Matthew Fuller was eccentric. He often argued with his neighbors and brought them to court. He spoke openly and indiscreetly about the elders, the magistrates, and religious leaders. He was fined for his indulgences. He even was sued by Thomas Hinckley, the Assistant Governor at the time, for defamation. Yet, he was bestowed with honors, held military leadership roles and Plymouth Colony offices. That he did not receive more harsh punishment other than minor fines and a slap on the wrist is not surprising. After all, he was the only physician in the Colony and even held the post of Surgeon-General. He was well known and tolerated for his curmudgeonly nature.
Matthew Fuller, son of Mayflower passenger, Edward Fuller, came to Plymouth Colony about 1640/1 [1]. He died in 1678 in Barnstable, Mass. He had many honors [2]:
· He was admitted a freeman of the Colony on 7 June 1653 and Miles Standish chose him to be a sergeant and was later named a deputy to the Colony Court.
· On 20 June 1654 he was appointed Lieutenant under Capt. Miles Standish and on 2 Oct 1658 was elected to the council of war, became its chairman in 1671 and also a magistrate of the Colony.
· In addition to his martial abilities, he was also appointed Surgeon-General to the Colony on 17 Dec 1673 and served as Captain during the King Phillip War.
[William Hubbard's "Map of New-England," 1677. It may have been "commissioned by Hubbard for his volume The History of the Indian Wars New England that was published in London and Boston in 1677. It is described by Samuel G. Drake, editor of Hubbard's Indian Wars (1865), as 'the curious Woodcut Map.]" - The Plymouth Colony Archive Project (http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/plymouth/1677map.html)]
At the general Court of Plymouth on 2 October 1658, he first ran into serious trouble with the elders. The elders of Plymouth Colony passed a law for a tithe for the maintenance of ministers, which applied to non-church members as well. Then Lieutenant Matthew Fuller vehemently objected. He had Quaker neighbors and friends (though he himself was not a Quaker) and stood on their behalf. His language to the elders was indiscreet and not at all respectful:
“Lieutenant Fuller, being presented for speaking reproachfully of the Court, and saying the law enacted about minnesters maintainence was a wicked and a divillish law, and that the divill satt att the sterne when it was enacted, the words being proved, hee referring himselfe to the Bench, the sesure to bee fined fifty shillings.” [3]
For an official to slander the Court should have gotten Matthew Fuller into more trouble, but instead they still bestowed honor and trust onto him - they nominated him to the War Council that very same day.
He died about October 1678 a wealthy man by the standards of the day. He had a considerable amount of “Pearls, precious stones, and Diamonds.” The box of gems went missing after his death and blame for the theft went to his manservant, Robert Marshall, “the Scotchman.”
Therein, lies a spooky tale to be told for Halloween!
[1] Bruce Campbell MacGunnigle, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Volume 4 – Edward Fuller (Boston: General Society of Mayflower Descendants), 1990.
[2] C.F. Swift, revised. Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families, Being a Reprint of the Amos Otis Papers, Originally Published in The Barnstable Patriot. Volume 1, (Barnstable, Mass.: F.B.&F.P. Goss], 1888.
[3] Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed. Records of the New Colony of Plymouth in New England, Court Orders, Volume III 1651-1661, p. 150 (orig. page 143).
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