187,663 Global Fuller Family Members

Fuller Family History

INTRODUCTION

The surname is or was occupational for a cloth dresser from the pre 7th Century word "fullere", from the Roman (Latin) "fullo" to r smooth. The word was probably introduced by the Norman French after the Conquest of England in 1066 as "foleur". The work of the fuller was to scour and thicken the raw cloth by beating and trampling it in water, and the word was originally specific to the south of the county, the term in the north being Walker. Early development since 1219 (see below) included Reginald Fullere in the county of Suffolk in the Pipe rolls of 1221, William le Fulur of Warwickshire in the same year, Simon le Volker of Oxfordshire in 1316, and John Follere of Kent in 1317...

SURNAME

Fuller (Variant: Voller)

An English occupational name, raw cloth had to be fulled, i.e. scoured, cleansed, and thickened by beating or trampling it in water, a process also known as walking or tucking, hence the surnames Walker and Tucker along with Fuller.

A variant of Fullard.

Early bearers of the surname include: Iohannes Vollere, 1317 in Assize Rolls (Kent); Laurence le Fullere, 1334 in Subsidy Rolls (Dartford, Kent); Galfridus Fuller’, 1377 in Poll Tax (Writtle, Essex); Ricardus Fullar, 1381 in Poll Tax (Southwark, Surrey); Gilbertus Fullere, 1381 in Poll Tax (Shalford, Surrey); Robert Fuller, 1440 in Feet of Fines (Devon); John Fuller, draper, 1460 in Feet of Fines (Saint Albans, Herts); Robart Fuller, 1538 in IGI (Herstmonceaux, Sussex); Agnes Fuller, 1540 in IGI (Toddington, Beds); Alice Voller, 1628 in IGI (Chalton, Hants); Gearge Fuller, 1631, Peetor Voller, 1634 in IGI (Godalming, Surrey); John Vuller, 1787 in IGI (Milton Damerel, Devon).

The famed Alfred Carl Fuller (1885-1973), the original "Fuller Brush Man," was born in Welsford, Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada and moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1903 at the age of 18. Three years later he started the Fuller Brush Company in Hartford, Connecticut.

 

Thomas Fuller, English convict from Kent, who was transported aboard the "Anson" on 23 September 1843, settling in Van Diemen's Land, Australia.

In 1891, the surname was recorded in England and Wales with 23,294 occurrences and a fewer 91 in Scotland.

In 1881, it was widespread through South East England, particularly Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex & Kent. It was also a top surname in the county of Cambridgeshire.

Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli (1810-1850), American editor, essayist, poet and teacher . Her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century is considered the first major feminist work.

Brad Allen Fuller (1953-2016), was an American video game composer known for his work for Atari, specifically Marble Madness, Tetris and Blasteroids.

1881, 1891 Census

1881 Census in Cambridgeshire

Dictionary of American Family Homes, P Hanks OUP 2003

Homes of Family Names in Great Britain, H.B. Guppy, London 1890

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, P.Hanks, Coats, McClure OUP 2016

1860 Lower, Mark A Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom, London: J.R Smith. Public Domain

1857 Arthur, William An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain

https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/anson/1843

J.M.P