Unknown (Unknown) Fuller (abt. 1581 - aft. 1621)

Born about 1581 in England [uncertain]

Descendants

Died after 11 Jan 1621 after about age 40 in Plymouth Colony

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Unknown (Unknown) Fuller was a passenger on the Mayflower. Join: Mayflower Project Discuss: mayflower

Biography

This biography is for the "Unknown" wife of Edward Fuller.

Though she was called "Ann" in earlier writings,^[1] her true name has never been proved with certainty.^[2] The given name "Ann" is retained in "other nicknames" on this profile primarily for ease of location by anyone searching for her profile online. She was born after 1575, probably about 1581, perhaps at Redenhall Parish, Norfolk County, England (presumed, but unsourced).

"Edward Fuller, and his wife; and Samuell their sonne" arrived at Plymouth late in the fall of 1620, as a passenger aboard the Mayflower on its famous voyage of 1620-21.^[3] Like about half of the passengers, she did not survive the first, harsh Plymouth winter. She and Edward died "soon after they came ashore", after 11 January 1620/1.

Edward Fuller Of Plimoth Plantation

She is buried in the town's Coles Hill Burial Ground.

The Fullers had only one known, proven child, Samuel Fuller. Matthew Fuller was accepted for many years as another, older son by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, but Y-DNA testing has now shown that he was more closely related to Robert Fuller, a member of a different branch of the family, who also emigrated and resided in the town of Rehoboth, some thirty miles to the west of Plymouth. It remains possible that Matthew was a son of "Ann" Fuller by a previous marriage to a relative of Edward's, a theory put forward and to date (Nov. 2023) under study by genealogist Donald Blauvelt, whose initial article on the Fullers was published in the Mayflower Descendant in 2022^[4].

Research Notes

While an Ann Paine did marry an Edward Fuller on 2 Jul 1611 in Waldron, Sussex, England – her full maiden name is given in the marriage record^[5] – Sussex is multiple-counties distant from, and more than 100 miles south of, Norfolk – a tremendous distance in those times, and the groom in that instance was almost certainly a locally-born Edward Fuller... perhaps the one whose christening was recorded at Heathfield (within the same parish as Waldron) in early August of 1575.^[6] The "Ann" (Unknown) Fuller of this profile may in fact have had two marriages (see above), but neither is at all likely to have taken place as far afield from Norfolk as Sussex.

Sources

1. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692. Vol. I-IV. (Boston, MA, USA: 1860-1862), vol. 2, p. 215
2. ↑ MacGunnigle, Bruce Campbell. Mayflower Families Through Five Generations. Volume Four. Third Edition. Family of Edward Fuller. (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2006.)
3. ↑ Bradford, William, 1590-1657. Of Plimoth Plantation: manuscript, 1630-1650. State Library of Massachusetts "List of Mayflower Passengers." In Bradford's Hand.
4. ↑ "Matthew Fuller of Barnstable in the Plymouth Colony: Was He a Mayflower Descendant?", by Donald G. Blauvelt, The Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 70 (Summer 2022), p. 121. Link for $ubscribers
5. ↑ Ancestry.com. East Sussex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2022, East Sussex Record Office; Brighton, England; Sussex Parish Registers, Year Range: 1564-1812, p. 11, slide 56/209; "East Sussex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812" Parish Register Transcription, Waldron Vol 2 Marriages 1564-1648, p. 11. Ancestry Sharing Link; Ancestry Record 62049 #92781865
6. ↑ "East Sussex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812," Parish Register Transcription, Waldron Vol 1, Parish 499/1/1/1, Baptisms 1573-1575. Ancestry Sharing Link; Ancestry Record 62049 #2772038

See also:

• Francis H. Fuller, "Early New England Fullers," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 55 (1901):192-196.
• Caleb Johnson, "Edward and Mrs. Fuller", MayflowerHistory.com, http://mayflowerhistory.com/fuller-edward
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25328469/%22ann%22-fuller : accessed 28 August 2021), memorial page for "Ann" Hopkins Fuller (1581–11 Jan 1621), Find A Grave: Memorial #25328469, citing Coles Hill Burial Ground, Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by C & N Rasmussen (contributor 46971876). (No gravestone.)
• Robert Charles Anderson, "Edward Fuller", The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Vol. I., Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society 1995
• Bradford's History "Of Plymouth Plantation", Wright & Porter Printing Company, Boston, 1898. (There are other versions in print and online)
• Bradford, William. History of Plymouth Plantation (Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856) "Edward Fuller, and his wife, and Samuell, their sonne." p. 449 p. 454 "Edward Fuller and his wife dyed soon after they came ashore; but their sone Samuell is living, & maried, and hath 4. children or more."
• "New England Ship and Passenger Lists," Boulder Genealogical Society Quarterly (Boulder, CO). Vol. 2:3 (Nov. 1970), pp. 10-15 (Yr. 1620, the Mayflower).

Additional Reading and Web Sites

• Wikipedia contributors, "Edward Fuller (Mayflower passenger)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, (accessed March 1, 2021).
• American Ancestors.org profile of Edward Fuller (via the Wayback Machine)
• Pilgrim Hall Museum, "Beyond the Pilgrim Story"
• Willison George F., Saints and Strangers (Reynal and Hitchcock, New York, 1945)

Mayflower Checklist complete Nov 2023