Trusting Vital records

Many years ago, when I was visiting the New England Historic & Genealogical Society, I met a woman up on the sixth floor in the stacks. We got chatting about or various research projects, and in the course of our conversation, she mentioned how she strongly trusts marriage records. Her point was that people don’t remember their births and are therefore reliant on others to tell them their birthday. Likewise, they are not here to provide familial information when they die. However, at the time of their marriage they are alive to apply for their marriage certificate, and thus, know the answers to the questions the town clerk asks. This notion has been reiterated in many genealogy classes I have taken, and actually, it’s a pretty good rule of thumb! (and yes, I have indeed found incorrect information in marriage records!)

This rule of thumb applies to my grandmother. She was born in April of 1908, an only child, who was the apple of her parent’s eye. When she graduated from high school, her parents decided to take her on a tour of Europe. Passage was arranged, reservations were made, and passports were ordered. When to postman delivered her passport, my grandmother was shocked to find a terrible error on her passport. Instead of listing April 2^nd as her birthday, the passport had April 1^st listed instead. She told her mother about this error, and was worried it might somehow be problematic for the family’s impending trip. Her mother had to confess that April first was indeed correct, and that she had thought it best if my grandmother celebrated her birthday on the second of April, because she was concerned children would tease little Hope that she was an April Fool. My grandmother was indeed present at her birth, but she relyed on her parents to tell her the day she was born, but her parents did not tell her the correct day for over eighteen years!

Take the case of Stephen Fuller. He was born in 1754 in South Dedham (MA), he enlisted in Walpole’s town militia and marched to Lexington-Concord to chase the British back to Boston. He moved in the late 1700s to Francestown (NH), along with about thirty other South Dedham families. When he died in 1839, his family did not erect a gravestone. Now here’s where the problem begins. There is a second Stephen Fuller buried in Plainville (MA) and HIS gravestone has the other Stephen Fuller’s birthdate etched on it. So of course, genealogy database algorithms point us in the direction of the Plainville Stephen Fuller versus the Francestown Stephen Fuller. Untangling the information and proving which Stephen Fuller was which was what the historian/genealogist in me set out to prove.

Dedham vital records identified two Stephen Fullers being born in their town in the 1750s. Stephen Fuller, son of John and Anna (Fales) Fuller was born September 9, 1750 and Stephen Fuller, son of Benjamin and Sarah (Bullard) Fuller was born December 18, 1754. Turning to Attleboro, the town were Plainville Stephen Fuller grew up, their vital records provide two more possible Stephen Fullers to consider. Stephen Fuller, son of Stephen and Mary (Richardson) Fuller was born May 18, 1742 and Stephen Fuller, son of Stephen and Jemima (White) Fuller, was born January 4, 1764. Attleboro had a large Fuller family, their Fuller ancestors settled in Rehoboth (MA) in the 1600s, and by the early 1700s they drifted across the town borders into Attleboro. Trying to figure out if Stephen of Plainville was a Rehoboth Fuller was going to take a lot of work and time, so starting out in Dedham, was the easier place to start.

Believing Stephen, son of Benjamin was Francestown Stephen, only left one other Dedham Stephen to study. Stephen Fuller was born in 1750 in Dedham proper, he was the second Stephen born to John Fuller and his wife Anna Fales. Looking at this family we can confirm John was the son of John Fuller and Mary Guild, and Anna Fales was the daughter of Stephen Fales and Anna Sales (likely Fales). John and Anna became the parents of John, Stephen, Stephen, Anna and Molly (a nickname for Mary), it is clear that John and Anna did not look farther then their family to name their children. Now the question became did John Fuller move with his family to Attleboro? Not a usual migration pattern for Dedhamites. As luck would have it, Bristol County (MA) has a 1766 administration for a John Fuller. In this administration, John’s wife Anna is named as executrix, along with son Stephen, and a daughter Anna is named as one of the heirs. When the estate is finally closed in 1775, daughter Anna had married becoming Anna Healy. It appears that his family is indeed the John Fuller family of Dedham, and that their children John and Molly had died as they are not listed in the estate

Stephen Fuller of Attleboro/Plainville married in 1773 to Mary Maxcy. Together they became the parents of six children – Stephen, John, Mary, Anna, John and Maxcy. Again this family naming pattern is strong.  Looking at the family of Stephen Fuller of Francestown. He had siblings – Hannah, Samuel, Elizabeth, Lucy, Thaddeus and Rufus. Stephen married Hannah Felch and together they became the parents of Samuel, Rufus, Jared, Hannah, Lucy, Asenath, Sarah and “Betsey” (Elizabeth); another strong naming pattern!

Checking to see if Stephen Fuller of Attleboro/Plainville ever received a pension for service in the Revolutionary War does not yield any new information, but Stephen Fuller of Francestown did receive a pension. He had initially applied for a pension in 1794 as he had received a serious injury – the loss of his right thumb in 1777. He had to submit more information in 1835, in this document he stated and swore that he had turned “eighty years old on the 18^th day of December last,” making his birthdate December 18, 1754. This confirms that Stephen Fuller of Francestown was the son of Benjamin Fuller and Sarah Bullard, which certainly is reflected in the family’s naming pattern.

Now the question becomes, how did Stephen Fuller of Attleboro/Plainville end up with the wrong birthdate on his headstone? This puts his birth year at 1750, but indicates the death date may be wrong. A complete translation of his gravestone says:

The clue is at the bottom. CM Fuller Jackson, was Cornelia Maria (Fuller) Jackson, granddaughter of Stephen Fuller and Mary Maxcy. She erected this stone in 1892, some thirty years after Stephen had died. She knew where her grandfather was buried as he died when she as ten. She very likely attended his funeral, plus her parents are buried nearby. Census records show Stephen lived next door to her family in 1820 and was living in her childhood home in 1832. However, being a child it is highly likely she did not know the birth and death dates of an older generation, but she likely knew the towns they were born. She likely wrote to the town clerk of Attleboro and obtained the birth dates for her grandmother and Uncle Maxcy, and personally knowing her grandfather, she likely knew he came from Dedham, wrote to them for Stephen Fuller’s birth date, and it is likely the Dedham town clerk gave her the wrong date. At least that is my theory.

So, looking at the facts, and not theories:

• The DAR recognizes Stephen Fuller of Francestown as the son of Benjamin & Sarah (Bullard) Fuller
• William Hyslop Fuller, a genealogist and author of several Fuller Genealogies recognizes Stephen Fuller of Francestown as the son of Benjamin & Sarah (Bullard) Fuller in his book Genealogy of Matther Fuller, John Fuller of Newton, John Fuller of Ipswich, Robert Fuller of Dorchester and Dedham (pub 1914), identifies Stephen Fuller of Francestown as a son of Benjamin & Sarah (Bullard) Fuller (p 249-250). In the same book, he outlines the family of John & Anna (Fales) Fuller, noting he could not find further information on this line, likely because they removed to Attleboro. However, when he published the Genealogy of Thomas Fuller of Woburn (pub 1917) he added a supplemental section to the book identifying Stephen Fuller of Attleboro/Plainville as a son of John & Anna (Fales) Fuller. This information came from a great-great-granddaughter, Anne (Wright) Whitney (p213).
• Warren Cochrane, Francestown Historian and author of History of Francestown, NH, identifies Stephen Fuller as son of Benjamin & Sarah Bullard) Fuller, noting that he came to Francestown with his brothers Thaddeus and Rufus (p 714).
• Familial naming patterns for both Stephen Fullers reflect family names.
• The most important fact is the Stephen Fuller of Francestown, gave his birth date when applying for a pension. He swore to it in front of a judge. Proving he is the son of Benjamin & Sarah (Bullard) Fuller.

The moral of this story is to really dig into primary sources. Sometimes what you initially find in secondary resources may not be accurate, even if it is etched on a gravestone, and thus, may require deeper digging to discover the truth.