The Children of Noah Fuller and Priscilla (Taylor?)
Or “A complete Leap of faith”
By Dave Eagles, Jan 2021
Much careful research on the matter of the two Noah Fullers b ca 1712 has been done to date, including and especially by Lucy Goodwin.
This document builds on that earlier research, references some of it, and is more of a document to support further questions, than a document that has uncovered new sources based on historical records.
This document accepts the proposition that Noah Fuller, was born ca 1712 in either Massachusetts or possibly Connecticut, and that he died in Horton Twp, Nova Scotia 24 Jun 1774, and that he may have been either a cordwainer or shoemaker.
This document also accepts that he married a lady named Priscilla, the primary evidence for which appears to be the naming of his second daughter Priscilla. The mother may have been Priscilla Taylor, though this is explored further below.
It is generally accepted that Noah and Priscilla had at least 7 children, as these are all named in Noah’s will of 1774. If there were other children who died young, this is not known—but it was not an uncommon occurrence in those days.
As it was customary to name children in wills in birth order, but first the boys, and then the girls, this may be considered as the best evidence we have as to both birth order and the possibly birth ranges for all children, as there are no confirmed birth records for any of them, with the possible exception of Noah Jr. in 1750 in Lebanon CT.
In this case, the boys are named in Noah’s will in the order Elisha, Timothy and Noah. Their names are repeated throughout the will, as Noah Sr. had a number of parcels of land to distribute, and this was not done evenly. Timothy appears to have already been allocated defined parcels of land, but Elisha and Noah in some cases received land and other assets in equal proportion.
The girls’ sequence of birth may be inferred based on their listing as Elithear, Priscilla, Sarah (followed by a word that is possibly read as “tuter”, some have read “Taler”, but this is not at all clear from the clear handwriting used), and Lucy, who is to receive her share “when Lucy the youngest of them shall arrive to the age of Eighteen years.”
Because of the habit of listing boys and girls separately, one cannot unfortunately infer the sequence across all children.
Now, we have some other information about the children that could help to put birth years within a range:
Elisha married in 1774
Timothy had his first child in 1783, and so must have married not later than 1782.
Noah married in 1777
Alethea married in 1767
Priscilla married in 1775
Sarah married Peleg Card, who was born in 1761—date of marriage not known, but inferred below
Lucy married Peleg’s brother, Henry Card, who was born in 1760, in 1784
It was not unusual in those days for two siblings to marry another family’s two sibling, and these pairs of siblings were often of a similar age.
Also worth noting is that all seven children married, and so far as we know, these marriages were first time marriages as listed above.
A fortunate family indeed (so far as we know).

Now we will consider the question—is Priscilla who married Noah Fuller also the Priscilla Taylor who “owned the covenant” (transcribed as “o.c.”) on Sunday, 5 Oct 1735, and a week later was baptized on Sunday, 12 Oct 1735 in Lebanon CT. These events and dates confirm that this was an adult baptism in 1735, and that the person involved was either a Priscilla Taylor (maiden name), or a Priscilla Taylor (married name)?
That this series of events in 1735 was for a person named Priscilla Taylor (maiden name) seems reasonable for a number of reasons:
- Lebanon is known as the location where Noah and Priscilla lived at least some of their lives prior to emigration to Nova Scotia about 1761. Noah’s father Benjamin moved from Salem MA to Lebanon CT with two of his sons, where he died in 1752, and Noah was executor of this estate, at which time he bought out the interests of the other brothers;

- Priscilla is believed to have been born about 1718 (since her parents were married in 1717), though in Salem MA, and if so would be about 17 years old in 1735;

- There is no evidence that I have seen so far to support birth years for any of the Noah/Priscilla children as being prior to 1735—even though this dating, without supporting records,is common on Ancestry trees;

- The second daughter of Noah and Priscilla is known to be Priscilla, which only supports the likelihood that Noah’s spouse was Priscilla—not that she was necessarily a Taylor;

- Now for some speculation. It was sometimes the case that people in CT and in NS joined the church and got baptized as adults prior to a marriage. One example is my own 4th g ggf, William Eagles, who was probably dragged to church by his much more church-going soon-to-be wife, Sarah Strong to get adult baptism in 1779 at the first Baptist church in Canada, near what is now Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Noah’s family, though, were conspicuously absent in any church records in New England or in Nova Scotia prior to this time. The counter argument is that there is no corresponding marriage or adult baptism for Noah Fuller in New Lebanon CT (or anywhere else that we know of).
This section above was important to make at least one attempt to establish a possible range of dates for the marriage of Noah Fuller and Priscilla (Taylor) Fuller. My conclusion is that this marriage probably did not occur prior to 1735 or 1736. The presumed birth years of 1712 for Noah and 1718 for Priscilla also support the theory that their marriage happening prior to 1735 is rather unlikely.
Now we turn to another fact—that Lucy Fuller was the “baby” of the family, and that she was not yet 18 years of age when her father made his will in 1774. Hence, she was born not earlier than 1756, but all of her older siblings were born no later than 1755 by the same logic.
We may also make another observation—all of the children listed in the will in 1774 must have been alive in 1774. Given the birth dates of spouses and dates or possible dates of marriage, all of this information also confirms that all seven children in the will were alive in 1774.
Finally, we have further information about the children of Noah and Priscilla Fuller—the Census of Horton Twp, Nova Scotia, conducted on 1 Jan 1770.
In this Census, the household of Noah Fuller has 3 men, 1 boy, 1 woman and 3 girls. With Alethea having married in 1767, we can therefore assume that the household members included Noah Sr., his wife Priscilla, the 3 male children and the other 3 female children. In the case of the boys, 2 were at least 21 years of age on 1 Jan 1770, and one was not. In the case of the girls, all three were under the age of 21 years on 1 Jan 1770. This information also helps establish the theory that follows.
Now comes what can only be described as this document’s first “Complete leap of faith”. I will attempt the impossible—putting all children into a possible birth order with ranges of possible birth years:
1) Alethea (Elithear in the will). Given that she married in 1767, so far as we know, at least 7 years prior to any of her siblings, I suspect that she was the oldest child. The marriage date would also account for her non-appearance in the 1770 household of Noah and Priscilla Fuller. I will put her birth year range as 1737 to 1742;

2) Elisha. Elisha married in 1774, well before any of the 3 youngest sisters, and also before his two brothers. I will put his birth year range as 1740-1745;

3) Timothy. Having his first child in 1783, and thus marrying not later than 1782, and arriving at the age of 21 prior to 1 Jan 1749 based on the Horton Census, Timothy could have been born about 1743-1748;

4) Noah. There is a birth date for Noah in 1750 in Lebanon CT. This seems reasonable, and is not examined further here. This is also consistent with his appearance in the 1 Jan 1770 Horton Census, as he would have been 19 years old on the date of that Census, and therefore classified as a “boy”;

5) Priscilla. According to the will of her father in 1774, Priscilla would appear to be the second eldest of his female children. Priscilla would also appear to be one of the three “girls” in the Fuller household on 1 Jan 1770. If this is correct, then she was born sometime after 1 Jan 1749. Given the probable birth year of Noah of 1750, and given her marriage in 1775, she could have been born about 1751-1753;

6) Sarah. Sarah may have been close in age to Lucy, given their marriages to brothers Peleg and Henry Card, and the Cards birth years of about 1760-1761, Sarah was probably not born prior to Noah if he was born in 1750. Given her probable appearance as a “girl” in the 1770 Census for Noah and Priscilla Fuller, and her appearance in her father’s will in 1774 as the 3rd eldest girl. And we know Lucy was born not earlier than 1756. So will guess that Sarah was born 1753-1755; and

7) Lucy. By reason of her father’s will, and also her appearance as a “girl” in the 1770 Census, I would suggest that Lucy was born about 1757-1760.
Now for the second part of the exercise—what about possible death year ranges for the seven children?
Here, all I will indicate in yet another “Complete leap of faith” is the set of earliest possible death years based on the later of an official record confirming still living, a marriage, or date of birth of the last child of a marriage, plus in some cases a few other unsupported date possibilities:
1) Alethea. Alethea had a single child born 1772, and was alive at the time of the making of her father’s will in 1774. Hence, died after 1774;

2) Elisha. Elisha’s last child was born in 1798. Hence, died after 1798;

3) Timothy. Timothy’s last confirmed child birth year is 1791, and Timothy Sr. appears on the 1791 Census. Hence, died after 1791;

4) Noah. Noah’s last child was born in 1802. Hence died after 1802. Dates of 1835 and 1838 appear on Ancestry trees, but have not seen confirmation of either of these dates;

5) Priscilla. Priscilla’s last child was born in 1780. Hence, died after 1780. A date of 1815 on some Ancestry trees is not confirmed by a public record, but could be correct;

6) Sarah. Sarah may have married Peleg Card when he was about 20+ years old, which would put their marriage after 1781, but they are not known to have had children. Hence, died after 1781. One Ancestry tree suggest she died before 1826; and

7) Lucy. Lucy’s last child died after 1807. Hence, died after 1807.
One might notice that the general pattern is for the later-born children to have later possible years of death, often based on the birth date of their last child. This hopefully tends to support the “complete leap of faith represented in the above analysis.

Now, to sum up, I would suggest that a possible set of information for the 7 known children of Noah Fuller and Priscilla Taylor is as follows:
1) Alethea (or Elithear) b 1737-1742 m 1767 d after 1774

2) Elisha b 1740-1745 m 1774 d after 1798

3) Timothy b 1743-1748 m bf 1782 d after 1791

4) Noah b 1750 m 1777 d after 1802, possibly 1835 or 1838

5) Priscilla b 1751-1753 m 1775 d after 1780, possibly 1815

6) Sarah b 1753-1755 m ca 1781 d after 1781, possibly before 1826

7) Lucy b 1757-1760 m 1784 d after 1807

Hope this is helpful. Tough to speculate, but during this period, non-church going people in New England often did not show up in the records, and the records in Nova Scotia in the late 1700’s were often pretty scanty, especially with most church-related activities conducted by “circuit-rider” ministers, whose recordkeeping was not much to write home about, and early township records were also scanty.

Dave Eagles, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
10 Jan 2021