By Leah Sander
Staff Writer

ROCHESTER — Shirley Willard said Fulton County has had much “interesting” history.

“We’ve had a lot of things happen here, and we’re very lucky,” she said.

The Fulton County historian’s fifth book, “Fulton County, Indiana: The Luckiest County in the World,” came out a few months ago.

Shirley Willard

Its title comes from the fact genealogists are grateful late Fulton County Judge Wendell Tombaugh indexed many facts about the county, including “the Rochester newspapers, county census, cemeteries and more,” said Willard.

The book covers many topics. Willard noted it’s been 100 years since such a book was done.

“There hadn’t been a whole county history written since Henry Barnhart (did one) in 1923,” she said.

Willard said she worked on the book for more than 20 years.

“There were so many things that I had discovered that were just so interesting, I couldn’t keep them to myself. So when I retired in 2001, I started working and collecting and getting the things together,” she said.

“I talked to a lot of people. There’s a lot of input in this,” said Willard. “I’d meet new people and come up with new stuff … Well, people think history is just old, old, old, but it’s not. It’s new. There’s new history being made all the time.”

That’s reflected by a quote from Gov. Eric Holcomb in the front of the book: “History happens every single day, and you’re part of it.”

“I’ve covered about everything … starting out with the fur traders … and then the Rochester giant short-faced bear,” said Willard.

The latter was a large animal whose bones were found in 1967 in the county.

“It was almost a complete skeleton,” said Willard.

The early traders included Native American Abram Burnett and Frenchmen, such as Joseph Truckey.

“He married a Potawatomi and ended up going west,” said Willard of Truckey.

Willard mentioned William Polke, who’s known as the first settler in Fulton County, actually shouldn’t have that distinction as members of the Shields and Lindsey families were present first.

“They’re not counted as the first settlers as the land was not for sale and William Polke came to survey it, so William Polke counts as the first settler because he bought land,” explained Willard.

The book also includes a history of clubs, schools, railroads, the round barns in the county and the Cole Bros. circus fire of 1940. People may purchase the book at the Fulton County Museum or on Amazon.

Shirley Willard’s new book “Fulton County, Indiana: The Luckiest County in the World” is shown. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.