Today we’d like to introduce you to Wayne Fuller.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Wayne. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am a 9th Generation Descendant of John Fuller of Newton. Who was John Fuller of Newton? How do I know that I am a 9th Generation Descendant? You can build your own Family Tree.
This story is about the connection to a place that spans 400 years and a man named John Fuller, my ancestor. It’s about a search for my ancestor and everything between him and me – the generations of people, lives, places, stories, opportunities, highs, and lows.
Who was John Fuller of Newton?
John Fuller was born in England in 1611 and settled in Newton (Cambridge Village at the time) about 1644. He was one of the founding fathers of Newton, MA as his name is on the First Settlers Monument in the East Parish Burying Ground in Newton. He became one of the biggest landowners of the area when in 1658 he purchased a 750-acre farm bordering the Charles River. Some of that farmland is on the west side of Newton today. He was a Maltster and provided Malt to the community and even to Harvard in Cambridge as the beer was the common drink of the time. John was an elected official both in Cambridge and Newton (Cambridge Village). He accumulated enough land to give each of his 5 sons a farm of about 200 acres, which was left to his sons in his Will written in 1696. He died in Newton in 1698 and is buried in the Historic East Parish Burying Ground. His wife was Elizabeth Cole baptized in 1623 in the town of Lavenham, Suffolk, England and died in 1700 in Newton, MA. A recently discovered letter handwritten by John, suggests that he was also from Lavenham.
How do I know that I am a 9th Generation Descendant of John Fuller of Newton?
The short answer to that question is that I have a “paper trail” (genealogy-speak for the fact that I have evidence and documentation) and DNA proof. My Father was a great storyteller and used to talk about the ‘good old days’. He worked on our Fuller Family Tree for the last 25 years of his life and when he died, I took over his research material. During those 25 years, he was able to find the name of his grandfather (my great-grandfather), Pulaski Woodman Fuller and also much about his life as a Baptist minister, mainly in Minnesota, where he is buried. He also found the names of many of PW’s children including birth and death dates. You have to understand this was before computers and involved a great deal of onsite research and so during that research, he did not find where “PW” was born or the name of his father.
After reviewing my Dad’s research I decided to have a DNA test and placed the results in a searchable database. At some point I received a note from a contact whose email simply stated; “you and I have the same DNA”. About that time we discovered PW’s obituary which stated that he was born in Boston in 1823. Both the DNA contact and obituary lead us to PW’s baptism record of 25 March 1823 from the OLD SOUTH CHURCH in Boston. The baptism record showed the name of his father ‘Sumner Fuller’ and that name connected us to the DNA contact – cousin Don’s database and led us to Newton, MA, where, after some research, we found that we descended from John Fuller of Newton.
That research consisted of a trip to the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston and to the Jackson Museum in Newton where the curator at the time was Susan Abele, who showed me their Fuller Family archives where I found a copy of the 1696 Will of John Fuller of Newton along with many other documents; a map of Newton dated 1700 showing the Fuller farm, some old pictures, Fuller family land deeds as well as notes and trees from other researchers of the Fullers of Newton, all of which added to my documentation.
While in Newton I visited several cemeteries and found early gravestones of our ancestors in the Historic East and West Parish Burying Grounds and being a gravestone buff, I was in my element snapping pictures. The oldest stone from John’s family was his son Isaac, whose stone reads: “Here Lyes Ye Body of Isaac Fuller Age 20 Years Died October Ye 6th 1691”. I soon discovered that most of my ancestors through John’s son Jeremiah, were buried in the West Parish Burying Ground and I had plenty of opportunities to use my camera. In Boston, at the NEHGS I discovered documents and evidence of where my ancestors lived in Boston in 1823.
Family tree research is like working on a giant jigsaw puzzle where you try different pieces and are very happy when you find two that fit together. In order to find the bits and pieces in my Newton Fuller Family Tree, I read all the history books of the time. In addition, we found more documents, including more Wills. I have to say that the people whose ancestors are from Newton, MA are lucky to have a fantastic book by Francis Jackson. A History of the Early Settlement of Newton, county of Middlesex, from 1639 to 1800, with a Genealogical Register of its Inhabitants Prior to 1800. Boston: Printed by Stacy and Richardson, 1854. Frances Jackson provides detailed lists of marriages and children for each family; I am basing that comment on his coverage of the Fuller family.
Of course, we found his data was not perfect as he mixed up the three John Fullers who immigrated to New England before 1650, as did most of the other historians of the day partly because all three married an “Elizabeth” (the other two being John Fuller of Ipswich and John Fuller of Lynn).
I have documents (birth, marriage, death and probate records and one family bible) which link me to the male line through John’s son, Jeremiah, to John himself. I also have Y DNA evidence; four of us who have the same DNA and can each trace our ancestry directly to John of Newton. The same Y chromosome is carried by all direct male descendants. Thus I have the same Y DNA as my father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc and similarly the same as every other direct male descendant of John of Newton.
There were two Fullers on the Mayflower and every Fuller in North America researching their family tree hope they are among the thousands of descendants of those Mayflower Fullers. I had a little note with my first Y DNA test results which said “sorry but you are not a Mayflower Fuller”. The truth is that I am not even close or should I say that the Y DNA of all the direct male descendants of John Fuller of Newton is not even close to the Mayflower Fuller’s Y DNA. (see the website for Occupational Names)
What to do with our new found documents, pictures and information?
Of course, all of the data (Names, dates, and places) taken from documents were entered into our genealogy database, from which we can run various reports or ‘trees’ and summaries of data. However, I decided to take it one step further and share my information with other descendants on a website which you can see on my ‘John Fuller of Newton’ site. Creating and maintaining this website was a great experience although a bit overwhelming at times. I soon learned that if you ‘publish’ your information on a website, you have to be careful that all the information is historically accurate and that you list the sources of that information so that other researchers can see your source. If you decide to put your information on a website, it is just like the process of ‘publishing’ a book, only in a website you get a ‘do over’ if you find a mistake.
You can build your own family tree.
To build your family tree – just start with yourself – you have documents showing your full Name, Birth date and place, your Marriage date and place and that of each of your children. Now gather documents with the same information for your parents and your siblings. Then documents with the information for your grandparents, but it may not be so easy to find that information on your great-grandparents if they are not living.
Oh, by the way, did I mention that you need the same information for the family members on both your father’s and mother’s side. If your ancestors were in New England, you should join the New England Historic Genealogical Society where you can find historical documents and people who can answer any of your questions. When you get your family tree together it should look like ‘My Fuller Family Tree’ (see link below)
I recommend that you have a DNA test. I use ‘Family Tree DNA’ and think they have the largest database so you can compare your DNA with others. If you are a male looking for your fraternal line, you should have a Y DNA test plus their Family Finder test. The mtDNA helps with your maternal line, but you read about DNA on the Family Tree DNA website.
I get quite a few contacts through the website, and a couple of years ago I was contacted by one fellow who said he was a descendant of John of Newton and that he had been researched his line for some 20 years, gathering and transcribing documents and all that is involved in research. Of course, his last name was Fuller and we called each other ‘cousin’ in our emails, but after seeing some of this information, I asked and he agreed to have a DNA test. The results showed that we were not related and he was not a descendant of John, and the sad part is that he spent 20 years researching the wrong family, but the DNA test proved that he has to look elsewhere for his ancestors.
Trying to find John:
It has been over 300 years since John Fuller of Newton died and during that time, dare I say, there have been hundreds of researchers looking for that ‘paper trail’ proving where he was born and the name of his parents. We have the church baptism record for his wife, Elizabeth Cole, but not for our John. If the documentation exists, he was most likely born in Suffolk County in England and if not there then likely in either Norfolk or Sussex Counties. A few years ago the NEHGS sponsored a genealogical trip to those exact three counties and I took it as a sign that I should go on that trip and become the one researcher to finally find John’s birth record, so our son and I took the trip and were overwhelmed by the process and all the information available.
The trip was very well organized and we were introduced to professional genealogists who taught us how to research English records and we were deep in the archives of all three counties for one week. We searched, copied, photographed, transcribed and interviewed historians, but came home with no birth record; however, it was a fabulous experience. We knew that Elizabeth Cole was born in Lavenham, Suffolk, so we spent an additional week searching her environment and area. Not only did I stand on the spot in the church where she was baptized in 1623, but we found the church where her parents were married in 1610. From a list of all previous Pastors on the wall of that church, we found that her father was the Pastor at the time of the marriage.
We recently found a letter written by John of Newton (to our knowledge – not previously published) which leads us to believe that he grew up in Lavenham, but you can read about Simon Onge and so much much more about John Fuller of Newton on our website: johnfullerofnewton.com
If you are a descendant of John Fuller of Newton or think you are, please contact me through my website.
Links:
Jackson Museum in Newton, MA http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/historic/default.asp
NEHGS https://www.americanancestors.org/index.aspx
Family Tree DNA https://www.familytreedna.com/
My Fuller Family Tree http://fuller.johnfullerofnewton.com/pedigree.php?personID=I248&tree=fuller&parentset=0&generations=5&display=compact
Contact Info:
- Website: http://johnfullerofnewton.com/
Map of Newton from 1700
West Parish Burying Ground, Newton, Fuller Section
First Settlers Monument, Situated in the East Parish Burying Ground, Newton
East Parish Burying Ground, Newton
East Parish Burying Ground, Newton, Fuller Section
West Parish Burying Ground, Newton
West Parish Burying Ground, Newton, Grave of my 3 X Great Grandmother
Jackson Museum, Newton, MA
East Parish Burying Ground, Oldest Family Grave Stone; Isaac Fuller died 1691
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