Lemuel Theo Fuller married Viginia Maude Roland
Parents: Fred Fuller married Carrie Cole
OUR PARENTS:
My mom, Virginia Maude Roland married Lemuel Theo Fuller. They called one another "Pate" and "Padey" when I was little. Daddy was also known as "Bim" by just about everyone. We always called her Mama until we were older, but she always wished we had called her "Mother," like she was raised to call her mother. In the last several years, I have noticed we often called her "Mom." We definitely were taught to call her mother, or "Grandmother." All of us called our father, Daddy.
He was named after his mother's brother, Lemuel.
It was often, when she sat on his lap, or when he would be sitting watching us in the big rocking chair that Granddaddy Roland made, and Mama would be washing dishes, Daddy would call through the window by the fireplace that opened into the kitchen, formed by a half door, "Hey Paty." Any time he wanted her attention. Paty with a long "a" sound. She and others also called him L.T., sometimes when she was mad at him. And she most frequently, as did most of the her family, who liked him rather well, called him "Bim."
I am not sure where Bim came from, but I believe his Sisters had always called him that. I presume it was a childhood nickname given by those little ones who couldn't say Lem, short for Lemuel. I've been told by his sisters that his mother was particularly fond of having named him after Lemuel in the Bible. I am not sure why they didn't say much about having an uncle by the same name. I can't ever remember Daddy calling Mama Virginia or her calling Daddy Lemuel.
They were divorced after a tumultuous love/hate relationship, when I was in my early 20's. There were a lot of difficult memories, that accompanied a lot of great ones. For the most part, we had such a fun childhood, and I woke each morning with anticipation of a new day. But as I aged, the bad memories overwhelmed the good ones, and I often struggle to put it all in perspective. But, as mother, neared her death, she was still asking about Daddy. She loved him dearly in the good times. So much so, that she continued to go back to him, no matter how often he abused her, or how badly. Daddy never voiced his love, so I don't remember him as loving, even though I adored him until I was about 9.
Mama was born with only one leg which ended in a foot that had only 3 toes, her left leg. Her right leg terminated above the knee and had a small roundish fleshy part which would have become her second lower leg had it formed properly. For a large part of her life, she wore a crude prosthetic of some sort that revealed her missing lower limb to everyone. I find it necessary to include this bit of info, in part because, it actually was the very thing that made her a very strong individual, and while raising 5 children, she never let it be a disability. She lived her life as if it were not so, but it ruled a lot of her daily routine. Her life was slower paced than that of the outside world, and she confined us to that pace, which hit me head on as a young adult trying to catch up to the pace of a functioning world. Daddy seldom treated her as person with a disability, including seldom helping her with anything domestic. Probably because she preferred to be doggedly independent. He spent long hours outside, always busy doing something in the way of repairs, gardening, building, or restoring and making things. He loved making yard furniture, from Adirondack chairs to picnic tables and he often used reclaimed, or scavenged wood. Some of our childhood evenings were spent on the hunt for freight crates and pallets that were being disposed of. They both liked the radio, Daddy loving the music of the day, and Mom the religious broadcasts...which Daddy hated.
We, her children, never thought of Mama as disabled. We often were amused at the persons who would ask us if our mother had polio when she was a child that made her walk with her slightly irregular gate. She actually was tugging along her wooden prosthetic leg which weighed a considerable amount compared to her small frame, because she was only 4' 11". Daddy was tall in comparison at about 5' 10". I remember times when he sat her on his lap in the large rocker as easily as if she were a child. He had a gentleness with us as small children, and a love of providing fun surprises, like our playhouse and homework desk. If it broke, one or the other of them could fix it. If they imagined something, they could build it or make it, yet seldom together. Each had projects in the works, and moved forward with each, as if we never lacked money for the enterprise. Mama was always involving us in some craft, a product of her heritage, a family of people who produced much of what they used from day to day - from clothes to food to fun, they made it. And mother often changed our window dressings and painted the walls, reconfigured the furniture as if she were two men. I often came home from school to a totally new and fresh look in at least one room of the house. We weren't wealthy, just middle income, I suppose. Daddy was a diesel mechanic, on large tractor/trailer rigs. Mama, who worked before she was married, didn't work again until she and Daddy were divorced. She began in a retail outlet, but when the long hours of standing began to affect her health, she found a seated job as a telephone answering service, at nights. We had some of life's difficulties, most of which they resolved without us knowing much about them. They fought, sometimes too much, but otherwise, they provided for us a warm home, good food, nice transportation, lively conversation, and in general lots to do and learn.
THE FULLER ANCESTORS:
Daddy was born March 10, 1924 in Gwinnett Co., Ga. He died March 4, 2001 near where he was born, and was buried at Carter Hill Christian Church, in Bethlehem, Barrow Co. Ga., in a traditional family plot, next to his second wife, Maggie. He actually married Maggie a few years prior to their deaths, after having spent the second half of his life with her. She preceded him in death by a very short time. I didn't know her well.
A few generations back, his/our ancestors went from an area north of Atlanta to Alabama and then returned to the area above Atlanta. In general, Gwinnett and Barrow Counties. I have traced back several scenarios of Fullers through the Carolinas, Virginia, and points north, none of which make 100% connections. But the Fuller name is an old one, which was present in America since the landing of the Mayflower. There are some connections that trace the name to Salem, Massachusetts, where at least one of the Fuller women was among those accused and killed in the infamous "witch trials." Line after line of researchers find a disconnect in the mid 1700's when the families of the north of all names were on the move, expanding our nation to its westerly most points of the Colonial frontier. Undeveloped Georgia, began to see an influx of pioneers - a little later in South Georgia, than in mid to upper Georgia. Counties near Atlanta developed faster than those west and south of it. Some of it was still considered Indian territory up until the 1830s much like that of the 1730s of the Carolinas and Virginia western frontiers. The Cherokee extradition, turned that all around, but the Indian Nations of the Gulf Coastline were still actively pushing back for territory in South Georgia and all along the Georgia/Alabama border, which made some early Alabama frontiersmen return to the safety of inner Georgia. One day, I want to visit the Alabama County where Fuller cousins have continued to live for generations. But a visit there, won't help much with finding our roots from Georgia back in time. It appears that our Ezekiel moved with his children to Alabama at some point, while his son, William, also our ancestral grandfather, remained in Georgia to raise his family.
EZEKIEL FULLER
Ezekiel Fuller, recorded to have been born in South Carolina in about 1801, married Ann who was born in Georgia in 1799. He is earliest Fuller ancestor in my records.They both died in Clay, Alabama in 1880. Their son, William F. Fuller, born in 1822, in Georgia married Mary, (also born in Georgia in 1826,) in 1842,( listed as Walton but probably still Jackson which became Walton. Confused a bit as to whether these are towns or counties). He died, 10 years before Mary, in 1870, in Jackson, Georgia. Mary died in Walton, Ga., (formerly Jackson Co.) in 1880.
Ezekial Fuller was a Blacksmith born in SC, age 49 on the 1850 Census for Subdivision #45, in Jackson Co., Ga. They were living next door to a Baptist Minister, Edward Barthalomew and his wife Susan, who were both from Connecticut, but who had a son who was born in New York. Also next door, was his son William F. Fuller, and his wife Mary, with children Martin, Nancy, and James. William is also a Blacksmith at age 28. In Ezekiel's household, Elizabeth, Nancy, and Wilson L. are still at home, ranging in age from 15 down to 11. Also on the same page are James and Sarah Fuller, ages 23 and 18. All are listed as born in GA. except Ezekiel.
On the 1860 Census, I find Ezekial and Anna with daughter Elizabeth, in The Southern division of Randolph Co., Alabama, the Almond Post office area. This Census was also taken in July. They are family #1584, on pg. 227. All, but one man on the page, have a family heritage of being born in Ga. or SC.
The Ga Census for 1860 Shows William and his family still in Ga. None of the others live close by.
The 1870 Census for Miller Valley, Clay Alabama (Fractional T.22 R. 9. or P) shows Exekiel and Anna with daughter Elizabeth, now aged 68, 71, and 38 r. The value of his real estate is significantly less than that of others on the page at $65, and his personal disclosure was given as $185.
We recently found records for a John G. ( Jack) Fuller born ca. 1825, whose researchers at present believe he probably was the son of Ezekiel and Ann Fuller. His extended famiily lived in and near the Barrow Co., Jackson Co., Ga. areas, all their lives, for several more generations. Appearantly, also William's brother.
WILLIAM F. FULLER
Exekiel's son, William F. Fuller 28 is listed on the 1850 Census record with his wife Mary 24, and children Martin 7, Nancy 4, & James 2. The next ancestral Grandfather, he is listed here as a Blacksmith born in GA. (I haven't returned to the online records to see if there are more census records available lately. As they become available, if they do, I will make added notes.)
William's brother James is on the page, 5 houses away, at age 23, with his wife Sarah who is only 18. It is interesting to find that looking forward and back on the census pages, I find members of Jimmy's ancestry in the Cook/Welborn connection. In fact, a John Cook is listed on the same page at age 9, living with a Thurmond family. At the top of the page are Rooks who also married into the Cook families, and may in fact be in Jimmy's direct line.
William is listed on the 1860 Census as W F Fuller, as a Blacksmith, but the county is now Walton, the post office is Cut Off PO, and the area is called Northern Division. This census was taken on July 28, 1860. The value of his estate was listed as 575 dollars. An ironic note: most of the other families on the page are named Smith. He is the only one who actually is a blacksmith. Children Martin through Green are present in the family. Green is 10 months old. All are listed as being born in GA.
OTHER CHILDREN OF EZEKIEL AND ANN FULLER
William was the oldest of 6 or 7 children:
Bluford M., b. 1824; James M. b 1827; Elizabeth b 1832; Nancy b. 1836; Wilson b. 1839 (and possibly, John G. Jack b. 1925.) Might I note that just because I haven't found a census record that includes Jack, doesn't mean he isn't a child. [Sometimes, not having the exact year census you need, completely eliminates a child or children who might have married and left home by the next census record. A skip of one census, can be a 20 year gap in information.] All of the children for whom I do have info, died in Alabama, most in Clay. James married Sarah Stewart of Walton, Ga., and Wilson married a Martha Unk.
CHILDREN OF WILLIAM F. FULLER
William and Mary had 8 children that I know of:
Martin Van Buren b. 1843; Nancy A. b. 1848; James M. b. 1849; Mary Jane b. 1854; Josephine V. (Fowler) b. 1857; Green Washington b. Sept. 15, 1860 - our next ancestral grandparent; S A Fuller b. 1862, and Louise (Lou) b. 1866. Martin and James may have been the only two family members who would have been subject to Civil War service. So our Fuller Grandfather would have no such history, due to his age. Josephine is the only sibling I found who died outside Georgia. Her records have her in Polk, Fla. at the time of her death. Green died on Oct. 26, 1938, in Barrow Co. Ga.
GREEN WASHINGTON FULLER
