Alice I. Fuller (1870-1928) (George Fuller, too)

Alice Irene (Webb) Fuller, aka Alice I. Clark, Mrs. George H. Fuller
Author, Poet, Housewife & Mother
Born May 11, 1870, Hardin County, Ohio
Died November 30, 1928, Loxley, Alabama

Alice I. Fuller had one story in Weird Tales. She was also the mother of a man who had one story in the magazine. And we shouldn't rule out that a third story came from the Fuller family, this one with the byline of a man named George Fuller. That was also the name of Alice's husband. I'm beginning to think that Howard Elsmere Fuller wrote all three stories and submitted them to "The Unique Magazine," first under his parents' names, then under his own. We shouldn't take anything away from Alice I. Fuller, though, for she is known to have written for popular magazines of her day.

Alice Irene Webb was born on May 11, 1870, in Hardin County, Ohio, to Jesse and Virginia Webb. She was orphaned as a child and at age six was taken into the home of John W. Clark and Mary Ann (Webber) Clark of Powell, Ohio. Apparently they did not adopt her but only kept her as a foster child. Nonetheless, she used their last name and was known as Alice I. Clark at the time of her wedding.

Alice worked in the office of W.S. Burkhart in Cincinnati for two years. He was a manufacturer and seller of patent medicines, his vegetable compound advertised as "the greatest blood purifier ever discovered." On October 20, 1891, she married George Henry Fuller (1863-1944) in Delaware County, Ohio. They had two sons, Clarence Clark Fuller (1893-1980) and Howard Elsmere Fuller (1895-1985). In 1908, the Fuller family moved to Loxley, Alabama. There was a family connection in that place, for Alice's foster mother, Mary Ann (Webber) Clark, was the sister of Arms Royal Webber (1838-1923), a man of Loxley.

Alice I. Fuller was a wife and a mother, but according to her obituary "found time to write articles which were readily accepted by the popular magazines." (Source: "Mrs. George H. Fuller," in The Onlooker, Foley, Alabama, Dec. 6, 1928, p. 2.) Unfortunately, that source doesn't give any examples of "the popular magazines," and The FictionMags Index lists nothing by her except for her lone story in Weird Tales. That story was "The Tomb Dweller" in the February 1925 issue. It was preceded by a story called "Yellow and White" (Mar. 1924) by an author named George Fuller and followed by her younger son's story "Wolfgang Fex, Criminal" (Aug. 1925).

Alice Irene Fuller was invalided for more than a year at the end of her life. She died too young, at age fifty-eight, on November 30, 1928, in Loxley, Alabama. She was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in her hometown.

Alice I. Fuller's Story in Weird Tales 
"The Tomb Dweller" (Feb. 1925)

 

Further Reading
Obituary, The Onlooker (Foley, Alabama), December 6, 1928, page 2.

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George Henry Fuller
Born October 15, 1863, Franklin County, Ohio
Died August 30, 1944, Loxley, Alabama
Buried at Greenwood Cemetery, Loxley, Alabama

There was a story called "Yellow and White" by a George Fuller in the March 1924 issue of Weird Tales. I can't say that this George Fuller was the same George Fuller who was married to Alice I. Fuller, but it's an interesting speculation that he was. And if he was, maybe the story was actually hers and she submitted it using his name. Or maybe as I wrote above, their son was the true author of the George Fuller story. But as in the case of the great question of how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.

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The Fullers' elder son was Clarence Clark Fuller (1893-1980). He graduated from Ohio State University and was an engineer, inventor of automobile accessories, and radio technician. In 1922, he married Adele Irene Mahler. I wrote the other day that the Fullers seem not to have been involved in the utopian community at nearby Fairhope, Alabama. But in 1936, Fuller submitted to The Onlooker his "Fuller Plan" regarding taxation. Fairhope was founded on principles laid out by Henry George (1839-1897) in his single-tax scheme. I have read about the single tax and still don't understand it. I can't say whether the "Fuller Plan" had anything to do with George's ideas. By the way, in 1922, Clarence C. Fuller and his wife were guided through Kentucky caves by Floyd Collins (1887-1925), who later died while being trapped in a cave. There was a media circus around Collins' predicament. In 1951, Paramount Pictures released a movie, The Big Carnival (aka Ace in the Hole), based on the event It was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Kirk Douglas. Another by the way: "The Tomb-Dweller" is about a man who gets trapped in a tomb. The story appeared in Weird Tales in February 1925, the same month in which Collins died.

Original text copyright 2025 Terence E. Hanley 

Howard Elsmere Fuller (1895-1985)

Author, Poet, Rural Letter Carrier
Born March 30, 1895, Worthington, Ohio
Died July 19, 1985, Baldwin County, Alabama

Howard Elsmere Fuller is a pretty easy case. I found him pretty quickly but only after finding his mother, Alice I. Fuller. As it turns out, she contributed to Weird Tales, too. And maybe her husband got in on the action as well, though I can't say that for sure. Or if the story by George Fuller came from the Fuller family, maybe it was Alice or Howard who was behind it. Or maybe Howard was behind all three Fuller stories. But then his mother was a writer for magazines, too. Anyway, I'll write first about Howard Elsmere Fuller, who contributed to the August 1925 issue of Weird Tales, one hundred years ago last month. (I'm catching up.)

Howard Elsmere Fuller was born on March 30, 1895, in Worthington, Ohio, to George Henry Fuller (1863-1944) and Alice Irene (Webb) Fuller, also known as Alice I. Clark (1870-1928). (She had lived with foster parents when she was young, thus the two different last names.) Fuller had one older brother, Clarence Clark Fuller (1893-1980). He was an engineer and inventor. I had a close call when I looked up a possible relationship of the Fuller family to Curtis G. Fuller (1912-1991), editor of Fate magazine. That Fuller's father was also named Clarence C. Fuller, but he was a different Clarence and apparently no relation at all.

The Fuller family moved to Loxley, Alabama, in 1908. Although Loxley is close to the utopian community of Fairhope, I didn't get any sense that the Fullers were utopian in their views. As we have seen, tellers of weird tales very often had an affinity for utopian and other fringe beliefs. I have written about Fairhope before. Volney George Mathison (1897-1965) lived there as a child. Ethel Morgan-Dunham (1880-1960) was buried at Fairhope. She, too, lived in Loxley, and now I wonder if she and the Fullers could have known each other. 

Howard E. Fuller served in the U.S. military from August 27, 1918, to December 24, 1918, beginning at Camp Pike in Little Rock, Arkansas. I don't know in which branch he served, but I'll assume it was in the army. The war ended less than three months after he joined. Being discharged on Christmas Eve in 1918 must have been a welcome gift to him and his family.

Fuller worked as a rural letter carrier, apparently for all of his working life. His writing was on the side. He had one story in Weird Tales, "Wolfgang Fex, Criminal" (Aug. 1925). He also had a letter published in "The Eyrie," in May 1925. He traveled to various places in the United States and went to the New York World's Fair in June 1939. The 1st World Science Fiction Convention was held a month later, from July 2 to July 4, 1939. Maybe Fuller was too early to meet any of its attendees.

An item from The Onlooker of Foley, Alabama, July 16, 1925. The newspaper botched Fuller's title and misspelled the word weird, but at least it was something.

 

Fuller was a member of the National Amateur Press Association (NAPA). In November 1953, he had a book of his poems published, Excursions in Arcady. A better claim to fame was his authorship of a poem, "To Edgar Allan Poe," published in Contemporary American Poets, edited by Horace C. Baker (Boston, 1928). I have these four lines from the website of the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore:

With a haunting, dreamy sadness
Is bared the crytic [sic] soul;
With a rhythmic rune of madness.
Thy melancholy soul.

You can read the whole poem on a website called Poetry Explorer by clicking here. 

Howard Elsmere Fuller died on July 19, 1985, in Baldwin County, Alabama, at age ninety. He was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Loxley like his parents before him.

Howard Elsmere Fuller's Letter & Story in Weird Tales
Letter to "The Eyrie" (May 1925)
"Wolfgang Fex, Criminal" (Aug. 1925)

Further Reading
Only a few newspaper items, plus his poem, "To Edgar Allan Poe."

Next: Alice I. Fuller

Text copyright 2025 Terence E. Hanley