A Fuller Madness

                                   PART TEN

(Authors note: Genealogy is a cruel master. It expects much. It hides much. It parlays its answers in the most ubiquitous of places - in the past. It courses against us. It nags; sometimes relentlessly.  I serve that master for now, at least until my own fuller madness washes up on the shores of my own oblivion.)

This is a continuation of my "unfinished and unprovoked" genealogical worksheets, as I attempt to fill in the Mayflower ancestry of Ruth (Fuller) Francisco. As always, good luck with my edits...

I.

For those of you that have been following this journey of mine to identify Ruth, wife of Old Henry Francisco since Part One, I commend you for hanging in there. Laboring through the "Fuller Madness" of somebody else's genealogical efforts isn't always an easy task. In Part Nine, I discussed my "post-article" submission hiatus in "looking back" the things I might have done better in identifying Ruth. 

In that post, I explored the identity of Ruth's sister, Freelove (Fuller) Vine. Immediately prior, I realized that I had been doing my own research a disservice by prioritizing Ruth's brothers at the expense of her female siblings. That's what brought me to Freelove, to Freelove (Fuller) Vine, wife of Solomon Vine.

I believe, Freelove and the "Fuller-Vine" connection adds a lot of ancillary information, if not an after-the-fact form of anecdotal verification.

To be honest though, there's been something that has nagged at me a bit. 

Now don't get me wrong; I'm still quite certain that Old Henry's wife was "Ruth Fuller, daughter of Aaron Fuller and Ruth Sawyer" and a descendant of Mayflower passenger Edward Fuller. However, for a moment, I'd like to go back and revisit (post article submission) Old Henry Francisco himself. 

You see what's bothered me the most is his arrival at Whitehall, or as it was called then, Skenesborough.

Now there's no doubt that Old Henry lived at Whitehall, Washington County, New York. We aren't even gonna "go there" as they say. However, all I've basically had to rely on to place Henry Francisco at Skenesborough was Doris Begor Morton's "reconstituted" Skene's Tenants list. This list names Old Henry Francisco along with pretty much every male Fuller worth mentioning in town. Morton's list is a little open-ended. It covers the fluid tenants list for the years 1759-1775. Now I have absolutely no reason to doubt Mrs. Morton. By all accounts she was a meticulous historian. 

However, given the span of years presented in her list, it begs the question of when did Henry Francisco actually arrive at Skenesborough. If Morton's list is correct, he was certainly there by 1775.

This may not matter. 

However, operating under the belief that Henry's wife Ruth Fuller was related to the other very Mayflower Fullers of Whitehall, and the birth year of their (Henry and Ruth's) son Solomon Francisco in 1768, it is implied that Old Henry arrived there before 1775. Yet there is nothing, outside of Morton including him in her list of Skene's tenants, to augment that.

So I've decided to go back and revisit a couple of things about Old Henry. 

These aren't earth-shattering bits of new information. However, as with the elucidation of Freelove (Fuller) and her husband Solomon's ties to Ruth's (and Freelove's) brother Aaron Fuller, Esq., I think as far as Old Henry Francisco goes, they help complete the story. (Keep in mind too that Old Henry and Ruth (Fuller) Francisco's son Solomon was also Solomon Vine's sister Rebecca's grandson.)

As they say, "the ties that bind..."

So let's talk about Old Henry.

One of the best places to start here is back with his Revolutionary War pension application. There are a couple of really interesting things here that I might not have emphasized as much as I should have. We can talk about his muster rolls placing him at Washington County in 1777. We can talk about the battles he was in, or his supposed tavern that was burned out by the Tories in July of that year, and about his recollections regarding the murder of Jane McCrae by the Tories. 

But later on all that. Right now, I want you to see a new guy.

Oops...before I forget:

(Old Henry's muster rolls also show he deserted a day after this event. But "deserted" meant something different then than it does now.... it meant his home and family were in peril and he had to return home to protect them.)

But first I need to you to meet Tom.

And yes, I hate to introduce you to new character actors in the storyline, but I think as you read on it will make more sense. Here is an affidavit contained in the 1818 RW pension file for Old Henry Francisco. The affidavit not only attests to Henry's military service, but also states how long the person making the statement has known Henry. Let me introduce you here to Thomas Lyon, of Whitehall, Washington County, New York, acquainted with Old Henry Francisco since 1777.

That is well over forty years.

Above: National Archives Catalogue: Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant S. 44,864, Henry Francisco, Continental...image 8/39

Okay, Okay, I thought it was pretty cool. But it's not  totally cool and does not place Old Henry in Skenesborough/Whitehall before 1777, and it does not say exactly where Thomas Lyon met Old Henry or exactly where he knew him from, but still, it's primary proof. 

So I had to ask myself who was Thomas Lyon? And, more importantly, who was Thomas Lyon in relation to Henry beyond this statement.

As usual, I need to stop here for a second.

I need to mention that Old Henry was associated with a couple of guys by the names of Colonel Seth Warner and Captain James Burroughs, and a band of RW patriot fighters known as "The Green Mountain Boys." However, that's an aside right now that I will need to revisit (in relation to all of this) a bit later.

Let's take another look at Thomas Lyon through the eyes of somebody we've already met.

Yes, Solomon T. Vine. (Featured in Part Nine)

Solomon knew Tom. Old Henry knew Tom.

Above and below: National Archives Catalogue: Revolutionary War Pensions and Bounty Land Warrants

And oddly enough, this too:

And Tom knew Solomon.

So I think it's pretty safe to say that these guys knew each other for over forty years. Now just for context and texture, I'm going to through in a couple of more images here just because. They give it a little more context - here's the guy they all worked for:

Here's some connections you can find at the D.A.R.:

(Keep in mind that Skeneborough become Whitehall in 1784.)

This is kinda where those tribunals that govern genealogy get stupid as Hell. Old Henry's D.A.R. record has been put on hold because he said he was 130 years old in his pension application. Like this diminished his service??? They have his muster rolls and the affidavits of two men well aquanted with him.

Yeah, that's when lienage societies start to suck. Why do they gotta mess with Old Henry???

As usual, I'm off topic.

Suffice it to say that April 15, 1818 was a busy day at Whitehall, Washington County, New York. It must have been fun for these old timers (especially Henry) to get together and remember 40 odd years ago. Who doesn't like to remember when?

               

Above: Your author "remembering when" with an old friend...

However, this shows something else too... Remember Freelove? 

Remember she is the wife of Solomon Vine. Remember she was "Freelove Fuller," Ruth (Fuller) Francisco's sister? I just thought it was interesting that two of these three old men (Solomon and Henry), basically old friends since 1777, also happen to be brothers-in-law. (Plus a whole lot of other in-law and out-law relations going on.)

Remember that 1784 land transaction??? You know the one from Part Nine involving a description of Solomon Vine's (and his brother Ebenezer's) land bordering that of Aaron Fuller, Esq, the brother of Ruth (Fuller) Francisco and Freelove (Fuller) Vine?

See what I mean?

So I added this Whitehall military history - it just adds context and luster to the story.

          

                                            

And while I get it that none of this places Old Henry Francisco in Skeneborough/Whitehall ante 1777 the infor these statements contain implies that the presumed marriages and relationships pre-date the military history and or events surrounding it. In the end, we my only have Morton's reconstruction of Skene's tenants list to rely on. However, in light of these "forty year friendships" though it's making any suppositions look like a dang preponderance of evidence. 

I know....whatever, Troll Jeff...

AND...

I'm probably relying too heavily on these 1790 U.S. Census images, but for me they say so much:

Above: Solomon Vine living next door to Aaron Fuller, Esq. - His wife's (Freelove's) brother.

     

And just a couple of house away from Thomas Lyon...

Old Henry Francisco "Sisco" just the next sheet over... across the field away.

These were people that more than knew each other. 

They were family.

I've written to the New York State Archives to see what they have about Aaron Fuller, Esq's service under that Charlotte/Washington County militia. I don't know that it will shed much light on any of this but as the "Fuller Madness" takes hold one must certainly over turn every stone and look under every rock.

For now, I will let the Old Troll have its way. LOL.

I'll be back.

To be continued...

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