Notes for Martin H. Fuller

Notes for Martin H. Fuller

!THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WAS TAKEN FROM THE 1883 HISTORY OF CRAWFORD AND CLARK COUNTY, ILLINOIS:
M. H. FULLER FARMER P.O. HEATHVILLE. THIS GENTLEMAN WAS BORN NOVEMBER 14, 1812, IN DEARBORN COUNTY, INDIANA, AND IS A TRUE TYPE OF THE OLD PIONEER STOCK. HE IS A SON OF THOMAS FULLER, BORN OCTOBER 30, 1774, IN VIRGINIA, HE DIED MAY 5, 1839, HE WAS MARRIED IN INDIANA TO SUSANNAH TORRENCE, BORN AUGUST 28, 1776, SHE DIED NOVEMBER 20, 1857, SHE RAISED NINE CHILDREN, FIVE BOYS AND FOUR GIRLS. HER FATHER, WILLIAM TORRENCE CAME FROM IRELAND, HER MOTHER MARTHA STULL, CAME FROM PENNSYLVANIA, SHE WAS OF GERMAN DESCENT. THOMAS FULLER CAME TO THIS COUNTY IN 1820, LIVING FIVE YEARS AT PALESTINE, THEN REMOVED SIX MILES SOUTH OF PALESTINE, WHERE HE BOUGHT LAND NEAR WHERE HIS SON MARTIN H. FULLER, IS NOW LIVING, WHO SPENT HIS YO0UTH NEAR PALESTINE AND AT THE AGE OF TWENTY WENT TO THE BLACK HAWK WAR. HIS FATHER, WHO HAD FORMERLY BEEN IN THE WAR OF 1812, WAS AN ORDERLY SERGEANT IN THIS WAR. AFTER THE WAR, MARTIN H. TOOK CHARGE OF W. KITCHELL’S FARM WHILE HE WAS IN THE LEGISLATURE. IN 1835, HE RECEIVED A CALL TO LAWRENCE COUNTY, ILL., WHERE HIS FAME AS A TRUSTWORTHY MAN HAD PRECEDED HIM. HE FOLLOWED VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS TILL 1840, WHEN HE CAME BACK TO THIS COUNTY, WHERE HE ENTERED AND BOUGHT LAND, OWNING AT ONE TIME OVER 500 ACRES, HE HAS NOW A FARM OF 237 ACRES OF FINE LAND, ON A PART OF WHICH IS A COAL MINE, AND ALSO THE FINEST PROSPECT FOR AN OIL WELL.
MR. FULLER WAS JOINED IN MATRIMONY IN LAWRENCE COUNTY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1837, TO ROSAN TROMLY, BORN NOVEMBER 10, 1814, DAUGHTER OF ISAAC TROMLY, WHO MARRIED THE WIDOW OF JOSEPH LA MOTTE, THE OLD INDIAN INTERPRETER, WHOSE SUCCESSOR HE BECAME. LA MOTTE SPOKE SEVEN DIFFERENT INDIAN DIALECTS, AND WAS AT ONE TIME THE OWNER OF WHAT IS NOW CALLED LA MOTTE PRAIRIE, WHICH WAS GIVEN TO HIM BY THE INDIANS FOR HIS SERVICES AS INTERPRETER. BUT THE INDIANS WHO COVETED THE LAND AND WHO WANTED TO BE PAID FOR IT BY THE GOVERNMENT KILLED LA MOTTE AND THREW HIS BODY IN A DEEP HOLE OF WATER, WEST OF THE CEMETERY NEAR PALESTINE, IN THE CREEK WHICH BEARS HIS NAME.
MRS. FULLER IS ONE OF OUR GOOD OLD FASHIONED LADIES WHO WAS RAISED A CATHOLIC AND STILL ADHERES TO THAT FAITH. MR. FULLER IS A DEMOCRAT IN POLITICS, HIS MAIN OCCUPATION IN LIFE HAS BEEN THE CULTIVATION OF OUR BOUNTEOUS AND VIRGIN SOIL. HE SERVED HIS FRIENDS IN MANY WAYS, BEING GENERALLY CONSIDERED AS A LEADER AND SPOKESMAN. HE FILLED SCHOOL OFFICES AND WAS JUSTICE OF THE PEACE FOR TWENTY YEARS, MARRYING IN THAT TIME EIGHTY EITGHT COUPLES WITHOUT CHARGING ANYTHING. ON ACCOUNTY OF HIS FAIR AND JUST DEALINGS, HE IS CALLED THE COMPROMISIN JUSTICE. HES ADOPTED SON, EDWIN FULLER, BORN DECEMBER 2, 1866, IS A STEADY INTELLIGENT YOUNG MAN.
MARTIN DIED ON OCTOBER 4, 1897. ROSAN DIED ON JANUARY 7, 1892. THEY ARE BURIED AT WESLEY CHAPEL CEMETERY.