Samuel Fuller (Pilgrim)
"[1] On January 27, 1612, Fuller witnessed the betrothal of his half sister Anna to a William White, apparently not the Mayflower passenger of the same name.
[4] Additionally, the Society states that there is no proof that the Mayflower White family was ever in Leiden and, in fact, joined the company in England as non-religious members.
[5][self-published source] Records note that Samuel was living in the Groene Poort (Green Alley) neighborhood of Leiden "over against the clock tower" in 1615.
He and congregation members Edward Winslow, William Bradford, and Isaac Allerton sent a letter on June 10, 1620, to their agents in England (John Carver and Robert Cushman) who were organizing the Mayflower voyage.
The letter expressed the frustration that they were having with changes being made to the terms and conditions of the contract covering the voyage as being re-written by Merchant Adventurers agent Thomas Weston, who turned out to be quite disreputable in his dealing with the Mayflower Pilgrims in Plymouth.
They spent several days trying to sail south, but strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on November 11.
By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the timbers to be badly shaken, with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers lying wet and ill.
This and a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months contributed to sickness that proved fatal for many, especially the majority of women and children.
"[8] In 1629, a group of settlers led by John Endicott, the founder of Salem, arrived in need of medical care and advice on church organization.
[8] A similar situation occurred in 1630 when Fuller aided colonists at Charlestown by letting blood (a common medical practice at the time) for some 20 persons.
[8] In 1637, a former Plymouth resident named Thomas Morton wrote a scathing analysis of Fuller's medical abilities in his book New English Canaan.
"But in mine opinion," writes Morton, "he deserves to be set upon a palfrey and led up and down in triumph through New Canaan, with a collar of Jurdans about his neck, as was one of like desert in Richard the Second's time through the streets of London, that men might know where to find a quacksalver.
Nathaniel Morton wrote about Fuller's death in his 1669 New England's Memorial: "Mr. Samuel Fuller then died, after he had much helped others, and was a comfort to them; he was their surgeon and physician, and did much good in his place, being not only useful in his faculty, but otherwise, as he was a godly man, and served Christ in his office of a deacon in the church for many years, and forward to do good in his place, and was much missed after God removed him out of this world.
Author Caleb Johnson provides his research that the Butten family had an early association with the Leiden Separatists, and that William, son of John, was baptized on March 13, 1605, at Worksop, Nottinghamshire.
