Question

Is it possible that Fowler and Fuller are two different spellings of the same name?

Comments

Fowler and Fuller sound quite similar, so it could be the same name with different spellings. Especially if the family migrated. Reasons for the change of spelling could be a misunderstanding, for example. Or the person who wrote it down wasn't good at reading/writing.

However, you would need some sort of document that indicated a relationship between Fowler and Fuller.

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My great great grandmother was Harriet E. Fowler (1827-1911). My uncle, Henry Lee Evans, was married to Mary Francis "Frankie" Fuller (1907-1966). Thus, I have traced both the Fowler and Fuller lines back as far as I could. To my great surprise I found a convergence of the two lines with John Fowler/Fuller (1350-1412). He had two sons, Henry Fowler (1380-1450) and Thomas Fuller (1374-1489). So, the Fowler line goes to my great great grandmother and the Fuller line goes to my uncle Henry Lee Evans' wife Frankie Fuller. I guess that makes my uncle and his wife very distant cousins. Of course, I can't guarantee there's no mistakes in my research as there's plenty of mistakes on Ancestry.com but I worked  diligently putting this together and it looks pretty good. If you'd like to look at my tree on Ancestry, I'm listed as evansdan.

Answer 1

I don't think the original intent of the names was the same, since the two names are different occupations, but due to the instability of spelling  for so many generations, I think Fowler and Fuller could be the same name. I would be careful of making that jump back in the 1500s or anytime for that matter. I would need several things besides just the similar spelling.

Comments

This is a repeat of my comment above.

My great great grandmother was Harriet E. Fowler (1827-1911). My uncle, Henry Lee Evans, was married to Mary Francis "Frankie" Fuller (1907-1966). Thus, I have traced both the Fowler and Fuller lines back as far as I could. To my great surprise I found a convergence of the two lines with John Fowler/Fuller (1350-1412). He had two sons, Henry Fowler (1380-1450) and Thomas Fuller (1374-1489). So, the Fowler line goes to my great great grandmother and the Fuller line goes to my uncle Henry Lee Evans' wife Frankie Fuller. I guess that makes my uncle and his wife very distant cousins. Of course, I can't guarantee there's no mistakes in my research as there's plenty of mistakes on Ancestry.com but I worked  diligently putting this together and it looks pretty good. If you'd like to look at my tree on Ancestry, I'm listed as evansdan.

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Danny, where have you traced your Fowler and Fuller lines to? I have Fowler relatives and I am a Fuller descendant. It is entirely possible that you and I are related to each other.

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My Fowler line go's from Harriet E. Fowler to John LeFowler 1210-1270. The Fuller line go's from Mary Francis "Frankie" Fuller (my aunt by her marriage to my uncle Henry Lee Evans) to Thomas Fuller. As stated before he's the brother of Henry Fowler and they are the sons of John Fowler, sometimes know as John Fuller, so that line also goes to John LeFowler.

It is possible we are related. I'd have to have more information to research it.

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I meant where are your Fowler and Fuller families located. As for the spelling, those people that could spell at all, they spelled the words based on how they sounded. If you say them really fast,Fowl Fo and Fuller could sound the same.

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As far as I can determine, my great great grandmother, Harriet E. Fowler, was born in Illinois. However, her mother and her mother's father were born in Davidson, Texas and going all the way back to the Fowler's I talked about before from the 1200's and 1300's, i.e., Henry Fowler, they came from England. As far as the Fuller's, my aunt by marriage, Frankie Fuller, was born in Texas as was her father. So, it look like both the Fowler's and Fuller's from my tree originated in Texas.

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As of right now, it doesn't look like we are related to each other. I will check around to be sure.

Answer 2

If you want to use y-DNA to try to answer the question about Fowler and Fuller being the same family, so far there is no evidence that they are the same. I'm an administrator of the Fowler Surname Project that is associated with FamilyTreeDNA. We often invite men who have y-DNA matches with our Fowler members to join the project.

We have 83 men in the project with the surname Fowler (23 different genetic families). There are about that same number of men in the project with names other than Fowler but there are no Fullers.

Comments

While I am not a direct Fowler descendant, I have Fowler cousins that might be a part of your project.

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I hope you will encourage some of your male Fowler cousins to have a y-DNA test at FamilyTreeDNA (the only company that does y-DNA) and join the Fowler project.

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I haven't done a DNA test. However, I have Fowler cousins that descend from the North Carolina branch.