Fuller, George

(submitted by Marion Fuller and Linda Koolen)

George Fuller Sr. (1781–1868) was born in County Cork, Ireland, where the Fuller family followed the occupation of textile milling and did the “fulling” of cloth. Fulling was the shrinking and felting of the cloth. This is the origin of the Fuller name. In the 1780s the weaving industry was one of the largest export industries in Ireland. However, there was general unrest in the country and finally, with the burning of their mills, George Sr. decided to immigrate to Canada in 1828. He located for short periods in Quebec and parts of Ontario before settling in Warwick Twp. on Lot 26, Con. 2 SER. At that time Warwick Twp. was part of Kent County.

George Sr. was married to Ann Thomson. Two sons, William (1812–1881) and George Jr. (1819–1886), settled in Warwick Twp. with him.

Fuller home before 1930, Lot 26, Con. 2 SER. Courtesy F Fuller.

George Fuller Jr., younger son of George Sr. and Ann Fuller, came to Canada at the age of nine. He also farmed in Warwick Twp. In 1845 George Jr. married Elizabeth Lucas (1827–1917), the daughter of Andrew Lucas, a native of Ireland who lived in Brooke Twp. They had thirteen children: Ann (1846–) who married William Kersey; William (1847–) who married Mary Elizabeth Levally; Jane (1849–1850); John L. (1851–) who married Eliza Smith; George L. (1853–1854); Catharine (1854–) who married James Hume; George Wesley (1856–1871); Mary Jane (1858–) who married William Sitlington; Elizabeth (1860–) who married Charles Barnes; Thomas Henry (1863–1945) who married Nellie (Ellen) Hagle and farmed in Warwick Twp. on the home farm; James Wesley (1865–1866); Maria (Millie, 1867–) who married Frank Lambe; and James Wesley (1870–1961) who married Margaret Holmes.

Franklin Fuller tells a story about his great grandfather.

Back in the 1850s George Fuller attempted to make a garden among the stumps with a wooden harrow pulled by an ox. A small oak tree was harrowed over several times, but each time it sprang back up, so my great grandfather said, “If you are determined to live, I will let you live.” He tramped the soil down around the roots and worked around it. One hundred and forty years later, this oak still lives. It has a spread of 160 feet and a circumference of 15 feet, in spite of the fact it has been hit by lightning twice. The branches on one side were badly burned when a second house, built in 1878, burned down in 1930. To this day you can see the great scars on the undersides of the limbs. It is one of the largest White Oak trees in Lambton County. This stately tree now towers over the present house [2008], sheltering the seventh generation of Fullers to occupy the farm.

Marion Fuller tells this story about Elizabeth “Betsy” (Lucas) Fuller.

In spite of having a family of nine children to raise, Betsy was always ready to help anyone in need and she soon became “Aunt Betsy” to the many people she helped. Betsy had inherited her father’s skill with herbs and as a midwife it is known she delivered over one hundred babies in the small homes in Warwick Township. Aunt Betsy considered it a privilege to open her home to missionaries and travelling ministers. A favourite visitor was Joseph Little or “Uncle Joe Little”, as he was called by all that knew him.

At her death, Elizabeth “Aunt Betsy” Lucas was the last surviving member of those that attended the opening service of the church that was built in one day at Gardners’ Clearing.

This poem was printed by the local paper to speak for her life.

Pale withered hands that nearly fourscore years
Had wrought for others; eased the fevers smart,
Dropped balms of love in many an aching heart.
Now hands folded, like wan rose leaves pressed
Above the snow and silence of her breast.
In mute appeal they told of labour done
And well-earned rest that came at set of sun.

From the worn brow the lines of care had swept
As if an angel’s kiss, the while she slept,
Had smoothed the cobweb wrinkles quite away
And given back the peace of childhood’s day
And on the lips the faint smile almost said,
“None knows life’s secret but the happy dead”.
So gazing where she lay, we know that pain
And parting could not cleave her soul again.

And we were sure that they who saw her last
In that dim vista which we call the past;
Who never knew her old and laid aside,
Remembering best the maiden and the bride,
Had sprung to greet her with the olden speech,
The dear sweet names no later lore can teach,
And “welcome home” they cried and grasped her hands.
So dwells our mother in the best of lands.

The oldest son of George and Elizabeth Fuller, William, and his wife Mary Elizabeth, lived on Lot 2, Con. 5 until 1899, when they moved to Watford where William opened an implement business. They had three children: George Albert, Eda Jane and Elizabeth.

Two brothers from this family, James Wesley and John L., purchased a store in Arkona in the 1890s, which became the Fuller Bros. Store.

In 1858 George Fuller built one of the first frame houses in Warwick Twp. A neighbour was contracted to build the house in payment for a colt valued at seventy-five dollars. The contractor was a very tall man and he built the stair steps to fit his own legs. The steps had an eight-inch tread and eleven-inch risers. To add to the difficulty of negotiating them, they sloped slightly and caused many a future tumble. There is a story of Elizabeth, one of George and Elizabeth (Betsy) Fuller’s daughters, who tripped at the top of the stairs with a lamp in her hand and slid all the way down on her stomach, setting the lamp on the floor at the bottom, still lit and unharmed.

In 1894 the tenth child of George and Elizabeth (Betsy) Fuller, Thomas Henry, married Nellie Hagle (1870–1937). They remained on the family farm at Lot 26, Con. 2 SER. They had four children: Earl Spenser (1896–1950); Clare Cecil (1898–1962) who married Sarah (Sadie) Spittlehouse; Lela Irene (1900–1975) who married Edwin (Ted) Young; and Winnifred Marie (1904–1931) who died of a ruptured appendix.

Clare Cecil Fuller, the second son of Thomas and Nellie, married Sadie Spittlehouse in 1921. She came to Canada after World War I. They had two children: Ralph Cecil (1923–1991) who married Isabel Oliver; and Franklin Henry (1928–) who married Marion Patterson in 1950.

Franklin and Marion took over the family farm at Lot 26, Con 2 SER. They have four children and their oldest son, Alan, lives on the family farm in 2008.

Chapter 24 of 25 - Fuller, George

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