Biographical Summary
Samuel Fuller has been generally identified as the son of Robert Fuller,
baptized on 20 January 1580 at Redenhall, Norfolk. However, a
number of genealogical scholars and Mayflower researchers,
including Robert S. Wakefield, Robert Sherman, Robert Leigh Ward, Robert
C. Anderson, Eugene Stratton, Leslie Mahler, and others, have all
questioned the identification over the past couple of decades. The
current identification is based upon circumstantial evidence only: the
fact that the names Samuel, Edward, and Ann occur within the same
family; and the fact the father is identified as a butcher. Thomas
Morton, writing in 1637, says that Samuel Fuller was the son of a
butcher. The name Matthew also occurs in this Redenhall Fuller
family. The counter-evidence is primarily that the ages for the
Fullers appear to be too old, when compared to their marriage dates, the
ages of their spouses, and with the births of their children.
Samuel Fuller's 1613 Leiden marriage record indicates he had been
formerly married to Alice Glascock; nothing is known of his first wife
beyond her name. Most Alice Glascock's are found in Essex, which
would support a Fuller origin in this region. His second wife,
Agnes Carpenter, was the daughter of Alexander Carpenter, and was
baptized at Wrington, Somerset on 16 December 1593. His third
wife, Bridget Lee, was accompanied by her mother Josephine Lee at her
marriage, and also had a brother Samuel living in Leiden.
Samuel Fuller came on the Mayflower in 1620, leaving behind his
wife Bridget. She would come later, on the ship Anne in
1623. He was the Colony's doctor, and was a church deacon.
His wife Bridget may have been the church's deaconess. Samuel
Fuller spent time helping the sick at Neumkeag (now Salem), in 1629.
He himself became sick in the autumn of 1633, and died, as did a number
of other Plymouth residents.
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