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Welker launched her search by reading previous Fuller research by noted ethnomusicologists Sam Charters, Paul Oliver and Bastin, whose "Red River Blues" contains what many believe to be the best published account of Fuller's life.

In his book, Bastin asserted that Fulton Allen was born July 10, 1907, in Wadesboro to Calvin and Mary Jane Allen. Bastin wrote that the family of 10 siblings wasn't very musical, with Fulton being the only boy who showed any early interest in the guitar (and even then he didn't get serious about music until young adulthood).

The family subsisted by sharecropping, and, according to Bastin, Fulton only reached fourth grade in school. The author asserted that Mary Jane Allen died while the family was living in Anson County, and in the mid-1920s Calvin moved the family about 20 miles east to Rockingham. It was from those humble beginnings that an African-American boy growing up in the Jim Crow South eventually became one of the most recorded Piedmont blues artist of his generation.

Feeling his presence

With that research as a jumping-off point, Welker started reaching officials and community leaders in Anson County in the late 1990s, and since then she has made numerous trips to Wadesboro. She has combed through census records, auction sheets, school documents and church records in an effort to nail down Fuller's history.

Welker thinks her efforts are paying off: She believes she might have uncovered some crucial details about Fuller's early life that contradict accepted knowledge.

She said, for example, that her research indicates that Fuller was reared not in Wadesboro but out in the country between the tiny towns of Ansonville and Burnsville.

To get a feel for where Fuller came from, Welker traveled down the back roads around those two communities and immediately felt a spiritual, almost ghostly connection.

"You can go out in the country, and it's really eerie," she said, almost in a whisper. "It's such pretty country. You can stand out there in a field, and it's so quiet. Except for the phone lines, you might think you're in the 18th century."

In addition to pinpointing where Fuller grew up, Welker also believes Fuller came from a larger family of up to 16 siblings.

Welker said Fuller remained connected to Anson County even after he launched his music career. He often returned to Wadesboro to ply his trade, playing from house to house to scrape up money and sometimes renting a room with other musicians.

He also played on the street corners of downtown Wadesboro; on one of those sidewalk excursions he met fellow bluesman Sonny Terry, the legendary harmonica player and singer who went on to become a Fuller disciple and enjoyed a long recording career in his own right.

Welker has toyed with the idea of writing a book or other large-scale project based on her research. However, even though Hinson believes her research has produced a fair amount of valuable information, Welker worries that her research would be assailed by hard-core, perfectionist blues scholars and writers.

So for now, she said, she'll concentrate on writing short stories about Fuller -- and, of course, continuing her research. She also hopes her efforts -- and those of other researchers, journalists and fans -- will help bring recognition for him in his home county.

"I just wish someone [in Anson County] would realize" his importance, she said, then quickly added, "I think they're starting to."

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