Fuller: Some New Hampshire Jamesons

Fuller - The surname Fuller is considered to be of medieval English origin. It is an occupational name and comes from the wool trade. The raw cloth had to be "fulled" and the work of the fuller was to scour and thicken the raw cloth by beating and trampling it in water before it could be made into clothing. This surname is found mostly in East Anglia and southeast England.

Because of the nature of the surname Fuller, many families using this surname are not necessarily related. The Fuller family connected with the Jamesons is just one of these families and the records on this website reflect only some of that Fuller family - all descendants of Thomas Fuller, who came here in 1638 and settled in Woburn, then later Salem, in Massachusetts, just north of what is now the Boston area.

Because there were several Fuller families who came to very early America our Fuller family is often confused with others. We know there were at least five separate sets of Fuller families who came from England, almost all settling near each other, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony of very early colonial New England. Two were on the Mayflower and seven on various other ships soon after, all by 1640. They were:

• Dr. Samuel, and his brother, Edward, on the Mayflower, who came in 1620 and settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts

• John, in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and William, in Hampton, New Hampshire, who came in 1634

• Thomas, in Dedham, and John in Newton, Massachusetts, who came in 1635

• Robert, of Salem, and Thomas of Woburn, Massachusetts, who came in 1638

• Robert, in Dorchestor, later in Dedham, Massachusetts, who came in 1640

Although we don't know for sure, it is quite probable that these various immigrant Fullers were somehow related in England.

Descendants of our Fuller family soon multiplied. In fact, early records of Middleton, and the surrounding area in Massachusetts, show a large number of citizens by the name of Fuller, all of whom are clearly traceable to Thomas our immigrant. Very many of them held important places of trust and were always found worthy of the honor given them. Beyond that, the Fuller name is now well established in America and Canada, so many of those are descended from our Thomas Fuller and these other, relatively few, early Fuller immigrants.

The Fuller genealogy, histories and other records on this website is an attempt to deal only with our Fuller ancestor Thomas, and some of his descendants, but only those connected with the Jameson family and is not intended as a thorough examination of this Thomas or any other Fuller family.

Related information here.

[1]	"A Brief Sketch of Thomas Fuller and His Descendants" - by Jesse Franklin Fuller. Appleton, WI - Crescent Printing House, 1896.
[2]	"Genealogy of Some Descendants of Thomas Fuller of Woburn" Vol IV - by William Hyslop Fuller - 1919