Samuel Fuller

Notes:

Emigrated 1620 to Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Mayflower.

"He grew up under the care of his uncle, Dr. Samuel Fuller. From Plymouth he removed to Scituate, where he married, and in 1644 he removed again, this time to Barnstable and settled at Scorton Neck, where he was joined in a few years by his relative Matthew. He was a church member at all three places, eminently pious and retired in his habits. He was not much in public affairs, living in a secluded spot where few had occasion to pass. He was one of the latest survivors of the Mayflower passengers." [Homer W. Brainard, citation details below]

Samuel married Jane Lathrop on 8 Apr 1635 in Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Jane (daughter of Rev. John Lothropp and Hannah Howse) was born before 29 Sep 1614 in Egerton, Kent, England; was christened on 29 Sep 1614 in Egerton, Kent, England; died before 31 Oct 1683 in Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to Homer W. Brainard (citation details below), the wedding took place "at Mr. Cudworth's in Scituate", and was officiated by Miles Standish.

1. Hannah Fuller was born about 1636 in Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts; died after 23 Aug 1686 in Piscataway, Middlesex, New Jersey.
2. John Fuller was born about 1655 in Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusetts; died on 23 Mar 1726 in East Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut.

Notes:

Emigrated 1620 to Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Mayflower. A signer of the Mayflower Compact, he died in the first winter.

In 2020 Don Blauvelt (citation details below) published evidence that, contrary to many authorities, including the eminent Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, Edward Fuller and his (name unknown) wife were never among the separatists living at Leiden from 1611 to 1620, and that the documentary evidence that had previously been taken to point to Edward Fuller of Redenhall actually referred to an Eduwaert Fauwler of the Hague, spelled in English Edward Fowler, who in 1612 owed Leiden stonemason Pieter Biijs (i.e. Buys) for stone that Biijs had delivered to Fauwler. Edward Fowler also appears in records of the Hague in 1613 and 1622, and his signature on the 1622 record is identical to that on the record of 1613.

It has been noted that the evidence that Edward Fuller and his brother Samuel were actually the Edward and Samuel Fuller baptized in Redenhall is, as Robert Charles Anderson put it, "not so strong as might be desired." For more on this see our entry on Robert Fuller, butcher of Redenhall.

Edward Fuller (1575-1621) =
Samuel Fuller (~1608-1683) = Jane Lathrop (1614-~1683)
John Fuller (~1655-1726) = Mehitable Rowley (1661-1732)
Shubael Fuller (1684-1748) = Hannah Crocker (1688-1751)
Lydia Fuller (1709-1778) = Daniel Gates (1706-1776)
Lydia Gates (1732-1817) = Solomon Mack (1732-1820)
Lucy Mack (1775-1856) = Joseph Smith (1771-1840)
Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844)

Edward married (Unknown wife of Edward Fuller) before 1605. (Unknown died after 11 Jan 1621 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Emigrated 1620 to Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Mayflower. Died in the first winter. Savage calls her Ann, but there appears to be no actual evidence of her given name.

Notes:

He was a butcher.

Robert Fuller and his wife Sarah Dunkhorn are generally accepted as the parents of Mayflower passengers Edward and Dr. Samuel Fuller, who were definitely brothers, but the case for this parentage is not overwhelmingly strong.

From "Was Matthew Fuller of Plymouth Colony a Son of Pilgrim Edward Fuller?" by Bruce Campbell MacGunnigle, Robert M. Sherman, and Robert S. Wakefield, The American Genealogist 61:194, 1985:

Pilgrims Edward and Samuel Fuller came to Plymouth MA in 1620 on the Mayflower and have been accepted as sons of Robert Fuller of Redenhall, co. Norfolk, England (NEHGR 55:410-416). The two major pieces of evidence leading to this conclusion are the baptisms of Edward and Samuel to Robert Fuller, butcher, at Redenhall in 1575 and 1580, and the will of Robert Fuller, of the parish of Redenhall, yeoman, dated and proved in 1614. In his will Robert named wife Frances, son-in-law John Spaulding, and son Thomas; he gave son Edward a "tenement” and £20, son Samuel £15, daughter Ann Fuller £20, daughter Elizabeth Fuller £40, daughter Mary Fuller £40, and "grandson John Fuller, son of my son John Fuller" £5 for his apprenticeship (NEHGR 55:415-416).

Is this sufficient to prove that the Mayflower Fullers were from Redenhall? The names Edward and Samuel were not uncommon and there was no known child named Robert in the early generations of descendants of those two Pilgrims. Their presumed father, Robert of Redenhall, was called butcher in the parish registers. Thomas Morton, writing in New English Canaan (Amsterdam 1637), said Samuel Fuller was brought up a butcher, and was a native of Wrington in Somerset; but when Samuel married Agnes Carpenter at Leiden, Holland, in 1613 they were recorded as "sayworker from London" and "spinster from Wrington" (MD 8:129-130). Robert Fuller, living in a small Norfolk town, gave no indication in his will that son Samuel was in Holland; Samuel of Plymouth Colony was a physician of sorts, an elder of the church, and seems to have been an educated man.

Robert married Sara Dunkhorn on 29 Jan 1573 in Starston, Norfolk, England. Sara died before 1 Jul 1584 in Redenhall with Harleston, Norfolk, England; was buried on 1 Jul 1584 in Redenhall with Harleston, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]