September 23, 2020
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants – focusing this time on the Fuller family line. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
The Fuller family that braved passage across the Atlantic on the Mayflower in 1620 left many descendants.
Elizabeth Needham Ballard, member of the Mayflower Society in Texas, is a direct descendant of Captain Matthew Fuller, who came to Plymouth in 1640. His father, Edward Fuller, was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact in 1620. Matthew Fuller was a noted physician and soldier, and was appointed Surgeon General of the Plymouth forces.
Elizabeth shared some photos and Bible records of her kinfolk for this article, and I found some interesting newspaper articles by searching GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives for her line.
This article has good information about the Fuller brothers, Samuel and Edward, such as this:
And this:
Capt. Mathew Fuller’s daughter Elizabeth married Moses Rowley of Barnstable, Massachusetts. This 1982 newspaper article outlined the different branches of the Rowley family, who settled in New England.
The family line can be traced back to Henry – first noted in the Plymouth, Massachusetts, records in 1632 – who married the widow Ann Blossom in 1633. Moses Rowley was a neighbor of Samuel Fuller. He was made Deputy of General Court and later moved to East Haddon, Connecticut.
Moses’ granddaughter Abigail Rowley married Micah Mudge, a Revolutionary War patriot and one of the founders of Richmond, Massachusetts. This illustration, from the Springfield Union, shows Richmond being surveyed and reports that “The first settler in Richmond was Micah Mudge, who established a home there in 1760.”
I also found this advertisement for Lee Savings Bank using the Berkshires Scrapbook archives. The ad portrays a warm family scene of protection and security using an image of Micah and Abigail Mudge with daughter Elizabeth, the first white child born in Richmond.
Charlotte, second daughter born to Micah and Abigail, married Daniel Thurston, a Revolutionary War patriot. Daughter Elisabeth “Betsy” Thurston married George Washington Croshaw, who descends from the Stockton family of New Jersey.
A son Doughty Stockton Croshaw, Civil War Union soldier and publisher/editor of the conservative newspaper the Independent in Batavia, Ohio, married Ellen Marie Fairman. Their daughter Ida J. Croshaw married Charles M. Needham.
The couple moved to Indiana and purchased a 10,000-acre farm known as Needham House Farm. For many years they were the leading horse breeder and harness supplier in the area.
Just recently, Needham House Farm (1887) was listed on the historic register and honored with the Hoosier Homestead Award at the State Fair organized by Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch this past August.
Elizabeth Needham Ballard says:
“I love researching this family; it has led me to kings and queens, Jamestown, the Mayflower, and New Amsterdam, New York. I have found royalty, Huguenots, presidents, senators, governors, poets, witches, clergy, Quakers, soldiers in the Colonial Wars, the French and Indian War, signers of the Declaration of Independence, soldiers in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, WWI and WWII. The family is full of clergy, farmers, scholars, horse breeders, manufacturers of farming and horse equipment, a newspaper owner and editor, world travelers and adventurers. My father and I traveled the world researching the family; I feel their loves, hopes and desires in me, as I speak their names they live on forever, never to be forgotten.”
Some famous descendants of Edward Fuller are Mormon church founder Joseph Smith, artist Georgia O’Keeffe, Amelia Earhart, actor Don Knott and radio/tv host Dick Clark.
Further Reading:
- David Nash Ford’s Royal Berkshire History: Sir Nicholas Fuller (1543-1620)
- Pulaski Post: Longtime farming families honored at State Fair Pulaski Honors Historic Farms
- com: Famous Mayflower Kin
Genealogy:
Elizabeth Needham Ballard——Fuller Mayflower line:
- Edward Fuller, died Jan-Mar 1621 on board the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor, m: (in England or Leiden) Mrs. Edward Fuller (maiden name unknown), died Jan-Mar 1621 on board the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor
- Mathew Fuller, m: (in England) Francis ____, presumably Hyde
- Elizabeth Fuller, m: 22 Apr 1652 (in Barnstable, Massachusetts) Moses Rowley
- Moses Rowley, m: Jan 1675 (in Barnstable, Massachusetts) Mary Fletcher
- Jonathan Rowley, m: 4 Feb 1742 (in Colchester, Connecticut) Abigail Green
- Abigail Rowley, m: 1767 (in Richmond, Massachusetts) Micah Mudge
- Charlotte Mudge, m: 20 Feb 1786 (in Lebanon, New York) Daniel Thurston
- Elizabeth Curtis Thurston, m: 18 Apr 1822 (in New York) George Washington Croshaw
- Doughty Stockton Croshaw, m: 11 Apr 1854 (in Medina, New York) Ellen Marie Fairman
- Ida Julia Croshaw, m: 24 Mar 1878 (in Batavia, Ohio) Charles Marion Needham
- Francis Marion Needham, m: 15 Oct 1902 (in Indian Creek, Indiana) Lola Montez Knarr
- Roland Francis Needham, m: 4 Sep1923 Dorothy Cosette Felker
- Francis Marion Needham, m: 5 Aug 1954 (in Gloucester, England) Constance Louisa
- Elizabeth Needham Ballard
Related Articles:
Melissa, wonderful! Thank you for including me and my family in your research and writing. So nice to see the Fuller’s written and talked about.
Blessings, Elizabeth
Thank you Elizabeth! It was a pleasure to work with you!
I am descended from Edward Fuller and through Moses Rowley.
Thanks Melynda. Stay tuned for more Mayflower!
I am too! I have really enjoyed researching my family history. I’d be interested to see where we branch off.
Laura, thanks for the comment, and I will be posting more stories on the Mayflower — so check back!
Hi Melinda, My name is Michael Jamison (aka Michael Muffins). I am a new to this blog having JUST found out that I too am a direct descendent of Edward and Anne Fuller via their son Mathew. I am in the process of applying to the membership of the Mayflower Society through the California Chapters as I have just recently been able to gather all the necessary documentation. While reading thought this blog I happened upon your name NORTON. I’ve been searching for some missing Norton family members and am wondering if you might be one of them. My father’s mother was Sadie Norton Jamison. (b. 1897) She, her sister Ethel Norton Kershaw (b. 1888) and her brother Kelvin Norton (b. 1893) were born in Laramie County, Wyoming. Sadly, their mother, Sadie Clotilda Carson Norton died just 17 days after the birth of my grandmother, her name sake, Sadie Norton. (Her mother was Lucetta Allen Carson – that is the Fuller line.) More tragedy struck when within 3 years there father not being able to cope with his loss, sent his two daughters back to his original home in Tennessee to live with his sisters – his son Kelvin – we think, went to live with one of his brothers. This is where the family history got lost and where we are stuck. We have no concrete idea where he went. When I was 16, I was chosen from a high school drama contest to go to Denver to participate in drama classes at the University of Denver. My grandmother, Sadie, gave me the telephone number of woman named Edith Fair who, if I remember correctly, was either a daughter of Kelvin or a cousin. She was a lovely woman somewhere in her late 40’s (I’m guessing) and took me up to Pike’s Peak for a day. But, I’m sorry to say, I was so young and “self absorbed” at 16 that I really did not dig deeper into who she was or how she was related to me. So … I’m wondering if you may be somehow related to this end of my family. Do any of these names ring a bell? Either way, since you are a descendant of Edward and Anne Fuller – as I am – we are distant cousins. Please let me know, one way or the other, if you are somehow related to my end of the Norton family. It’s nice to meet you in any event! The name Michael Muffins was part of a recording contract I had in the late 1970’s with Casablanca Records. I was an early innovator of video performances that led me to my career as a conceptual artist in the music, film and advertising industry – as Michael Muffins. You can access my website (on a desktop, laptop, tablet – but NOT iPhone) at: https://www.michaelmuffins.com and if you are on Facebook you can find me at: http://www.facebook.com/michael.muffins.5/ where – in addition to various eclectic pieces of art, I have also documented posts about my great grandfather J.T. Norton – his life and writings (and a sample of his book that I found in The National Archives in Washington, D.C.
I am also descended through Moses Rowley. I am currently working on my DAR requirements and hope to gather enough proof for the Mayflower Society.
My lineage from Edward Fuller ->Samuel->Little John-> Elizabeth Fuller b. 1692 who married Samuel Rowley ->Thomas ->Nathan ->Lovina b.1801 who married Leander Keys(Kees) Spencer ->Ichabod->Elmer->Verna who m. Alfred Baldock->Marylla Ruth m. Virgil Butt->ME !
I also have from Edward Fuller-> Matthew ->Elizabeth Fuller b.1630 who married Moses Rowley->Moses II -> Samuel Rowley who married Elizabeth Fuller b. 1692….
I would love to learn how we are related!
This reply should have been addressed to Melynda Norton Hudson.
I’m also a descendant of Edward Fuller. My Grandmother was Dorothy Fuller. Please feel free to email me so we can get in touch we have so much family. christian.aly121710@icloud.com
Another notable descendant of Edward Fuller was Melville Weston Fuller, Chief Justice of the United States. My grandfather, Willard King, wrote a biography of him.
Thank you, Willard. I will check it out!
This was wonderful to read! I am a descendant of Matthew and his brother Samuel (whom you did not mention) through two different lines. What a great family lineage we have.
Hi Patti, I will have to cover the other Fullers! Please check back! Thanks.
I really liked this! I learned a lot of new facts about the Fuller family and others. I found out that I have Mayflower family as well. It is so interesting to know and trace the generations to the present time.
Thank you Pat! I appreciate it and check back for more Mayflower!
I am Stephen Wayne Fuller. My family is descended from the Fuller’s on the Mayflower through Stephen Hopkins, I believe. Thanks for posting this. I would love to have more information on this.
Hi Stephen, I have some Hopkins coming up soon! Thanks for the comment.
My family is descended from Edward Fuller and his son, Samuel Fuller. Further through Hannah Fuller.
Thanks Georgiann! I have some more Mayflower coming! Please check back.
Hello! My family is also descended through Edward Fuller and his son, Samuel Fuller, through the Wing Family (through the Empey and Utter families). My mother has this geneology somewhere, but has Alzheimers and cannot locate it — so we are piecing it together. What an interesting family tree!
Sandra (Strehlow) Reinhold
Hi Sandra, thanks for sharing. I believe the Wing line were Quakers. Please keep us updated on your progress and try a search on GenealogyBank on the names that you have already confirmed in the tree. Happy Hunting! Stay tuned for more Mayflower stories coming this year!
Georgiann Suhr: Me too – I am trying to work on the proof etc. to get the certification from the Mayflower society. If you read this or can be of any assistance and share
some info with me that would be so awesome!
Jill Gagner
I was just looking at Relative Finder and I found I am related to Mayflower Fuller!!! He comes through my grandfather’s line. Plus I have Tilly, Chilton too. Fun to find all that history.
Hi Pat, that is so cool and yes, I have loved finding all the Mayflower stories from GenealogyBank newspaper searches. Keep us posted on your finds!
Hi,
Does anyone have information on the second Mayflower crossing?
In my family search I see a Finch on the list. And my ancestors lived in Conn.
Thanks,
Bill
Hi Bill. I will check into that, I believe you are referring to the Speedwell? Have you tried a search in GenealogyBank’s newspaper archives? Thanks for the comment, and this may be a story to look into.
More may be found on Dr. (Captain) Matthew Fuller in the book SOLDIERS IN KING PHILIP’S WAR, by George Madison Bodge.
Thank you Donald. I will check that out. I will be writing more stories on the Fuller line, so check back. GenealogyBank has lots of articles on the early Fuller line.
So interesting to read.
I have discovered the Fuller family who married into the Appleton family, who I believe were also linked to the Mayflower, but these Fullers were Quakers and it’s not easy to track their lives. They seem to send their children to different “schools” all over the country. All very challenging — and we wouldn’t have it any other way, would we?
Hi Janet. I have some fellow Fuller descendant friends who have Quaker in their lines and were accepted into the Mayflower Society. Thank you for posting; I will check this out. Were your Appleton’s from the Boston area?
Great article, Melissa. My descent is from Matthew Fuller through his daughter Elizabeth Fuller Rowley, and then through her daughter Mary Rowley who married John Weeks. That line ended up migrating to western Massachusetts and then across the border to Dutchess Co., New York. There is a cool “ghost story” associated with Matthew Fuller. Check out Elizabeth Reynard’s “The Narrow Land: Folk Chronicles of Old Cape Cod.”
Thank you Gene. I will definitely look into the ghost story! A great lead for a future blog post. So appreciate it!
I’m a Fuller descendant through my father, who was stationed in England during WWII as a GI.
I never met him — but unlike my maternal British family, whose history seems to be as farm workers for the past 300 years, my American ancestry is a delight to discover.
At 75 I’m starting to wish I’d decided to trace a family tree earlier in life. Great fun this hobby, isn’t it!
Thank you Katlin. Was this discovery through DNA or did your father die in the war? I would love to hear your story. GenealogyBank may offer some clues for your hunt on the American Fuller line.
What a wonderful testament to the family name Ballard and Fuller. So many grateful thoughts, due to the loving reality of the Mayflower families and how work, food and prosperity held these and many other families together that we regard so deeply still.
Thank you Angela! I agree, and they were true pioneers and patriots!
Edward Fuller was my 10th Great Grandfather. My Great Grandmother passed me a family Bible which I have passed to the next two generations. We go from Gates (2) to Stilson (1), to Stancliff (2) to Lewis (1) to Rowley (2) to Fuller (3). I have a cousin who shares a Great Grandfather whose 10th Great Grandfather was Joshua Pratt who came in on the Anne in 1623. Small world. Thank you for your article. It is quite sad to know that Edward Fuller and his wife did not survive the first winter.
Thank you, Mike. Thank God that, despite the loss of Edward, his sons Mathew and Samuel carried on. I believe Joshua Pratt lived on Edward Doty’s lot and served as a constable. I found a great deal on the Rowley family in my GenealogyBank searches too. I appreciate your information and Happy New Year!
LOVE that your grandmother was wise enough to save a family Bible!! Congratulations!
Hi, my mother is 90 and her grandmother was a Fuller. She said her mother was a princess.
Sheryl, thanks for sharing and posting your line. Lots of great Fuller articles to be found at GenealogyBank!
Hello! Thank you for the work you do. While many of my relatives can be traced with fair surety to several Mayflower passengers, the Fuller/Upson line is rife with confusion. I have direct descendants shown to the Upson/Lee/Welton/Bronson lineage that have been confirmed. However, my question is this: Thomas Upson (1615), s. Richard Bronson and Mary Starr(?), married an Elizabeth Fuller as his 2nd wife. This Elizabeth had a son Stephen who married Mary Lee. Many people on different sites allow this is the same Elizabeth Fuller who ALSO was married to Rowley and therefore connect her to the Mayflower Fullers. Other genealogical sites, with seemingly equal assurance, say this Elizabeth Fuller Upson is NOT related to the Mayflower Fullers.
I am merely interested in getting my tree facts correct. If Elizabeth Fuller Upson is not of the Mayflower Fullers, that is fine with me. I merely wish to find her ancestral facts for veracity.
Do you happen to have any information on the confusion of the Fuller/Upson (and later Lee/Welton/Bronson) relatives? As I read and dive in, ALL these names show corroboration thru many intermarriages and historical documents, except for the elusive Elizabeth Fuller (1626-1715) that I recorded as being Mathew Fuller’s daughter. If this is not the woman who married Thos. Upson, might you steer me onto the corrected path? Thank you so very much.
Thank you Beth! Glad you are enjoying the Mayflower articles. I will email you soon, and I did find quite a bit on GenealogyBank on many Fuller lines and Mayflower ties. Hope to help you sort out.
Thank you for this rich history! I am a descendant of Edward Fuller through the Wing family. This is the most comprehensive history I have read to date!
I too am a descendant of Edward Fuller, and in fact my maternal grandmother’s maiden name was Fuller. Her grandfather was Riley Fuller, who died in Wisconsin. I myself have had some difficult in connecting this line to Matthew Fuller. Some say Matthew was a cousin of Samuel Fuller, son of Edward, whereas others insist they were brothers. Samuel came on the Mayflower with his mother and father, AND his uncle, also named Samuel. When mother and father passed away upon arriving in the New World then Samuel, the brother, raised Samuel, the son, who was about 12 years old at that time. As you have noted Matthew did not come to the New World until 1640, 20 years later than the Mayflower, but he had a tremendous influence in the New World.
So I am a descendant of the Fuller family directly through the Fuller line, via Matthew. It is a rich, rich history. I am also a descendant of the Inman’s, who apparently are descended from John of Gaunt, son of King Edward the III. John did not become king because his older brother was Edward, who either never married — or if he did, then did not have children. So it was John’s sons and descendants that became kings, including Henry IV, V and VI. Then I believe the kingly line ended with the War of the Roses. Inman’s had sided with their descendant kings and then lost most everything… they had land in York, most of which they lost. But they rebuilt themselves in Liverpool (Inman Steamship Line) and in the New World, as cotton merchants. The largest park in Atlanta, GA, is named Inman Park.
Hi Joseph. Wow! Some great shares here! Sounds like a very rich story — it could be great content for the blog. I will look into the line with Inman. Please stay tuned for more Mayflower “Who’s Who.” Thanks!
I have enjoyed your article. Through research I have found that I am a descendant of Edward Fuller through Matthew Fuller. Do you have any information on Edward Fuller’s parents and further back? I am fairly new to doing research and I’m not really sure where to start. I like to have documentation and not just take the word of someone else, such as someone else’s family tree on ancestry. Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Carla. Thanks for sharing. I will send you an email.
I also am a descendant of the Fuller family. My Daddy’s Mom was Ruby Mae Fuller and I would love to know more about my ansestors. I’ve done some research on my family and I’ve done my DNA With My Heritage, but it’s kind of slow going. I could really use a little help and more information. Thank you and have a wonderful week.
I believe in my ancestry research and having been told by family members that I am a descendant through the Samuel and further Hannah Fuller Line. Anyone else here in the same boat? If you care to reach out, my email is: jillgagner@gmail.com
Thank you!
Like Carla Miller above, I too am interested in following back the Fuller line from the Mayflower. I have all the names and dates up to the Mayflower (missing documentation on some, though). My lineage goes through both brothers, Samuel and Matthew. Any help here will be greatly appreciated.
I recently received my approved application to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants on the Edward Fuller line through his son Samuel Fuller and daughter Hannah Fuller, continuing through the Dunham/Martin/Pumphrey and Rankin family lines that I descend from through my mother’s Ohio Rankin family. In April I began a 3-month process of proving 7 generations from over 30+ years of doing family research. It’s been an interesting experience of discovery, and just in time for what would have been my mother’s 95th birthday on Thanksgiving! Thank you Melissa for providing Edward and Samuel Fuller history highlights to further illuminate their story.
Sara, congratulations!!! I appreciate your feedback and thank you for sharing! Stay tuned for more!!!
Hi Melissa, I responded to Sara Harmon’s post the other day (June 2023) -– but she posted back in November 2022. What are the chances she sees my response? Is there any other way perhaps you can reach out to her so she gets my message? It looks like she is connected to Matthew Fuller through my 2nd great grandmother Lucetta Allen (married to Matthew Rankin Carson), as I am, but I’m not sure how. I’d love to learn about her Rankin family. Also, I am considering getting a DNA test but I’m not sure if I should submit it to Ancestry or The Mayflower 1620 project. Any guidance or advice on that would be appreciated. Thank you, Michael “Muffins” Jamison.
Hi Sara! My name is Michael “Muffins” Jamison . I live in Beverly Hills, CA – via Tennessee & Indiana. We may very well be distant cousins! I’ve been researching my family ancestry for a few years, and I am definitely a direct descendant of Matthew Fuller. The one name I haven’t been able to find the origins of is my great, great grandfather’s middle name – Mathew RANKIN Carson (From Meigs, Ohio). I’ve had no idea who or where the name RANKIN came from, but I thought it must be a family name of someone who was loved and admired. – but who? Now I see your mother’s name was Rankin, from Meigs, Ohio! Mathew Rankin Carson was the husband of my great great grandmohther Lucetta Allen Carson (she’s the Fuller connection – they had 10 children – and 7 lived to adulthood). I have a distant cousin living in Houston named Richard Jennings Carson (he’s also a descendant of Mathew and Lucetta), and we’ve been going crazy trying to find out about the Rankin name. He’s going to be excited I’ve found something connecting us to a Rankin. If you know who and how, would you be so kind as to fill me in on the Rankin family connection to the Fuller family?
I did receive a notice from The Mayflower Society telling me there is a DNA question about whether Matthew Fuller is actually the son of Edward Fuller. I need to do a DNA test. Additionally, I recently found an old letter from my Grand Aunt to her sister, my grandmother, in which she was wrote about their great grandfather Barnabus Allen who not only was an American Revolutionary soldier, but also, she says, he was the great grandson of Mary Alden Allen, the granddaughter of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins Alden through her marriage to Deacon Samuel Allen III. I researched that info and found the line, but when I presented it to The Mayflower Society they said there were questions about who Samuel Allen III was married to – and I needed a DNA test for that, too. I sent for the Ancestry DNA test kit – it’s sitting on my dining room table. I’m just not crazy about doing that test. However, I digress. Please write me back and fill me in on whatever you can. I’d love to hear from you and learn about you as well! If possible, contact me at at my email below and I can send additional information – including the marriage certificate of my ancestors John Thomas Norton and Sadie Carson Norton – which documents Sadie’s parents were Matthew RANKIN Carson and Lucetta Allen. Best Regards, Michael Muffins Jamison
Hi Michael
I will try to reach out to Sara for you. Thanks for posting. I will check into the DNA topic and get back to you soon.
I just happened to find this looking up Matthew Fuller and I very much appreciate it. If you ever do something down the line of Matthew’s son Samuel, I would love to read about it. As fate would have it, my lineage seems doubly intertwined with the Fuller line. Matthew had his son, Samuel, and from my research, Samuel had at least two sons, one Thomas and one Matthew. I can trace my paternal lineage back to one brother and my maternal to the other. I’m not sure how common that is with ancestry, but needless to say it has made my periodic research into the Fuller history more vibrant.
Thank you, I appreciate your feedback. That Fuller line is going through some new discovering right now due to some DNA projects, so check with the Mayflower Society on that. I cover a little of it in my Mayflower Part 29 http://bit.ly/3UgeOd1
Melissa, my cousin Richard Jennings Carson had an aunt: Mary Margret Carson Davenport. She married a Herbert L. Davenport in 1941. They both were born in Illinois. (The Carson’s are from the Matthew Fuller -– maybe Alden — line.) Any chance he was related to our family?
Hello Michael, Thanks for posting. No this is not my line. My Davenport line is from Massachusetts and lived in Dorchester, Salem, Milton, and Newburyport. There is a Rogers Mayflower line connected to mine, but no Fuller that I am aware of. Could be a distant cousin.
Hello,
I’ve been trying to research my Rowley/Fuller line for a while. The current line is as follows:
Edward Fuller -> Matthew Fuller -> Elizabeth Fuller m. Moses Rowley -> Shubael Rowley m. Catherine Crippen -> Jabez Rowley m. Tabitha Harris -> Jabez Rowley Jr. m. Mary Ann Hamilton -> Seth Rowley m. Innocent Salisbury -> Joel Russell Rowley m. Sarah Allen -> John Allen Rowley m. Nancy Richardson -> Marion Frances Rowley m. Laura Emma Barton -> Clifford Rowley m. Viva Susan Main -> Mamie Beatrice Rowley m. Faunta Leroy Minor -> Sandra Sue Minor m. John Larry Roberts -> Gregory Roberts
yDNA research into the origins of Mathew Fuller have proven that he is not the son of Edward Fuller, Mathew Fuller is no longer considered to be a son of Edward Fuller of the Mayflower and the Mayflower society no longer accept linages through Mathew Fuller.
https://themayflowersociety.org/passenger-profile/passenger-profiles/the-edward-fuller-family/
However
the following may be of interest to you in regard to your descent from Mathew Fuller
see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rowley-2582 and
http://www.rowleyresearch.org/