Person:Matthew Fuller (1)

Served as captain of Plymouth Colony forces during King Phillips War. One of the first physicians to settle at Barstable. Took a public state on the side of the Quakers and took a fine for it

Origins

The question of the paternity of Matthew Fuller was examined exhaustively by Bruce C. MacGunnigle, Robert M. Sherman and Robert S. Wakefield in 1986, and they came to the conclusion that Matthew was a son of EDWARD FULLER [TAG 61:194-99]. They also noted that the evidence connecting EDWARD FULLER and SAMUEL FULLER to Robert Fuller of Redenhall, Norfolk, is not so strong as might be desired, leaving open the possibility that future research might lead to a different ancestry for the two brothers [ TAG 61:194]. Extensive data on the Fullers of Redenhall and vicinity were published in 1901 by Francis H. Fuller [NEHGR 55:192-96, 410-16].^S3 The 1901 article included a parish register entry for "Matthew, son of John Fuller and Margaret his wife, baptized 16 Oct., 1603." John was Edward's brother, but that date has nonetheless made its way into many profiles of the immigrant.

The Mayflower Society does believe that Capt. Matthew's father was Edward Fuller who went over the Mayflower. The evidence for this was a letter made by Dr. Samuel Fuller (also of the Mayflower) to Matthew when he was still in England. Dr. Samuel Fuller helped support Matthew's education back in England. Dr. Samuel Fuller was a brother of Edward, and thus the letter indicates Dr. Samuel was an Uncle to Matthew Fuller. Matthew, himself, did not go over the Mayflower but came later.[1]

Will

Capt. Matthew Fuller's Will

Transcribed from the Original Recrords BY GEORGE ERNEST BOWMAN MD 13:7

CAPT. MATTHEW FULLER died at Barnstable between 25 July, 1678, the day he made his will, and 22 August, 1678, the date of the inventory. The will and inventory are recorded in the Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories, Volume III, Part II, Pages 127 - 129.

The five and twentieth Day of July in the yeer of our Lord one thousand six hundred seaventy and eight; I Mathew ffuller of the Towne of Barnstable in the Collonie of New Plymouth; being sicke of body but of Good and prfect memory thankes be unto almighty God; and Calling to Remembrance the uncertaine state of this transitory life and that all fflesh must yeild unto Death when it shall please God to Call; Doe make Constitute and ordaine; and Declare this my last will and Testament, In manor and forme following; Revoakeing and Anulling by these prsents all and every Testament and Testaments will and wills heertofore by mee made and Declared either by word or writing; and this to be taken onely for my last will and Testament; and none other; and first being pen itent and sorry from the bottom of my hart for my sins past most humbly Desireing forgivenes for the same; I Give and Comitt my soule unto almighty God my Saviour and Redeemer, in whom and by the Merretts of Jesus Christ, I trust and be leive assuredly to be saved, and my body to be buried in such place, as my executors heerafter Named shall appoint; and Now for the settleing of my temporall estate; and such Goods Chattles and Debts as it hath pleased God farr above my Deserts to bestow on mee; I Doe order Give and Dispose the same in manor and forme following That is to say first I will That all those Debts and Dutyes as I ow in Right or Consience to any manor of prson or prsons whatsoever shalbe well and truely Contented, or ordained to be payed, within Convenient time after my Decease by my executors heerafter Named;

Item I Give and bequeath unto Shubeall Jones my Grand Child the Reputed son of Ralph Jones, the angle lott of Marsh meddow, which I formerly bought of his father Ralph Jones, after ffrancis my wifes Decease

I Give and bequeath the one halfe of all the Rest of my Lands & meadows I have in the Townshipp of Barnstable, or else where in America To my welbeloved son John ffuller; after ffrancis my wifes Decease

I Give and bequeath unto the Naturall sonnes of my son Samuell ffuller Deceased, Thomas ffuller Jabez ffuller Timothy ffuller Matthias ffuller, and Samuell ffuller, The other halfe of all the Lands and meddowes I have in the Townshipp of Barnstable or elsewhere in America; after my wifes Decease;

I Give and bequeath to Samuell ffuller the son of Samuell ffuller my Eldest son Deceased, my now Dwelling house with all the land and meadow belonging to the homsted where I now live; after my wifes Decease; and if it happen that hee should Die without Issue That then it shall Goe to the Rest of them bretheren that Doe survive

Item It is my will that if my son John ffuller Die without Issue that then the lands and meddowes I have already Given to him Bethyah the wife of John ffuller shall enjoy the full benifitt; and use of them to her Dieing Day; and then to Goe to the Rest of my Children begotten of my owne body;

I Give and bequeath to my Daughter Mary Jones the wife of Ralph Jones Ten pounds in mony;

Item I Give and bequeath unto my Daughter Anne ffuller The now wife of Samuell ffuller ten pounds in mony;

Item I Give and bequeath unto my Daughter Elizabeth Rowley the wife of Moses Rowley ten pounds in mony;

Item I Give and bequeath unto Sarah Rowley the Daughter of Moses Rowley all my sheep; and by these prsents I Doe appoint Jedediah Jones to oversee the sheepp That they be Imployed wholly for the use of the said Sarah;

Item I Give and bequeath ten pounds to Jedediah Jones the son of Ralph Jones in mony;

Item I Give to every one of my Male Grandchildren halfe a Crown a peece in old England mony;

[p. 128] Item I Give to every one of my femall Grandchildren twelve pence a peece in old England mony;

Item I Give to Ralfe Jones Samuell ffuller Junir: and Moses Rowley senir my sones in law five shillings apeece in mony;

Item I Give and bequeath unto my onely beloved son John ffuller twenty pounds in silver mony, and to bethya his wife twenty shillings in Gould;

I Give to Mary ffuller the late wife of my son Samuell ffuller Deceased five shillings in Mony;

I Give and bequeath unto Robert Marshall the Scotsman a peece of Cloth Intended to make mee a suite; off;

Item I Give to Jaser Tayler two Raysers;

Item I Give and bequeath to ffrancis my Deare and welbeloved wife; whoe by these prsents I Doe ordaine and Declare to be the sole executrix of this my last Will and Testament the use and Improvement of all my housing lands and Meddowes Dureing her Naturall life; as alsoe all my Moveables houshold stuffe Cattle horse kind swine; and whatsoever else Can be Named undisposed of to be att her Dispose for ever

In witnes wherof I have heerunto sett my hand and seale the Day and yeer abovesaid

Signed and sealed Mathew ffuller and a seale in the prsence of Joseph Laythorpe John Hawes

Leift: Joseph Laythorp and John hawes made oath to the truth of the Will abovewritten: viz: That they Did see Capt: Mathew ffuller above said; signe and seale and Declare this aforsaid Will to be his last Will and Testament; before the Court holden att Plymouth the 30th of October 1678

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Roser, Susan E. Mayflower Increasings for Three Generations. (Baltimore [Maryland]: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1989).
2. ↑ Mayflower and Early Families, Url: http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/
   Capt. Matthew Fuller's Will, http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/wills/capt_matthew_fuller_will.htm.
3.   Edward Fuller, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).

   Children... i MATTHEW, b. say 1605; m. by about 1630 Frances _____ [TAG 61:198-99; MF 4:5-6]. (Although he wrote before the demonstration that Matthew was son of Edward, Paul Prindle prepared an excellent account of Matthew Fuller and his family [Ancestry of Elizabeth Barrett Gillespie ... (n.p. 1976), pp. 157-62].)

4.   Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   2:217.

   MATTHEW, Plymouth, a. 1640, s. of Edward the first, b. in Eng. rem. to Barnstable 1652, a physician, appoint. surg. of the force of the col. 1673, a capt. 1675, as Thatcher says, and d. 1678. By w. Frances he had Mary, wh. m. 17 Apr. 1650, Ralph Jones; Elizabeth wh. m. 1652, Moses Rowley; Samuel; and John; and by Hannah, had Ann, wh. m. her cous. Samuel Fuller.

5.   MacGunnigle, Bruce Campbell; David L Greene; and Massachusetts) General Society of Mayflower Descendants (Plymouth. Edward Fuller of the Mayflower and his descendants for four generations. (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1987).
6. ↑ This christening date is for Matthew, son of Family:John Fuller and Margaret Balls (1).