Mayflower Ancestors
INTRODUCTION TO THE LATHROP FULLER HISTORY
Cousin Earl J. Judd provided the history in this section on John Lathrop written in January 1978. Cousin Laura Lewis McBride provided the history on Samuel and Edward Fuller.
John Lathrop was a very educated man in the late 1500’s in England where he suffered much because he would not deny his beliefs. Eventually, he was given a one-way ticket to America with his motherless children. Many famous leaders in the country and church descended from John Lathrop.
The history of the Mayflower and their trials is provided because our ancestors, Edward Fuller and his dear wife, and their son, Samuel, were on the Mayflower. Edward Fuller signed the Mayflower Compact. Samuel’s parents died before the next spring and left him an orphan Later, he married Jane Lathrop, daughter of John and Hannah Lathrop.
This is some of the most amazing and faith-promoting history in this book. It takes us back to early persecutions in England. It follows the faith of those who boarded the Mayflower to avoid religious persecution, until our ancestors, Samuel Fuller and Jane Lathrop Fuller, finally marry and provide us with some of the greatest heritage anyone could ask for.
REVEREND JOHN LATHROP
1584 – November 8, 1653 Defender of the Faith
This is the story of Reverend John Lathrop who married Hannah House, parents of Jane who married Samuel Fuller, our direct ancestor. Samuel was a small boy when he came to America on the Mayflower with his parents, Edward and Anne.
The more I read and understand the problems of our Puritan forefathers, the more genuine pride I have for them and appreciation for their sacrifices and as Americans we are able to enjoy today. These people left established homes and old friends to move to a foreign country and face the many unknowns to be able to have religious freedom.
One of these fathers who suffered and triumphed in the cause of religious freedom was John Lathrop. He has many descendants in our nation and in the Church. One person being Lucy Mack, mother of Joseph Smith, Ulysses S. Grant, Oliver Cowdery, Wilford Woodruff, and many other prominent leaders and latter-day prophets. Mr. Lathrop was well represented among the pioneers who came to Utah.
“The importance of this large and widely scattered family,” writes one commentator, “has not been exaggerated, and if there had never been any Lathrops in America we may safely conclude that considerable important history now well known would have been
wanting today.”
John Lathrop (or Lothrop) as a youth attended the universities of Oxford and Cambridge attaining the M.A. degree at Cambridge in 1609. The next year he married a clergyman’s daughter and became a parish minister of the Established Church of England. Years went by and his family grew. He seemed to be succeeding in every way in his calling but his mind was troubled. He found that he could not conscientiously accept all the teachings of his church.
Finally, John resigned his pastorate and in 1624 became the leader of a small group of worshipers who met as an independent church in London. He was greatly esteemed and beloved by his little flock. Any form of worship differing from the established form was illegal in that day in England, and the authorities were determined to root it out. Mr. Lathrop’s little congregation were compelled to meet in secrecy, and always in fear of interruption. In 1632 an agent of Laud, bishop of Landon, made a raid on the congregation, and John Lathrop and forty-one members of his flock were seized and imprisoned. Among those seized were Samuel and Penninah Howers, brother and sister of his wife. The group was severely cross-examined, and kept in jail nearly two years when all were released except for John Lathrop, “for whom no favour could be obtained.”
During these months a fatal sickness was preying upon his wife at home, and she was near death. The touching story is told thus in the quaint language of Nathaniel Morton, in 1669. “His wife fell sick, of which sickness she died. He procured liberty of the bishop to visit his wife before her death, and commended her to God by prayer, who soon gave up the ghost. At his return to prison, his poor children, being many, repaired to the bishop of Lambeth, and made known unto him their miserable condition, by reason of their good father’s being continued in close durance, who commiserated their condition so far as to grant him liberty.”
Immediately, after a series of court orders which forced him to leave the country, John assembled his family of children together (one source said many sons) and set sail for America and came to New England in 1634. He and his family were welcomed to the new land.
John Lathrop and his followers were held by the people to be martyrs in the cause of Independence. No persecutions, no severity that their enemies could inflict, caused his or one of his followers to waiver. They submitted without a murmur to loss of property, to imprisonment in loathsome jails, and to be separated for two years from their families and friends, rather than subscribe to the forms of worship that Charles and his bigoted prelates endeavored to force on their consciences.
Another article about this great man reads: “Mr. Lathrop fearlessly proclaimed in Old and in New England the great truth that man is not responsible to his fellow man in matters of faith and conscience. Difference of opinion he tolerated. During his fourteen years that he was pastor of the Barnstable
Church, such was his influence over the people that the power of the civil magistrate was not needed to restrain crime. No pastor was ever more beloved by his people, none never had a greater influence for good.” To become a member of his church, no applicant was compelled to sign a creed or confession of faith. He retained his freedom. He professed his faith in God, and promised that it should be his constant endeavor to keep his commandments, to live a pure life, and to walk in love with the brethren.
The Reverend John Lathrop, the first pastor in the first, north, or lower society, arrived in Scituate in 1634. He removed with the greater part of his church in 1639, and settled in Barnstable.
The town of Scituate appears to have been settled as early as 1633 or 1634. It is supposed the town derives its name from the Indian word Seteast or Satuit, a word which signifies Cold Brook, and applied to a stream in this place. Scituate soon became a respectable town, early taking the lead in rates and levies of men, because of the character of the men who were its founders, most of them coming from Kent, England. Mr. Timothy Hatherly was the principal founder and father of this town. Of the thirty-eight men listed as special colonizers, Mr. John Lathrop, and Samuel Fuller were listed. This Samuel Fuller is the one who married Jane, daughter of John.
In Barnstable Church register, Rev. John Lathrop makes an entry in his own handwriting: My Sonn Fuller joyned haveing letters dissmissive from the church att Plimoth unto us.
Novemb. 7, 1635
“Marryed- My Sonn Fuller and my Daughter Jane ..Marrd att Mr Cudworths by Captaine Standige (i.e, Miles Standish) April 8 ye 4th day of the weeke.” (From certified copy in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 9280, 286) Samuel Fuller
died at Barnstable Massachuetts, Oct, 31, 1683.
In a Sunday School lesson book “Saviors on Mount Zion copyright 1950, written by Archibald F. Bennett, Brother Bennett writes that he was instrumental in tracing the ancestry of Lucy Mack through her mother back to these Mayflower passengers and to Rev John Lathrop and Hannah House. When the records were complete the Smith family members promptly attended to the temple ordinances for all progenitors then known of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I had been told that all the sealings were completed, and the Prophet was sealed with all these foreparents. Later, Brother Bennett accompanied by BishopSeth Christenson went to Cardston, Alberta, on a convention. On July 16, 1930 we attended a session in the Alberta Temple. I received the endowment blessings that day in behalf of my 7th great grandfather, Henry Rowley, a member of Pastor Lathrop’s congregation, Just as I was about to leave the Temple, President Edward J. Wood sent a messenger to request me to return to the sealing room. I did so, President Wood said, “Brother Bennett, I don’t know just why I want you here, but I feel that you should be here to witness these sealings” I said I would gladly take part. “We are performing sealings for the ancestors of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” he explained, and then to the group of participants, “Who knows but what Brother Bennett may have had some part in tracing the connections with these very people?” The first names he read to be sealed for eternity were those of Rev. John Lathrop and his wife, Hannah House. Then I knew why he had been impelled to send for me. This was their way of showing appreciation for being “found”, The last couple sealed were Samuel Fuller, the boy who came to America on the Mayflower, and whose parents died soon after, and his wife Jane Lathrop, daughter of John and Hannah.
John Lathrop died in Barnstable, November 8, 1653, age 69, leaving a large family of sons and daughters, who in turn, founded families of their own, whose descendants are dispersed throughout America.
by Earl J. Judd, January 1978
EDWARD FULLER SAMUEL FULLER
Pilgrim Ancestors, Mayflower
This is a brief story of Edward and Samuel Fuller. Edward is the fourth great-grandfather of Lisania Fuller, who married Hyrum Judd, Grandma Jennie Whitmer’s grandfather. It is taken from Historical collections, History and Antiquities of Every town in Massachusetts, by John Warner Barber, Published 1839. Judd library.
Massachusetts, the oldest of the New England states, and the first in population and resources, was first permanently settled by Europeans at Plymouth, on the 22nd of December, 1620. There is good reason to believe that the first civilized people who visited the territory now comprised within the limits of the state, were the Norwegians, who emigrated from Iceland, and formed a settlement on the coast of Greenland in 985 A.D. From this place, in 1000 A.D., a ship with a crew of thirty-five men, proceeded southward on a voyage of discovery. From the account of their voyage, which is still preserved, it appears highly probably that they sailed as far south as Narragansett Bay, near the head of which it is supposed they passed the winter. It also appears that after this period they made other voyages along the coast, and even attempted settlements, of the fate which we have no information.
About the period of the commencement of the seventeenth century, the English sovereignsm maintained a despotic power over the consciences of their subjects. All who dissented from the national creed established by law were persecuted with great rigor. The avowed maxim in that age, adopted by religious as well as political rulers, was, that uniformity in religion was essential to the peace of society; and that it was therefore the right and duty of every sovereign to maintain it in his dominions, by the force of law and punishment.
In 1602, a number of religious people in the north of England, called Puritans, (so called from their efforts to preserve purity in divine worship.) were so persecuted on account of their religious sentiments, that they were compelled to take measures to find refuge in a foreign land. A little band of these brethren entered into a solemn covenant with each other to walk with God and one another, in the enjoyment of the ordinances of God, according to the primitive pattern,”whatever it might cost them.” A number of ministers entered into this association, among whom was Mr. Robinson, a man of eminent piety and learning. Mr. Robinson, and as many of his congregation as found it in their power, left England in the years 1607 and 1608, settled in Amsterdam, in Holland, from whence, in 1609, they removed to Leyden. Here they lived in great friendship among themselves and their neighbors, until they removed to England. As early as 1617, Mr. Robinson’s people meditated a removal to America. The reasons of their removal were, to preserve the morals of their youth, which were in danger of being corrupted by the dissolute manners of their neighbors, the Dutch; the desire of perpetuating a church which they believed to be constituted after the simple and pure model of the primitive church of Christ; and a zeal to propagate the Gospel in the regions of the new world.
These reasons having been duly considered by the church, after seeking divine direction by humiliation and prayer, they agreed to come over to America, and settle in a distinct body, under the general government of Virginia. They also agreed that their pastor, Mr. Robinson, should remain with the greater part of the church, whether they chose to remain at Leyden, or to come over to America. In 1617 they sent Mr. Robert Cushman and Mr. John Carver to England, to treat with the Virginia Company, and ascertain whether the kind would grant them liberty of conscience, if they removed to their territory. The Virginia Company were very desirous to have them settle within the limits of their patent; the kind, however would grant no public recognition of religious liberty, but promised that if they behaved peaceably he would not molest them on account of their religious sentiments.
In February 1619, Mr. Cushman and Mr. Bradford were sent to England, where, after a long attendance, they obtained of the Virginia Company a patent of the northern parts of Virginia. This patent was taken out in the name of John Wincob, a religious gentleman in the family of the Countess of Lincoln, who intended to accompany them, but was providentially detained. This patent therefore was never used, but carried, however, to Leyden, with proposals from Mr. Weston, and several other respectable merchants and friends, for their consideration, with a request that immediate
preparations should be made for their voyage.
After a day of solemn prayer, in accordance with their custom previous to their engaging in important concerns, the congregation of Mr. Robinson concluded to removed to America. As it was not convenient for all of therm to go at once, it was agreed that part of their number should go, and make preparation for the rest. After due consultation, it was determined that Mr. Robinson and the greater part of t the congregation should remain at Leyden. The other part, with Mr. Brewster for their elder and teacher, agreed to be the first adventurers. A small ship of about sixty tons, called the Speedwell, was now purchased and fitted out in Holland; another of about one hundred and eighty tons, called the Mayflower, was hired at London.
“All other matters being prepared, a large concourse of friends from Amsterdam and Leyden, accompanied the adventurers to the ship, which lay at Delft Haven; and the night preceding their embarkation was spent in tearful prayers, and in the most tender and friendly intercourse. The next day fair wind invited their departure. The parting scene is more easily felt than described. Their mutual good wishes, their affectionate and cordial embraces, and other endearing expressions of Christian love and friendship, drew tears even from the strangers who beheld the scene. When the time arrived that they must part, they all, with their beloved pastor fell on their knees, and with eyes and hands, and hearts lifted to heaven, fervently commended their adventuring brethren to the Lord and his blessings. Thus, after mutual embraces, accompanied with many tears, they bid a long, and many of them a last, farewell.”
Having a fair wind, they arrived at Southampton about the 2nd of July, and found that the Mayflower had arrived at that place from London, and immediate preparations were made for embarkation. They divided themselves into two companies, one for each ship, and with the approbation of the captains, each company chose a governor, and two or three assistants, to preserve order and distribute provisions. They sailed from Southampton on the 5th of August. They had not proceeded far, before the smallest ship proved so leaky, that they were obliged to return and refit. On the 21st of August, they sailed again, and proceeded about one hundred leagues, when they were obliged to return again, when the smaller ship was left behind as unfit for service. Leaving a part of the company which had embarked in the smaller vessel, the remainder went on board the Mayflower.
On the 6th of September, they set sail from Plymouth. After a boisterous passage, they arrived at Cape Cod on the 9th of November, and the next day they anchored in the harbor which is formed by the hook of the cape. This, however, was not the place of their destination; neither was it within the limits of their patent. It was their intention to have been landed at the mouth of the Hudson River, but it appears the Dutch, intending to plant a colony there of their own, secretly hired the master of the ship to contrive delays in England, and then to conduct them to these northern coasts, and there, under the pretense of shoals and winter, to discourage them in venturing to the place of their destination.
Finding that they were not within the limits of their patent, and consequently not under the jurisdiction of the Virginia Company, they concluded it necessary to establish a separate government for themselves. Accordingly, before landing, having devoutly given thanks to the Almighty for their safe arrival, they formed themselves into a body politic by a Solemn Contract, to which they all subscribed, and Mr. John Carver was unanimously chosen their governor for the first year. The following is a copy of this contract, with the names of the signers, the number in their families, etc.
“In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord
King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, etc, having undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these present, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws and ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony, unto which we promise all due subjection and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names, at Cape Cod, the 11th day of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign Lord King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth Anno Domini 1620.”
This brief and comprehensive, and simple instrument established a most important principle a principle which is the foundation of all the democratic institutions of America, and is the basis of the republic; and, however it may be expanded and complicated in our various constitutions however unequally power may be distinguished in the different branches of our various governments, has imparted to each its strongest and most striking characteristic. Many philosophers have since appeared, who have, unlabored treatises, endeavored to prove the doctrine, that the rights of man are inalienable, and nations have bled to defend and enforce them yet in this dark age, the age of despotism and superstition, when no tongue dared to assert, and no pen to write, this bold and novel doctrine, which was then as much at defiance with common opinion as with actual power, of which the monarch was then held to be the sole fountain, and the theory was universal, that all popular rights were granted by the crown, –in this remote wilderness, amongst a small and unknown band of wandering outcasts, the principle THAT THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE SHALL GOVERN, was first conceived, and was first primally exemplified.
The pilgrims, from their notions of primitive Christianity, the force of circumstances, and pure moral feeling which is the offspring of true religion, discovered a truth in the science of government which had been concealed for ages. On the bleak shore of a barren wilderness, in the midst of desolation, with the blast of winter howling around them, and surrounded with dangers in their most awful and appalling forms, the pilgrims of Leyden laid the foundation of American liberty.
Government being thus established, their next object was to find a convenient place for a settlement. On the same day sixteen men, well armed, with a few others, we went on shore to fetch wood and make discoverics. They returned at night without having found any person or habitation. On the 15th of November Miles Standish and sixteen armed men, in searching for a place for settlement, saw five or six Indians, whom they followed for several miles, until night, but, not overtaking them, were obliged to lodge in the woods. The next day they discovered heaps, one of which they dug open; but finding within implements of war, they concluded these were Indian graves in different heaps of sand they also found baskets of corn, a quantity of which they took away, to the amount of about ten bushels. This was a fortunate discovery it gave them seed for a future harvest, and probably saved the infant colony from famine. They made diligent inquiry for the owners of the corn, whom they found, and afterwards paid therm to their entire satisfaction. Before the end of November, Peregrine White, the son of William and Susan White was born, being the first child of European parents born in New England.
On the sixth of December, the shallop was sent out with several of the principle men, Carver, Bradford, Winslow, Standish, and others and eight or ten scamen, to sail around the bay in search of a place for a settlement. The next day the company divided; and some traveled on the shore,whilst whilst the others coasted in the shallop. On the morning of the eighth, those on the shore were surprised by a party of Indians, who shot their arrows at them; they, however, instantly fled upon the discharge of the muskets of the English. On the night of the ninth, being Saturday, they reached a small island (since called Clark’s Island). They reposed themselves, and on the next day on this spot they kept the Christian Sabbath. The day following December 1th, they sounded the harbor and found it it for shipping.” A part of their number landed and went some distance into the country. They also examined the land near the shore, and found it had been planted with Indian corn two or three years before. A beautiful brook was near, and a number of springs of pure water; and judging this to be a good place for a settlement, they returned with the welcome intelligence to the ship.
This day has since been considered as the day on which the Pilgrim Fathers landed on the rock of Plymouth. The day which has been annually celebrated in commemoration of this momentous event, it being the twenty-second of December. On Saturday the 23rd, they began to cut timber and provide materials for the building. This gave them employment, when the weather permitted, until about the 19th of February. The whole company, consisting of one hundred and one souls, were divided into nineteen families, who built their own house, and also contributed to a central storehouse, twenty feet square. During the month of December, six of their number died, and many others sickened of grievous colds, of which they never recovered. On the Lord’s day, December 31st, they attended public worship for the first time on shore, and named the place Plymouth, partly because of the harbor was so named by Capt. Smith, who visited this coast in 1614, and partly from gratitude for the kind treatment they received from Christian friends at Plymouth, the last port in England which they had left.
In January the common storehouse took fire from a spark they fell on its thatched roof, and was entirely consumed, but providentially, by the timely exertions of the people, the contents of the building, so necessary for their support, were preserved. On the 17th of February they met for settling military orders, and Miles Standish was chosen their captain. By March, 1621, fifty-five only survived of the one hundred and one who came in the Mayflower. The first marriage in the colony was solemnized on May 12th, 1621, between Mr. Edward Winslow and Mrs. Susanna White. The first duel in New England was fought on the 18th of June, between two servants both of whom were wounded. For this disgraceful offence, they were formally tried before the whole company, and sentenced to have “their heads and feet tied together, and so to be twenty-four hours without meat or drink.” Because of the painfulness of their situation, and upon promise of better behavior in the future, they were soon released by the governor.
The colonists planted twenty acres of corn, of which they had a good crop. They were unsuccessful in their first trial with English grain, by reason as is supposed, of the lateness of the season, and bad quality of the seen. Governor Carver was taken sick on the fifth of April, while engaged in planting of corn, and died in a few days. His death was greatly lamented, as he was a man of great piety, humility, and benevolence. He possessed a considerable estate, the greater part of which he expended for the good of the colony. Soon after his death, Mr. William Bradford was chosen governor, and by renewed elections continued in office for several years. The following many years were full of trials and tribulations for the pilgrims in their new land.
Massachusetts was the name for an Indian tribe who lived around the vicinity of Massachusetts Bay. The word according to Roger Williams, signifies in the Indian language, Blue Hills.