Thomas Fuller (1618-1698)

Thomas Fuller, our immigrant ancestor, was one of the very earliest settlers of this country, arriving about 1638 in colonial New England, before Massachusetts was even a Province, and not long after the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620. He was just one of several different Fuller families to arrive about that time, two of which were actually on the Mayflower. See here.

It appears that Thomas came from the western part of England, probably Wales as some old accounts give it, at the age of about 20. Some say he belonged to a family of high social standing in England[1] and this was to be a trip of observation, where he did not intended to stay more than a year. However he changed his plans before that limit was reached.  Some say this change of purpose was a result of a conversion to Puritanism under the eloquent preaching of Rev. Thomas Shepard, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Others suggest this was because he had become attached to a maiden who refused to return with him, back to England. So, he went alone, as this story goes, and having secured his patrimony from his father, returned to this country, married and settled in that part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony just north of Boston now called Woburn. Here he began a family and became prominent in local matters, serving often as a town officer.

"Woobourne" was one of the earliest settlements in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and for that matter in all of the new world. In fact, it was recognized by the general court of Massachusetts as the twentieth town in the colony when it began regular town organization on April 13, 1644, about the time we can first find Thomas there. He was a subscriber to the Town Orders, drawn up at Charlestown in December of 1640, was a smith by trade and had a meadow granted him in Woburn at Ragg Rock in 1648; and also 4 poles square of swamp next his smith shop. He was a Selectman in 1663 1064 and again in 1685 and a petitioner with others to the General Court 1664 for an additional grant of land to the town

As nearly as can be ascertained he left Woburn about 1665, after the death of his first wife and settled nearby in the part of Essex county known then as Salem,[2] Massachusetts, which 63 years later, 1728, was incorporated into the town of Middleton. He located on selected lands on a stream then known as Pierce's Brook, a tributary to Ipswich river, and was the second man in this early settlement. This was not far from the Harbour town of Salem where in the early 1690's, the infamous 'Salem Witch Trials' developed. It appears, however, that about 1684 he once more became a citizen of 'Woobourne,' married again and remained there till 1687 when, about the time his second wife dies, returned to the same North Salem area (Middleton). Here he married for a third time and where he remained till his death in 1698.

In this country he followed the vocation of blacksmith, probably having learned the trade from his father, and although over three hundred years have passed since he ceased from his labors, cinders from his forge are still to be found where his shop once stood.

Thomas was somehow connected with the military of that time, perhaps as part of a local colonial militia. There are records in 1656 that have him a Sergeant, and later, in 1685, he is shown as a Lieutenant.[3]

The early records of Middleton show a large number of citizens by the name of Fuller all of whom are clearly traceable to Thomas the emigrant. Very many of them held important places of trust and were always found worthy of the honor given them.