WILLDEN FAMILY------EDWARD FULLER AND THE MAYFLOWER

     At age 66, Robert FULLER a local butcher of Redenhall, England in Norfolk, sat down to write his Last Will and Testament. Born in 1548, his first dying written request was to be buried in the St. Mary's Churchyard in Redenhall, forever his home. He left to his second wife Frances, "a tenement" with "a little orchard", to his son Edward 20 pounds, and to his son Samuel 15 pounds.  Robert's first wife of only a dozen years, Sarah DUNKHORNE, the mother of Edward and Samuel, had died a decade earlier and was also buried in the St. Mary's Churchyard, underneath the shadow of the towering cathedral built in the 1300's.....still there in use today.

Starston Church of England...marriage of Robert/Sarah

 

St.Mary's Church in Redenhall, England

     When his father died in 1614, Edward FULLER and wife Ann had two young sons, Matthew, and Samuel. They were a family of Puritan Separatists, wanting reform within the Church of England, but unlike the regular Puritans, they were tired of waiting and sought to leave the Church and go their own way. The Separatists had already begun to leave for Leyden, Holland, as early as 1607, to escape the watchful eyes of the Church of England, and by 1617 Edward had sold all of his belongings and moved to Leyden with his wife, and son Samuel.  Son Matthew stayed behind, perhaps to finish schooling in England before rejoining his family....but he would never see his parents again.  In Holland, the Puritan Separatists would find life difficult there due to a slow economy and no jobs for their skills. Once again, the little religious group decided to move.....this time to the English colonies in the New World.
     In 1620, Edward FULLER and the others contracted two ships for the voyage to America and the Virginia Colony.....the Mayflower, a 110' long vessel that would carry about 135 passengers, and the somewhat smaller Speedwell.  On August 5th, the two ships headed into the Atlantic Ocean, but the Speedwell began to leak and had to return for repairs, leaving the Mayflower to make the voyage alone at sea.   There were about 50 crew members and Officers aboard, while there were 102 Puritans and Puritan Separatists from England and Holland. The travel was cramped and uncomfortable, with animals, weapons, and farm/building tools taking much of the space.
    After a little over two months of ocean voyage, the Mayflower anchored at what is now Provincetown harbor, Massachusetts, in November, missing Virginia entirely, and after further exploring, came to rest in a harbor where the Plymouth Colony would be settled on December 16th, 1620.  As for the myth of Plymouth Rock, there was one referenced as a town boundary many years later, but the story of landing there came over a century later.  The ship Mayflower would eventually return to England, where it was later broken up and the timbers used to build a barn in Buckinghamshire, where it still exists.  Two passengers had died on the two month long journey, but that was only the beginning of hardship at Cape Cod.  While aboard the ship in November, and realizing that they were not under the Virginia Colony rule as planned, the adult men created a written guideline of rules to be used as their government in the new colony....it would be called the Mayflower Compact, and was signed by our own Edward FULLER.  It was the first such independent declaration of its type in America.

Replica Mayflower II built to original design

      Arriving in Massachusetts in December would prove deadly. The cold winter was upon them already, and before the Spring of 1621, 45 of the 102 Pilgrims were dead from disease and diet and inadequate shelter.....including our ancestors Edward and Ann FULLER.  Their 13 year old son Samuel FULLER moved in with Dr. Samuel FULLER, his uncle skilled in medicine, and a deacon in the Church, who had also made the journey on the Mayflower.  Edward and Ann FULLER were buried nearby on what became known as Cole's Hill Burial Ground, in unmarked sandy graves, graded level so that the Indians would not know how many of the invading settlers had died.

Tomb on Cole's Hill containing bones of Pilgrims

 Young Samuel FULLER thrived in the Plymouth Colony, obtaining land at the age of 15, and is listed in the Division of Cattle in 1827 when he was 19. Samuel married Jane Lathrop at the home of James Cudworth in 1635 in the village of Scituate.  The wedding was performed by none other that the famous Captain Miles Standish of Plymouth, an English Officer, assistant Governor, Treasurer, and Commander of the Militia. Samuel and Jane settled in Scituate in 1636, later moving to Barnstable, Massachusetts.  Samuel must have longed to see his older brother Matthew FULLER, who had stayed behind in England.

Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving feast

    Our direct ancestor Matthew FULLER had married Frances in 1635 in England, and then decided to make the move to America.  He first appears in the colonies in 1640 when he is recorded in land deeds that year. In 1642 he was granted ten acres and served on a jury, and had settled in to life in Plymouth Colony with his wife and five children, and once again able to visit with his long-lost brother Samuel. In 1643 Matthew was appointed a Sergeant in the militia and served in the English-Narragansett Conflict under Captain Miles Standish. His Uncle Samuel FULLER gifted two acres of land to Matthew, and the family moved to the village of Barnstable by 1650, where he studied medicine and became a physician, most likely learning from his uncle Dr. Samuel FULLER.

Plymouth Plantation site

    In the 1650's, Matthew FULLER found himself in Court twice, and was fined on both occasions....once for publicly taking a stand in support of the unpopular Quakers, and once for "speaking reproachfully to the Court" concerning the law governing the "maintenance of ministers". Matthew continued to rise in the community, and in 1652 was appointed a Lieutenant in the Barnstable Militia, and a year later represented the village in the General Court proceedings.  On June 20, 1654, Captain Miles Standish organized a 50-man militia to fight against the Dutch near present-day Manhattan, and chose Matthew as his Lieutenant for the expedition. Peace came before the expedition was needed.  In 1658 he was elected to sit on the Council of War, and in 1671 named the Chairman of that group, and one of the Magistrates of the Colony. Also in 1671, Lieutenant Matthew FULLER  prepared the militia to go to war if necessary with the Saconet tribe, but a peace was negotiated once again.
   A man of many talents, Dr. Matthew FULLER was appointed Surgeon General of the Plymouth Colony on Dec 17, 1763, at a pay rate of 4 Shillings per day, and named Captain of the Plymouth Colony Militia in 1675, a position originally held by Captain Miles Standish.  Dr. Fuller had told the Colonel in charge that he was hesitant to take the Captain's position, as he was now in his 70's  and had become "ancient and heavy".
The first physician in Barnstable, Matthew lived in the village's northwest corner in an area called Scorton Neck, but also owned land in Middleboro and Falmouth, given to him for his service to the Plymouth Colony. On July 25, 1678, at the age of 75, Matthew FULLER wrote his Last Will and Testament....then died within the next few weeks.  In his will, he left all to his wife Frances until her death, at which time the lands and belongings would be given to the specified children. To our direct ancestors, he gave to daughter Elizabeth FULLER ROWLEY, "ten pounds in money",  and the her husband, son-in-law Moses ROWLEY, "five shillings", and to Matthew's grandaughter Sarah ROWLEY, he gave her "all my sheep" and appointed and paid Jedediah Jones to oversee them for Sarah.  Physician, Militia Officer, Magistrate......a man for the times at the beginning of America.
      Edward FULLER, who came over on the Mayflower in 1620, is the 10th Great Grandfather of Tonya Kim WILLDEN MARTINI