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Two Brothers & Two Sisters
Among the 102 passengers sailing aboard the Mayflower in 1620 were two brothers – Edward Fuller and his younger brother Samuel Fuller. Edward had with him his wife and youngest son, also named Samuel. An older son, Matthew, had stayed behind and would come to New England on a later vessel. The brothers were originally from Redenhall, Norfolk, England, sons of a butcher, and were among the religious Separatists who were on their way to a new life in the New World. During the harsh first winter in the Plymouth Plantation (“the Starving Time” according to Governor Bradford), Edward Fuller and his wife both died, leaving young Samuel, about age 12, in the care of his uncle.
Uncle Samuel Fuller became the Colony’s physician, and a church deacon. His wife, Bridget, had stayed behind in England, and joined her husband in 1623, arriving aboard the ship Anne. They were later to have two children of their own, Samuel and Mercy. It was at this time (1623) that young orphaned Samuel, coming of age, received three acres in his own name, one for himself, and one each, it is thought, for his father and mother as well.
Plymouth Plantation
Dr. 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. Upon his death, his nephew Samuel inherited from his uncle “my Russlet Cloake & my stuffe sute I now weare.” SAMUEL, now age 25, was admitted as a ‘freeman’ of Plymouth, and took his half of the cattle and swine and resettled in the near town of Scituate, marrying Jane Lathrop, daughter of the Rev. John Lathrop of that town, “at Mr. Cudworth’s house, by Capt. Miles Standish” the following year. In 1636, he built the fifteenth house in Scituate, on Greenfield Street. He served as constable, and as a juryman, or on the committee to settle difficulties with the Indians. He and wife Jane would raise their family initially at Scituate, before moving sometime around 1650 to the plantation at Barnstable. He would live out the next forty years of his life in Barnstable. He was one of the last survivors of the Mayflower company, dying in the late fall of 1683.
Samuel Fuller’s youngest son was JOHN (b.1656- d.1726), living on his father’s estate in Barnstable until 1694, when he moved to the settlement of East Haddam, in the Colony of Connecticut, with his wife, Mehitable Rowley. He seems to have prospered, as he conveyed to each of his seven sons ample lands and farming implements.
Our Mayflower lineage continued through John’s youngest son BENJAMIN (b.1701- d.1740), who married Content Fuller in 1722, and raised 10 children. By now the Old Plymouth colony had merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Rhode Island had separated from the Connecticut Colony, and the New England lands were quickly becoming settled. In 1738, the Colony of Connecticut bought up the “wilderness” of its western portion in the Ousotonic (now Housatonic) River valley from the Indian tribe claiming title, and began surveying for settlements.
Fuller Family Tree
Mayflower Descendants
Litchfield Hills of Connecticut in Springtime
In the spring of 1739, Benjamin Fuller bought into the original division of lots in the town of Sharon surrounded by the beautiful Litchfield hills, and moved his family to join the new settlement there in the Housatonic Valley. (He was among the first of the new settlers to die, and was most likely buried in the new Sharon “Beuring Place”, but the early grave markers haven’t survived.) That same spring a baby girl, Parthena, was born in the newly organized town, to settlers John and Lois Hubbard. She would grow up to marry Benjamin and Content Fuller’s youngest son, BENJAMIN (b.1734- d.1790), and they too would raise their family in Sharon, four sons and three daughters.
In 1779, Benjamin and Parthena’s middle son, JOHN (b.1764- d.1841), was drafted from Sharon, at age 15, into the Continental Army in the revolt against British sovereignty. As we know, the Colonies became States, and on October 14, 1796 John Fuller was awarded the Commission of Captain “of the sixth Company in the 35th Regiment of Militia in this State--” (this document, signed by Oliver Wolcott, Governor and Commander in Chief of Connecticut, was donated in 2011 to the Sharon Historical Society, Sharon, CT, by Fuller/Chaffee descendants), and he was thereafter known as Captain John Fuller. Sometime near or before his commission date he had married Mercy Lucinda Sackett, and exactly one year later, living in Sharon, CT, he and Mercy had a son, whom they named Cyrus Sackett Fuller (b.1797- d.1867).
CYRUS married, in 1823, a neighbor girl, Harriet Skiff (b.1799 -d. March 26, 1884) and they had two daughters, Amanda Fuller (b.1825) and Adelia Fuller (b.1841). These two sisters grew up in Sharon and married two handsome brothers by the name of Chaffee, from a small village in the hills nearby, called Ellsworth.
Portion of a letter from Giles Skiff, Ellsworth, to a Mr. L. Van Alstyne, Sharon, 1913: "When settlers first came to the southern hills of Sharon, it was a forest, where wild turkey, deer and bear were numerous, and where the path of the Indians was easy to follow. The sturdy pioneers made wide clearings, log houses were hastily erected and homes quickly established. Then the little red school-house had its valued place, old time religion was respected, and the blessings that follow industry, thrift and integrity were enjoyed. Population increased, society formed with the name "Ellsworth," splashed upon it."
While at The Same Time...
As the “Great Immigration” to the New World was underway, in the summer of 1635 the Plantation of ‘Bare Cove’ (so named because the shore was bare at low tide) was the twelfth town incorporated in the Massachusetts Bay Colony after being deeded land by Chickatabut, Chief Sachem of the Massachusets Indians. In September of 1635 the town lots were drawn, and the Rev. Peter Hobart arrived with a ship full of followers from Hingham, England. The plantation’s name was soon changed to Hingham.
Also in 1635, a certain ‘Thomas Chaffe’ shows up in the record of land-holders in Hingham, and by 1637, he is recorded as having been granted “…for a planting lott seven acres of land upon the worlds end hill bounded with the sea eastward and southward….” He is also granted “…all the salt marsh on the south side of straits pond for two acres…” and for a house lot “…two acres of land butting upon Batchellor street…” as well as “…tenn acres of land laying upon the great playne….butting upon the high ways eastward and westward.” It is suggested that this small amount of land, plus a home on Bachelor Street, indicates that he was likely at the time unmarried.
THOMAS Chaffe seems to have made a successful livelihood farming and fishing, and also appears to have been a chap looking for new opportunities, as he moved around a lot, perhaps prospering by following the westward migration. By 1642 he had moved to the near town of Nantasket (now called Hull) and married a young woman probably named Dorothy (according to one genealogy site, Thomas’ wife was named Dorothea Thomas, born~1620 in England, and married in 1638 in Nantasket/Hull.) There he had two sons, Nathaniel and Joseph. From Hull, he moved his family westward to the town of Rehoboth, then on to Swansea (so named as Sea-of-Swans), and finally was among the first proprietors to draw lots (Thomas Chaffe drew the twelfth lot) in the newly formed settlement just across the Barrington River on the west bank, on land that was later transferred to the Rhode Island Colony. The Swansea area was the hotspot during King Philips War, or the First Indian War of 1675-78, and “Chaffe’s Garrison”, a stone building near his home, was doubtless the refuge of Thomas and his neighbors. There he died in 1683 and was buried on his own farm, in what is now referred to as the ancient Chaffee Burying Ground, though no stone remains.
Thomas’ younger son, JOSEPH Chafy (b.~1640- d.1694), married a young lady of Swansea, Annis Martin, in 1670. The Martins were a prominent and prosperous family in town, and Joseph seemed to fit right in. He became prominent as well, becoming a surveyor of highways, a constable, and a fence (boundary) viewer. Joseph and Annis had seven daughters and two sons, John and Joseph, and lived out their lives at the family farm in Swansea/Barrington, where they were both buried in the old burying ground, no memorial markers remain.
It was just months before their son John’s 21st birthday, in 1694, that father Joseph died. Living with his widowed mother, JOHN Chaffe (b.1673- d.1757) soon became very involved in town activities and government, and in the summer of 1700 married Sarah Hills. He and Sarah had five sons, Joel being the second born. In 1711 John was part of a group of residents on the western bank to petition the Governor to create a new town from that western portion of Swansea. The matter seems to have arisen from the fact that the meetinghouse was such a distance from the dwellers in the western part that it was little convenience to them, though they were forced to pay tithes and support for it. There seemed to be no other way than to form a new town and a new meetinghouse. The petition was initially denied, and it took six years and three petitions before the new town of Barrington was signed into existence in 1717.
Sometime in the fall or winter of 1729-30, John joined the movement westward, to Woodstock, Connecticut (then still part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony), where a few years later he lost the wife of his youth, and soon married again. Before long he also lost his son Hezekiah (age 26) and his son Joel (age 43), who had also moved with his family to Woodstock. He lived out the remainder of his life in Woodstock with his three surviving sons and grandchildren.
JOEL Chaffe (b.1702- d.1745) was a cordwainer (fine leather shoemaker), married Elizabeth Bicknell (Bignall) and together they lived in Rehoboth before joining his father in the move to Woodstock. At his untimely death, he left his widow with eight children, aged 15 years to 15 months.
Joel’s eldest son, JOSHUA (b.~1733- d.1789), was thirteen years old when his father died. In 1755, at age 22, he married a young lady from the western part of the Colony, from the town of Sharon, named Mary St. John. Joshua and Mary settled down in Sharon near her parents, she being their only child. Joshua received from her father, Matthew St. John, altogether 25 acres of land in Sharon, and took up farming. In 1760, Joshua bought land in nearby Ellsworth, and moved his young family there, building a home, fields and apple orchard along the South Ellsworth turnpike. The stonewalls and old cellar hole are still visible. He and Mary had 10 children, three sons and seven daughters, and are both buried in Ellsworth cemetery, where the epitaph on their headstone reads “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Joshua’s youngest son, also named Joshua, was referred to as Joshua Bignall to distinguish him from his father. He was a farmer in Ellsworth, and according to Wm. Chaffee’s 1909 Genealogy, had a “dark complexion, black eyes, and was five feet, eight inches in height.” JOSHUA Bignall (b.1781- d.1832) married Anna Seymour, daughter of Deacon Amos Seymour of Ellsworth. Together they had two children, Elmore and Jerome. Anna died while her children were very young, and Joshua B. married again the following year, Hannah Birdsey; together they had a third son, Eben Whitney.
Original Chaffee Lot and Homestead in Ellsworth, CT
[a note: Our ancestor Joshua Bignall inherited lands on the west side of the road from his father, Joshua, (now called "Pearson's Corner") while his older brother, Joel Israel, inherited the original homestead farm in Ellsworth along the east side, and in turn passed it along to his youngest son, Joel St. John. Joel St. John in turn passed it on to his only son, named also Joshua Bignall Chaffee. This Joshua B., with his wife Betsey, lived on the family farm until they sold the land in 1877 to a relative, Charles Everett, and Josh and Betsey moved across the street into the dwelling house of his younger first cousin once removed, Eben Whitney Chaffee, where he was always called “Uncle Josh”.]
Thomas Chaffe Descendants
EBEN Whitney Chaffee (b.1824- d.1892) was a stockily built man of medium height with dark eyes and a very dark complexion. He grew up in the little town of Ellsworth, and learned the value of hard work on the family farm. In 1844, at age 20, he married Amanda Fuller of Sharon, and 10 months later his first daughter, Alice Rebecca was born. Little Alice lived only three years, and was buried in 1848 in the Ellsworth cemetery. The following year another daughter was born, Florence Adele. Florence grew up to marry John Horace Reed, son of the prominent Newton Reed family of Amenia, NY, just across the Housatonic River from Sharon.
Eben grew into a prominent man in the towns of Ellsworth and Sharon, eventually becoming Justice of the Peace, town selectman, town magistrate, land surveyor, and distinguished churchman. When he was just past age 40, in 1865, he and Amanda had a son, whom they named Herbert Fuller Chaffee. Soon after that time, Eben’s older brother Jerome married his second wife, taking Amanda’s younger sister Adelia as his new bride. She was always referred to as “Aunt Deed” by young Herbert and Herbert's nephew, Walter Russell Reed. Thus, the two Chaffee brothers married two Fuller sisters, and the western American migration continued.
Eben was a well-respected and forward-looking man of the town, and when he and many associates learned, in the mid 1870s, that their promising investment in the new Northern Pacific Railroad was in jeopardy due to pending bankruptcy of the railroad because of its over extended bonds, E.W.Chaffee led the way in forming a company to protect their assets. The story of the Amenia and Sharon Land Company and the pioneering of Dakota is for the next chapter.
CHAPTERS OF OUR STORY
Chapter 2: From the Mayflower to the Ousatonic
Chapter 3: From the Hills to the Plains
Chapter 4: E.W.C. and the A&S Land Company
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