{"id":61823,"date":"2020-09-23T14:01:11","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T18:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=61823"},"modified":"2026-09-03T16:14:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T20:14:56","slug":"mayflower-descendants-from-the-fuller-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/mayflower-descendants-from-the-fuller-family.html","title":{"rendered":"Mayflower Descendants from the Fuller Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants \u2013 focusing this time on the Fuller family line.\u00a0<\/em>Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a><\/em>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Fuller family that braved passage across the Atlantic on the Mayflower<\/em> in 1620 left many descendants.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: \u201cThe Mayflower Compact, 1620,\u201d a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1899. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elizabeth Needham Ballard, member of the Mayflower Society in Texas, is a direct descendant of Captain Matthew Fuller, who came to Plymouth in 1640. His father, Edward Fuller, was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact in 1620. Matthew Fuller was a noted physician and soldier, and was appointed Surgeon General of the Plymouth forces.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth shared some photos and Bible records of her kinfolk for this article, and I found some interesting newspaper articles by searching GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> for her line.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio), 23 November 1967, page 67<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article has good information about the Fuller brothers, Samuel and Edward, such as this:<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio), 23 November 1967, page 67<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And this:<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio), 23 November 1967, page 67<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Capt. Mathew Fuller\u2019s daughter Elizabeth married Moses Rowley of Barnstable, Massachusetts. This 1982 newspaper article outlined the different branches of the Rowley family, who settled in New England.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), 7 November 1982, page 160<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The family line can be traced back to Henry \u2013 first noted in the Plymouth, Massachusetts, records in 1632 \u2013 who married the widow Ann Blossom in 1633. Moses Rowley was a neighbor of Samuel Fuller. He was made Deputy of General Court and later moved to East Haddon, Connecticut.<\/p>\n

Moses\u2019 granddaughter Abigail Rowley married Micah Mudge, a Revolutionary War patriot and one of the founders of Richmond, Massachusetts. This illustration, from the Springfield Union<\/em>, shows Richmond being surveyed and reports that \u201cThe first settler in Richmond was Micah Mudge, who established a home there in 1760.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Springfield Union (Springfield, Massachusetts), 30 March 1958, page 49<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I also found this advertisement for Lee Savings Bank using the Berkshires Scrapbook archives. The ad portrays a warm family scene of protection and security using an image of Micah and Abigail Mudge with daughter Elizabeth, the first white child born in Richmond.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), 10 February 1954. Credit: The Berkshire Eagle; New England Newspaper Corp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Charlotte, second daughter born to Micah and Abigail, married Daniel Thurston, a Revolutionary War patriot. Daughter Elisabeth \u201cBetsy\u201d Thurston married George Washington Croshaw, who descends from the Stockton family of New Jersey.<\/p>\n

A son Doughty Stockton Croshaw, Civil War Union soldier and publisher\/editor of the conservative newspaper the Independent<\/em> in Batavia, Ohio, married Ellen Marie Fairman. Their daughter Ida J. Croshaw married Charles M. Needham.<\/p>\n

\"Montage:<\/a>
Montage: Charles Marion Needham and Ida Jane Croshaw (1855-1917); family Bible recording birth of Charles Needham on 15 September 1855. Credit: Elizabeth Needham Ballard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The couple moved to Indiana and purchased a 10,000-acre farm known as Needham House Farm. For many years they were the leading horse breeder and harness supplier in the area.<\/p>\n

Just recently, Needham House Farm (1887) was listed on the historic register and honored with the Hoosier Homestead Award at the State Fair organized by Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch this past August.<\/p>\n

\"Montage:<\/a>
Montage: Needham House Farm. Credit: Elizabeth Needham Ballard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elizabeth Needham Ballard says:<\/p>\n

\u201cI love researching this family; it has led me to kings and queens, Jamestown, the Mayflower<\/em>, and New Amsterdam, New York. I have found royalty, Huguenots, presidents, senators, governors, poets, witches, clergy, Quakers, soldiers in the Colonial Wars, the French and Indian War, signers of the Declaration of Independence, soldiers in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, WWI and WWII. The family is full of clergy, farmers, scholars, horse breeders, manufacturers of farming and horse equipment, a newspaper owner and editor, world travelers and adventurers. My father and I traveled the world researching the family; I feel their loves, hopes and desires in me, as I speak their names they live on forever, never to be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some famous descendants of Edward Fuller are Mormon church founder Joseph Smith, artist Georgia O\u2019Keeffe, Amelia Earhart, actor Don Knott and radio\/tv host Dick Clark.<\/p>\n

Create a free account<\/a> at GenealogyBank for 7 days to start your journey and discover the stories your ancestors left behind.<\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/strong><\/em> \u201cMayflower in Plymouth Harbor,\u201d by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n

Further Reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n