13. As a young boy, he would also accompany his grandmother, to collect the rents on her Chinatown property. One of the few things he would mention about his childhood, this was a "fun activity" for him because the Chinese renters would give him candy. His cousin, Bernice Cummins related a similar story about staying with Amanda.This property had originally belonged to Amanda's father and was sold when he died to Amanda's father-in-law, Richard Fulkerson. Richard gave the property to Amanda and Trib as a gift a year later.

By the time I started this research about my grandfather's family, he had passed away several years before and my grandmother, Electa Grace (Thompson) Wendt was in her nineties. Amanda and her family were hardly ever talked about when I was young. When I finally started asking questions, my grandmother was relunctant to say much about them at first. She had a somewhat low opinion of her in-laws in general ("an awful bunch") which was defined partially by her strict code of temperance (not so uncommon for her generation which was active in bringing on prohibition) which treated anyone who would consumed alcohol with abject disdain and of low moral fiber. Being an "Abraham Lincoln Republican" (with two grandfathers that she would proudly brag were in the Union army during the Civil War), she also had a basic dislike for things Southern. Her mother also had attempted to talk her out of marrying my grandfather, because the Wendts were associated with the Fulkersons, and both families had poor reputations in the community according to her, for what ever reasons (some of which is not clear to me). Though the accuracy or integrity of my grandmother's recollections were not so much the issue since her memory was quite reliable and accurate even in her extreme old age, however that her focus on certain family traits which she observed and commented upon undoubtedly distorted and narrowed the full range of these particular individuals' behavior and personality.

My grandfather was living with Amanda at the time he was dating my grandmother (c. 1915), but would often be embarrassed to invite her over to the house my grandmother would tell me, since Grandma would usually be on one of her "binges." She particularly liked peach brandy according to my grandmother. When he was about to marry my grandmother, my grandfather needed the permission of a guardian since he was still under age. According to my grandmother, he went to his grandmother first to secure her permission, but Amanda told him, "I'd rather go to your funeral instead!" Because of her refusal, he had to get an uncle, George L. Cummins, to act as his legal guardian and fill out the proper papers. The same thing occured to my grandfather's brother, Doug, when he married my grandmother's sister (one could wonder if Grandma Fulkerson had the same dislike for the Thompson family as they did for them).

In the years that my grandmother knew Amanda, Clarence Fulkerson (the son of Bruce and Viola Fulkerson) lived in the basement of the Santa Rosa Avenue house. He was there, as the story goes, "to keep an eye out for Grandma." Clarence was often called out of his basement by Amanda to fetch her things. Amanda's voice yelling out, "Clare!" with her harsh Missouri accent was one of the more distinctive things which my grandmother could remember of her.

At some point, Amanda Fulkerson moved to Richmond to live with one of her daughters (probably Nora Carroll). However, she still kept a horse and surrey at a livery stable in down town Santa Rosa. Whenever she would come up to visit all her children, relatives, and friends, she could travel around to their various places all over the county in this surrey. Sometimes she would get drunk according to my grandmother and fall out along the road. My grandmother said she had to clean her up upon occassion after such accidents. It was the first time that my grandmother ever had to deal with an intoxicated person she claimed, and it had a lasting influence upon her.

However, despite my grandmother's somewhat acid remarks about Grandma Fulkerson's behavior, she did admit to me upon occasion, that "she was a good hearted old gal," without particularly going into much detail, except that she recalled how friendly she was to small children and was not quite the terror that my grandmother would often make her out to be. For the record, Amanda had held onto the Chinatown property until the end -- probably more out of sentiment than anything else. It was the last of all the property (both Fulkerson and Cockrill) that she had owned, aside from the house she lived in. In her will, she left money to her servant-grandson, Clarence, as well as to the four orphaned sons of her deceased daughter, Mollie. One suspects that she was not so "horrible" as one was led to believe.

A probate file declaring Amanda Ellen Fulkerson an incompetent person was filed October 14, 1918, Sonoma County Probate Register 13, Page 156, Record 6856. An abstraction of this document is available.

A Will for Amanda Ellen Fulkerson was recorded July 22, 1922, Sonoma County Wills Book M, Page 9. Her probate file upon her death is in Sonoma County Probate Register 15, Page 400, Record 8100. An abstraction of these documents is also available.

Amanda's obituary was in The Press Democrat, July 11, 1922:

PIONEER MOTHER CALLED TO HER REST

Mrs. Amanda Fulkerson, a pioneer woman of Sonoma county, died at Richmond Tuesday, according to word received here Wednesday by relatives. Mrs. Fulkerson went to Richmond some time ago to be with a married daughter. She had been seriously ill for some time, and it was realized that her condition was critical.

Deceased was a native of Missouri, 79 years and six months of age. She came across the plains with her parents in 1854, when she was, but 11 years of age. The family settled in Sonoma county, where she has spent all of her life, having been a resident of Santa Rosa and vicinity for 68 years.

Mrs. Fulkerson is survived by the following children: Mr. T. S. Grider of Forestville, Mrs. Douglas Badger and Richard Fulkerson, both of Santa Rosa, Mrs. George Cummings of Chico and Mrs. B. O. Caroll and Bruce Fulkerson of Richmond, and four sisters survive. They are, Mrs. Hattie Ballard, San Francisco, Mrs. Nettie Bardin, Mrs. May Foster and Mrs. Eliza McGuire, all of Salinas.

Mrs. Fulkerson was related to the Cockrill, Hoag, Coulter, Badger and Fowler families here.