The Fuller Effect
I’ll admit it: I have a genealogical addiction.
I am drawn to the "riddles of the line" even when they seem unresolvable. Are they though, really? Currently, I am focused on a mystery that has stumped better researchers than I: the true parentage of Ruth Fuller, wife of the legendary Henry Francisco. (As you may recall from an earlier post, Henry Francisco is in Ripley's Believe it or Not and reputed to have lived to the ripe old age of 134!)
As shown here: https://atroubledsage.blogspot.com/2025/06/believe-it-or-not-believe-it-or-not.html
Henry Francisco is an ancestor of a friend of mine, Paige Dunham.
While the records point toward a Mayflower descent for Ruth (Fuller) Francisco through Edward Fuller, the online "consensus" tries to tell a very different story.
Anyway, here goes me trying to unravel it...
The Case of Two Ruth Fullers and Their Dueling Identities
To begin this exploration into the "dueling Ruths," I believe we have to look at "The Proximity Principle"—the idea that people lived, moved, and married in clusters—rather than necessarily on their own, or as recently betrothed - or, as in the case of modern genealogy by just clicking "accept" on a rando digital hint.
(Hey, we've all done it.)
Anyway - First off:
1. The Silver Book Template: Our Starting Point We begin with the occasionally tarnished "Gold Standard" of Mayflower research for our first picture of the presumed Ruth Fuller in question, the GSMD Silver Books:
[Image 1: Silver Book Page 167 (MacGunnigle, Vol. 4)] The excerpt showing Aaron Fuller (#194) and daughter Ruth.
The Silver Book lists Ruth's parents as Aaron Fuller and his wife Ruth Sawyer, but it leaves a trail of breadcrumbs that stops abruptly that might take her forward or leave much of any clues about our dear Ruth. The Silver Book states Aaron "died probably at Cornwall, CT, ca. 1762." As I’ve learned, even the Silver Books are fallible when they rely on vague 19th-20th century assumptions. This "probable" death date for Ruth's father Aaron Fuller feels a wee bit problematic itself. Is it a brick wall that we might climb over using any other records than those that don't exist? LOL. Maybe for instance New York (or other) census records?
Just maybe?
The Silver Books leaves daughter Ruth (and her named brothers) like dangling participles. (I get it. They can only go so far...)
But just a wee bit more would be nice.
Okay, Ruth Fuller, daughter of Aaron, just who are ya?
2. The "Hearsay" Wall Moving past the Silver Book account of the family:
Most family trees claim that our dear Ruth in question, wife of Henry Francisco, was not the daughter of Aaron Fuller and Ruth Sawyer, but rather the daughter of David Fuller, Jr. and Mehitable Broughton - and not a Mayflower descendant.
Say what??!
I believe this is wrong.
They believe this instead:
[Image 2: Frank J. Doherty, The Settlers of the Beekman Patent, Vol. 5, pp. 443–44] The section where Doherty discusses the Fuller family settlers in the Beekman Patent.
Doherty’s work and Carol Clark Johnson’s research place this David and Mehitable firmly in Dutchess County, New York.
[Image 3: Carol Clark Johnson, Fullers, Sissons, and Scotts] The snippet showing the David/Mehitable claim.
The problem? Dutchess County is over 120 miles away of where (I believe) our dear Ruth was actually living. (AND it kinda looks like somebody copied off someboy else's homework here - no sources??? Any sources here at all tying Ruth Fuller to Henry Francisco???
Hello???? Crickets.
The David/Mehitable Fuller theory is a genealogical echo chamber offering no proof about Ruth. No doubt they had a daughter named Ruth - just not Henry's wife. They got some other gal and fit her into the narrative for Henry Francisco - who near as I can tell never even lived in Dutchess County, New York. (???) It asks us to believe that Ruth was plucked out of a family cluster in western New York and dropped back into the east entirely alone, (or with Henry Francisco) only to coincidentally settle next to a different group of Fullers she supposedly was (or wasn't) related to.
Right.
But wait, there's more.
The True Ruth
To find the "True Ruth," we have to follow her husband, our hero, the legendary Henry. Henry Francisco’s obituary places him "near Whitehall, NY." When we apply the 1790 Census for Whitehall, Washington County, New York to these two theories, the David and Mehitable claim pretty much completely falls apart based on regular old-fashioned Kinship Geography.
This author in the image below is "tepid" about our Ruth (Fuller) Francisco being a Mayflower descendant, but still, she gets it:
Above image: Townsend, Edna Waugh. "Missing Links: Genealogical Clues." No. 4 (November 1962): 53-59. Burlington, VT: Chedwato Service. (Accession/Call No. CS42 .M56).
And now - the evidence:
The Whitehall Fraternal Cluster:
Keeing in mind the obituary of Henry Francisco...
In 1790, the names associated with the Mayflower Aaron Fuller line—Aaron, Ephraim, Judah, and Henry— the exact same names found in the Fuller Silver Book entry for Aaron Fuller and wife Ruth Sawyer (see above) show up in Whitehall, Washington County, New York. They are nowhere to be found near David Fuller and Mehitable (Broughton) Fuller in Dutchess County, New York.
Those names simply do not appear in that family group.
However, in Whitehall, we find them clustered together. These men—Henry, Ephraim, Judah, and Aaron Fuller, likely Jr.—are likely the same brothers (or at the very least nephews) of Ruth Fuller [Francisco] shown in the Silver Book shown above and the sons of Aaron Fuller and Ruth Sawyer. named
They didn't just happen to live in the same town; they migrated as a single family unit - AND all happen to live in the same town.
They're Ruth (Fuller) Francisco's kinsmen:
See below:
[Image 4: 1790 Census - Henry Sisco (Francisco)] The census crop showing Henry Sisco on page 214.
Now, look at the neighbors listed in the same district:
Henry Fuller (Brother)
Ephraim Fuller (Brother)
Judah Fuller (Brother)
Aaron Fuller, likely Jr. (Brother)
[Image 5: 1790 Census - The Fuller Cluster] The census crops showing the fraternal group.
The presence of Henry Francisco alongside his Fuller brothers-in-law, Henry, Ephraim, Judah, and Aaron, Jr. is the vital piece of the puzzle. These likely brothers were a tight-knit unit who settled the Skenesborough (later Whitehall) area together. The fact that this specific fraternal kinship group is standing next to Henry Francisco in Whitehall—while David and Mehitable are at least 120 miles away with none of these family members in sight—creates a "geographic anchor" that the hearsay theory simply cannot unseat.
Bridging the Gap: The Roylance Notes:
Ward J. Roylance’s research tracks this specific branch—the sons of Aaron—as they moved from Connecticut into the Upper Hudson Valley, bypassing the Dutchess County lines entirely.
All of them - these "Whitehall boys" listed as sons of Aaron Fuller and Ruth (Sawyer) Fuller
[Image 6: Ward J. Roylance, Notes on the Fuller Family, Page 69] Pages 56, 63, 69, detailing the migration of Aaron's sons into New York.
And no, the author above does not mention Ruth (Fuller) Francisco - but the census records sure mention Henry her husband.
Conclusion
While the "popular" family trees remain anchored to David and Mehitable in Dutchess County, the weight of primary evidence shifts the narrative entirely toward the Aaron Fuller branch. By prioritizing the Kinship Geography of the 1790 Census, we see a physical reality that hearsay cannot overcome: our Ruth was living in the center of a fraternal stronghold in Whitehall, surrounded by her likely brothers Henry, Ephraim, Judah, and Aaron Jr. This concentrated cluster of the Aaron Fuller line, situated at least 120 miles away from the David/Mehitable group, provides the location proof necessary to give a preponderance of "one and the same" to Ruth (Fuller) Francisco - and her true Mayflower origins.
Ultimately, the path to Edward Fuller and the Mayflower is not found in the echo chambers of unverified digital trees, but by looking at the specific family of brothers standing next to Henry and Ruth in Whitehall.
We know that Paige is a descendant of Henry Francisco and Ruth Fuller. I believe, based on this geographical evidence, and her apparent ancestry from Henry's wife, Ruth, that Paige Dunham is also more than likely a descendant of Mayflower passenger Edward Fuller.
And certainly not some genealogical echo chamber.
Unless someone has some other proof to the contrary.
The truth is out there - in Whitehall. lol.
END
