John Fuller (1759 - 1854)

Born 12 Dec 1759 in Windham, Windham, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Sarah (Williams) Fuller — married 12 Nov 1780 in Pawlet, Rutland, Vermont, USA

Descendants

Died 21 May 1854 at age 94 in Elba, Genesee, New York, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Barry Smith [send private message]

Biography

Private John Fuller served with 3rd Connecticut Regiment (1777), Continental Army during the American Revolution.

John Fuller is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A042261.

John Fuller was born on 12 Dec 1759 in Windham, Connecticut to parents John Fuller and Ledema Newton. He married Mary Sarah Williams in 1780 in Pawlet, Rutland, Vermont. Children: Lura, Lucinda, Mary (Polly), Clarissa, Calvin, Lucy, Olive, Sophia, Chester, Caroline, Cyrus W. He died on 21 May 1854 in Elba, Genessee, New York.

Research Notes

Parentage

There is confusion in online trees and pages about John's birth and parentage. In the 1850 U.S. census Elba, New York, John was living in the household of his son-in-law Edward Britton, aged 90, born in Connecticut. A family bible record passed through his descendants gives his birth date as 12 December 1759 (see below).

There are three main hypotheses:

• John was the son of Rev. John Fuller and Lodemia Newton of Windham County, Connecticut
• John was the son of Capt. Nathaniel Fuller and his first wife Sarah Leatherland of Ipswich, Massachusetts
• John was the son of Nathaniel Fuller and Deliverance [Burke?] of Ipswich, and then later Attleboro and then Windham County, Connecituct.

We address each of these in turn

Hypothesis 1: John was the son of Rev. John Fuller and Lodemia Newton of Windham County, Connecticut

There seems to be no published account that makes this identification. The main evidence in support of this theory is:

• correlation with the 1850 census record showing his birthplace in Connecticut
• In 1778 when Rev. John Fuller's estate was distributed, the division states that his eldest son was John. This make's it likely that son John was the child by his father's first marriage to Mary Decker. Son John was then likely born in Connecticut after the marriage in 1755.^[1]

Otherwise, this John Fuller was not well-documented, so it is natural for people to have considered the possibility that this was John Fuller who later came to Elba.

However, there is one significant piece of evidence to discredit this hypothesis:

• On 8 April 1779, John Fuller of Plainfield sold to John Peirce of Plainfield part of the farm that lately belonged to his honored father the Revd. John Fuller of Plainfield, deceased.^[2]

John Fuller would need to have been at least 21 years old to sell land, placing his birthdate by April 1758. So unless the date in the family bible record was off by at least 18 months (and the 1850 census record was off by 2.5 years), John son of Rev. John Fuller and Mary Decker was born too early to be the John Fuller who later came to Elba.

Subsequent land records in Plainfield show that in December 1787, John's stepmother Lodemia (Newton) Fuller had sued to recover judgment against him in the amount of £ 37.4.0, and that the constable had searched for John and found neither him nor property of his at the time. So he did seem to have left Plainfield. It is known that John Fuller who came to Elba had removed to Pawlet, Vermont by the 1780s.

In all, there is some generally correlating evidence that this John was the man who came to Elba, but no specific records to really strongly suggest that this is the correct identification, while the only piece of evidence to discredit it is the land record mentioned above, although that by itself is a stronger piece of evidence against the identification than any single piece of evidence that is supporting it. To this, we may add the observation that it is more likely that Lodema would have sought suit against a stepson than against her biological son. Since Rev. John Fuller and "Loademia" Newton's marriage was recorded at Colchester in May 1758, this provides more support for the notion that John Jr. was born by 1758, and so his birthdate could not have matched that in the family bible.

Hypothesis 2: John was the son of Nathaniel Fuller and his first wife Sarah Leatherland

This hypothesis was published in the history of Elba published as part of the 175th anniversary celebration of the town. A bio of John in said volume states that he "was born in Windham, New London County, Connecticut on December 12, 1759, the son of Nathaniel and Mary (Holland) Fuller."^[3] There are a couple of obvious errors in this statement: (1) Nathaniel and Mary Holland did not marry until 1768 — she was his second wife; (2) Windham was in Windham County, not in New London County.

The first of these errors is explained by the fact that there is a lengthier bio for James Fuller, who came to Elba in 1815. This James was a son of Capt. Nathaniel Fuller and Mary Holland, evening naming one of his children "Holland Fuller." Capt. Nathaniel Fuller had married Sarah Leatherland at Ipswich in November of 1759. So it is understandable that a recent local historian at Elba, understanding through lore or some form of documentation that John Fuller was of the same family as James Fuller, would have placed John as a full brother to James, since they were separated only by about ten years in age.

However, Capt. Nathaniel Fuller remained in Ipswich after his first marriage in 1759 until his death during the Revolutionary War. All of his known children were baptized in Ipswich, and his marriage in November of 1759 was recorded at Ipswich. If the 12 December 1759 birthdate for John Fuller from the family bible is correct, then it is not credible that his parents had left for Connecticut within a month of marrying, with his mother very pregnant, and then returned to Ipswich within the year, there to spend the rest of their lives.

Then, there is the issue that Capt. Nathaniel Fuller and Sarah Leatherland baptized a son Nathaniel Jr. at Ipswich on 4 September 1760. Even if he was baptized within days of his birth, it is biologically extremely unlikely that this couple would have children with birthdays as closely spaced as 12 December 1759 and September 1760. On the other hand, the September 1760 birthdate is nicely timed for a couple who married in November 1759 and waited until marriage to become sexually active, with Nathaniel being their eldest child. This is supported by a guardianship record for Nathaniel Jr. from February 1779.^[4] No other guardianship record for a child of Capt. Nathaniel appears in the Essex Co. probate records, and Nathaniel Jr. received a significant amount of his father's property, including shares in a privateer and goods like sugar and rum. If a slightly older brother John were alive as well, he would have been a minor as well and we would expect to have seen both of them being setup with guardians.

Finally, Sarah (Leatherland) Fuller's mother made her will in 1787, leaving a dollar to "my four grandchildren," naming one of them Nathaniel Fuller. If he had a slightly older brother John, still alive in 1787, he would almost certainly have been named as a grandchild as well.

Altogether, there are several significant pieces of evidence against this hypothesis, including:

• issues with biologically implausibility of his birthdate, geographic implausibility of his birth location, negative evidence in that he had no recorded guardianship record, and negative evidence in the form of his absence from the will of his purported grandmother

The only significant evidence in support of the hypothesis is its published statement in the history of Elba, which might have its basis in older records or family lore. And it would seem to fit with an assumption that John was of the same family of Fullers as James Fuller who came to Elba.

Hypothesis 3: John was the son of Nathaniel and Deliverance Fuller of Ipwsich, and later Attleborough and then Windham County, Connecticut.

This hypothesis was published in an article in Rhode Island Roots in 2022. ^[5]

All that is known of their son John is a family record recorded at Attleborough, Massachusetts and showing the children of Nathaniel Fuller.^[6] Smith argues using several pieces of evidence, including a trace of their migration through land records and a consistency of Nathaniel's profession as a tailor in various records, that this family record was that of Nathaniel and Deliverance Fuller.

Part of the analysis required arguing that the family record was actually recorded incorrectly. The list included seven named children but only six birthdates. The alignment was such that the youngest child, John, had no birthdate. But the analysis showed that the data only correlated well with other records if these names and dates were actually misaligned — that the eldest son Nathaniel should have had no date, and that all of the other dates should be shifted down one child. With this assumption, we arrive at the family group:

• Nathaniel b. 12 February 1741 at Ipswich
• Mary b. 1 November 1743 probably near Groton
• Elisabeth b. 28 December 1745 at Littleton or Groton
• William b. 12 April 1752
• Joseph b. 6 July 1754
• Benjamin b. 31 January 1757 probably at Attleborough
• John b. 13 December 1759 probably at Attleborough
• Susannah b. 3 October 1762 at Windham, Connecticut

(Susannah was not recorded at Attleborough, but the birth of Susannah daughter of Nathaniel and Deliverance Fuller was recorded at Windham in 1762). With the above shifting of dates, we find that Elizabeth's birth matches exactly that recorded at Littleton, Massachusetts, while William and Joseph's birthdates are within a few weeks of their baptisms recorded at Attleborough.

Nathaniel and Deliverance were admitted to the church at Hampton, Connecticut in 1774, after which no further record is found.

All of the above is to say that there is a clear picture of the migration of Nathaniel and Deliverance Fuller to Attleborough by 1749, where they seemingly stayed until around 1760 before removing to Windham County, Connecticut (the presumably recorded their family group at Attleborough shortly before this, which would explain why daughter Susannah was not included, since she was not yet born). Son John then would have been an infant when he moved to Connecticut, so it would not be surprising if he considered himself later in life as being born in Connecticut.

The most significant piece of evidence mentioned above is then the observation:

John Fuller's birthdate in the shifted-date record is 13 December 1759, just one day after the date passed down through the family bible record of John Fuller of Elba

No such striking, specific piece of evidence is found for Hypothesis 1 above. Otherwise, the general location of Windham County, Connecticut correlates with the 1850 census record and with the bio for John quoted in Hypothesis 2 above, which says he was born in Windham. And finally, perhaps it had come down in the community of Elba that John was of the same family as James Fuller of Elba, and/or if it was thought that his father's name was Nathaniel, hence the information in the bio quoted in Hypothesis 2. Then although John and James were not full brothers (see Hypothesis 2 analysis), the identification in Hypothesis 3 would be sons of men named Nathaniel, who were each first cousins once-removed. It is conceivable John and James could have known each other through this connection and that this was partly responsible for their common migration to Elba.

There is no known non-correlating evidence to refute Hypothesis 3, but that is mostly because no documentation is presently known for sure to name John son of Nathaniel and Deliverance Fuller other than the family group record.

Y-chromosome testing of a patrilineal descendant of John Fuller of Elba would add much clarity to his paternal ancestry.

Family Bible

John's descendants passed down a family bible including information about John's family group.^[7] The bible information is as follows:

Marriages

John Fuller and Mary were married on Nov. 12, 1780

Lura Sanford was married on May 10, 1796

Lucinda White was married on Nov. 5, 1801

Polly Pride was married on March 1, 1804

Clarissa Hill was married on Sept. 6, 1808

Calvin Fuller was married on Dec. 2, 1810

Lucy White was married on Jan. 19, 1809

Olive Cadwell was married on March 30, 1812

Sophia Secor was married on Feb. 11, 1812

Caroline Britton was married on March 11, 1816

Chester Fuller was married on July 4, 1821

Cyrus Fuller was married March 1, 1825

Births

John Fuller was born Dec. 12, 1759

Mary Fuller was born Sept. 27, 1758

Lura Fuller was born Nov. 5, 1779

Lucinda Fuller was born Sept. 18, 1781

Polly Fuller was born Jan. 2, 1784

Clarrissa was born April 15, 1786

Calvin Fuller was born Jan. 28, 1788

Lucy Fuller was born Sept. 16, 1790

Olive Fuller was born April 30, 1792

Sophia Fuller was born March 22, 1794

Chester Fuller was born April 1, 1796

Caroline Fuller was born March 13, 1798

Cyrus W. Fuller was born March 1, 1800

Deaths (these entries were made in the two columns — the left side for Fullers, and the right side for the Brittons)

John Fuller died May 21, 1854

Mary Fuller died Jan. 24, 1847

Mary Clak died May 8, 1847

Lucinda White died Oct. 14, 1851

Calvin Fuller died Sept. 8, 1854

Olive Pirce died July 15, 1862

Cyrus W. Fuller died Dec. 27, 1862

Edward Britton died Dec. 14, 1858

Cyrus K. Britton died June 28, 1857

Caroline Britton died Jan. 5, 1864

Sources

1. ↑ Marriage of John Fuller Jr. and Mary Decker, Windham, Connecticut, from Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630-1870, online database at American Ancestors, Windham, page 102
2. ↑ Plainfield, Conn. deeds vol. 6 page 375–6
3. ↑ Scott D. Benz, Earl C. Roth, et. al., Town of Elba, 175th Anniversary, published by the Town of Elba 175th Anniversary Committee, page 198
4. ↑ Essex Co., Mass., probate records (old series) vol. 353 page 370
5. ↑ Barry R. Smith, "Correcting the Record: Nathaniel³ and Deliverance (Burke) Fuller of Ipswich and Their Son Nathaniel⁴ of Rhode Island" Rhode Island Roots 48 no. 4 (2022) at page 184.
6. ↑ Records, Town of Attleboro Births, Marriages, and Deaths Vol. 3 1756–1808 [FHL film 580,659], page 11
7. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution, New York Genealogical Research Committee Report, series 2, volume 130: unpublished bible records (typescript, 1969–70, also on film#862794), pp.8–12, "Fuller-Britton Bible" Bible data copied by Dorothy H. Dehn; citing "The Holy Bible" J. Holbrook's Stereotype Copy, First Ed., Brattleborough, Vt. 1816, in the possession of Mrs. Joseph Billings, Oriskany Falls, N.Y., as of 10 November 1968

• US Sons of the American Revolution Membership Application, #34555

• Find A Grave: Memorial #13024618

• Service Record for John Fuller