FILLMORE
Fillmore was doubtless originally a place name. As a surname it is found in use very early in England. It is spelled also Filmer, Phillmore and Fillamore. A branch of the family located at East Sutton in Kent.
Robert Fillmore lived at parish Otterden, Hertfordshire, in the reign of Edward III. A descendant of this Robert had the Filmore arms confirmed in 1570, viz: Sable three bars three cinque-foiles in chief or.
(I) John Filmore, or Fillmore, was the immigrant ancestor of probably all of this name in this country. He was doubtless born in England; was perhaps in Nova Scotia for a time; then was a mariner living at Ipwich, Mass., and he died before 1711, when a young man.
He married, at Ipswich, June 19, 1701, Abigail, daughter of Abraham and Deliverance Tilton. His widow married, Nov. 7, 1711, Robert Bell, and removed with her children to Norwich, Connecticut, in 1720. She died Nov. 15, 1727. Robert Bell died Aug. 23, 1727.
Fillmore was taken prisoner by a French frigate, was redeemed but died on the homeward passage from Martinique. It is said that he and others were poisoned. He bought his estate at Beverly, Nov. 24, 1704.
Children:
1. John, born March 18, 1702, mentioned below.
2. Ebenezer, born at Beverly, and baptized July 21, 1706, at Wenham; married Thankful Carrier in Norwich.
3. Abigail, born at Beverly, baptized Aug. 1, 1708, at Wehham; died young.
(II) Captain John (2) son of John (1) Fillmore, was born at Ipswich, March 18, 1702, died at Norwich, Conn., now Franklin, Feb. 22, 1777. He was apprenticed to a ship carpenter in Boston, but before he was twenty-one went to sea in the "Dolphin," Captain Mark Haskell, of Cape Ann. The vessel was taken by the pirate, Captain John Phillips, Aug. 29, 1723, and one of the pirates named White recognized Fillmore as a former fellow-apprentice. Phillips offered to release the "Dolphin" and the rest of the crew if Fillmore would join the pirates, but he refused. He was taken by force, however, and assigned to the helm. He refused to sign, but Phillips promised him his liberty at the end of two months. When the time was up the pirate failed to keep his word, but promised to release at the end of another three months' service. Various small vessels were taken and plundered and a few new hands added. At the end of three mnths Phillips again declined to release Fillmore. In April, 1724, the ship "Squirrel," of Cape Ann, Captain Andrew Harridon, of Boston, was captured. All on board signed the pirate's articles except Harridon, Fillmore, Cheesman, ship carpenter, a Spanish Indian and a young American. Phillips suspected a plot against him, and ran his sword through a friend of Fillmore and attacked Fillmore with his pistol, but missed fire. Then he pretended he was only testing Fillmore and ordered him back to duty. At the end of nine months the pirates had a big carousal and Fillmore, Cheesman and the Indian planned a rising. The captain and the other pirates slept until noon the next day. Fillmore managed to burn the feet of White and Archer so they were unable to come on deck. Harridon was useless on account of fear. When the pirates were called at noon, at a given signal, Nutt, the master, was thrown overboard; Fillmore split the head of the boatswain with an axe and then attacked Phillips. Cheesman followed up his attack with a blow from a hammer and the pirate captain was also thrown into the sea. The quartermaster started from his cabin to aid the captain and was struck down by Fillmore's ax and killed. All the old pirates were killed or disabled but two and the ship was surrendered to the mutineers. The vessel was taken to Boston and the pirates placed on trial before Governor Dummer and a court of admiralty, found guilty May 12, and William White, William Phillips and John Rose Archer were executed at Bird Island, June 2, 1724. Three others were sent back to England and hanged at Execution Dock. Edward Cheesman and the Indian went to England with the condemned and were well-rewarded by the British government, the former being appointed quartermaster in keeping of the dockyard at Portsmouth. The court presented Fillmore with the gun, silver-hilted sword and a curious tobacco box of Captain Phillips; also with his silver shoe buckles and knee buckles and two gold rings.
At the time of his death the inventory shows these articles valued as follows:
Shoe buckles, eight shillings; knee buckes. eleven shillings; sword, eight shillings; and gun, ten shillings. They were treasured as heirlooms by his descendants and at last accounts were still preserved. [1910].
Fillmore was known afterward as Captain. He was a man of probity, a useful citizen, member of the church and captain of a military company. He joined the church at Norwich, July 29, 1729. He was captain of the Seventh Company of Norwich in 1750. He bought of Samuel Griswold Jr., a farm of seventy acres at Plain Hill, Nowich.
He married (first), Nov. 9, 1724, Mary Spiller, of Ipswich; (second) in 1734, Dorcas Day, of Pomfret. She died March 16, 1759, and he married (third) Mary Roach, a widow.
Children, all mentioned in will:
1. John, born about 1728; settled in Nova Scotia.
2. Abigail, March 28, 1728-19; married Nathaniel Kimball Jr.
3. Mary, Aug. 17, 1731; married John Taylor.
4. Henry, June 28, 1733; married, April 1, 1756, Thankful Downer.
5. Dorcas, Feb. 13, 1735-36; married Abel Page; lived at Haverhill and inherited the pirate's gold rings.
6. Jemima, April 1, 1737, died Dec. 1, 1741.
7. Miriam, Nov. 22, 1738; married Nathan Colgrove.
8. Nathaniel, March 26, 1739-40; married Hepzibah Wood; their son Nathaniel settled in New York, and was the father of Millard Fillmroe, president of the United States.
9. Comfort, mentioned below.
10. Amaziah, Nov. 23, 1743; took part in the Cuban expedition.
11. Mimee, Jan. 2, 1745-46; married Nathan Dillings and Jacob Pember.
12. Lydia, Nov. 15, 1747.
13. Eunice, Jan. 14, 1749-50.
14. Calvin, Feb. 24, 1752, died March 14, 1753.
15. Deborah, June 21, 1755.
16. Deliverance, Jan. 2, 1757.
(III) Comfort, son of Captain John (2) Fillmore, was born at Norwich, Jan.2 5, 1742, died at what is now Franklin, Connecticut, Jan. 24, 1814. He was a farmer and was a soldier in the revolution. In 1790 the first federal census shows that he had eleven in his family.
He married, June 22, 1763, Zerviah Bosworth, born Feb. 26, 1748.
Children, born at Norwich:
1. Artemesia, born Feb. 9, 1764; married Isaiah Armstrong.
2. Amaziah, Sept. 26, 1765; married Hannah Lad.
3. Lavius, Oct. 1, 1767; married Philura Hartshorn and lived at Middlebury, Vermont.
4. Brunetta, Nov. 16, 1769; married Levi Hazen and lived at Rome, now Lee, New York.
5. Earl, Sept. 26, 1772, died June 6, 1776.
6. Septa, Oct. 13, 1774, mentioned below.
7. Earl, Dec. 2, 1776; married Betsey D. McHeague.
8. Zerviah, Feb. 28, 1779; married Joshua Brunell.
9. Adam, March 1, 1781; married Anna Hartshorn.
10. Ennice, Aug. 29, 1783; married Asa Kingsley.
11. Theodosia, Nov. 21, 1785; married Thomas Pember.
12. Harriet, Nov. 14, 1788; married John Huniston.
13. Laura, July 1, 1790; married Walter Giddings.
14. Comfort Day, July 8, 1792; married Annice Bailey and inherited the pirate's gun.
(IV) Septa, son of Comfort Fillmore, was born Oct. 13, 1774, at Norwich. He married at Norwich, Dec. 21, 1797, Eunice Edgerton. In 1799 he located at Chazy, New York, and in the winter of 1800 his wife followed, being brought as far as Middlebury, Vermont, by her father in a sleigh and coming the rest of the way with her husband, who went to meet her. Both were from homes of comfort, perhaps of luxury for that day, and they suffered the usual hardships of the pioneers. The house was of logs with a roof over one side and a floor of earth. It stood just at the rear of the present hotel. (Chazy House). Sometimes the young wife was alone for several days while her husband carried the grain to the grist mill from Chazy Landing by canoe to Aux Noix. Wolves were numberous and at night the family climbed a ladder to the beds in the loft and pulled the ladder up after them. A blanket took the place of a door at first.
After a few years Mr. Fillmore erected a hotel, which at last accounts [1910] still formed part of the present Chazy House. For months before the battle of Plattsburgh many of the officers lived at the hotel and once the hotel had to bake hundreds of loaves of bread to provide rations for the soldiers who were marching to Plattsburgh just before the battle.
Mr. Fillmore was a captain and when he left home to join the troops his family took refuge in Peru. (N.Y.) In their absnece the hotel was plundered by the British. Not an article of furniture was left, not a whole pane of glass, the young orchard had been razed to the ground to provide fuel for the British, the front door was riddled with bullets and it is said that the house itself was saved only by a Masonic sign on it.
Colonel Fillmore took a gallant part in the battle of Plattsburgh and continued at the head of his company to the end of the war. He was brevetted a colonel. Fillmore's losses were so great that he never recovered entirely and he lived but a few years after.
Children born at Chazy, except the eldest:
1. Phebe E., born at Norwich, June 19, 1799; married March 19, 1818, Jonathan Hyde, who died July 29, 1844.
2. Fanny R., June 27, 1801; married, Jan. 29, 1825, Caleb Luther, of Plattsburgh.
3. Nancy T., Jan. 29, 1804; married Sept. 11, 1830, Julius C. Churchill, of Chazy.
4. Zerviah B., Jan. 22, 1806; married, Jan. 13, 1826, John North.
5. Elisha E., July 6, 1808; died Aug. 4. 1809.
6. Harriet, Feb. 22, 1810; married Feb. 19, 1833, Shubel Burdick, of Plattsburgh.
7. Elisha E., May 23, 1812; married, May 10, 1836, Margaret Arthur, and lived at Zanesville, Ohio.
8. Laura, April 23, 1814; married, Apr. 6, 1834, George Bristol, and settled at Scottsville, New York.
9. Sabrina, July 18, 1816, mentioned below.
10. Eunice, Nov. 30, 1818; married, Oct. 20, 1844, William Chisholm, of Chazy.
11. John D. L. F. S., Sept. 6, 1820; married, April 16, 1846, Sarah Crawford, and lived in Wisconsin.
(V) Sabrina, daughter of Septa Fillmore, was born in Chazy, July 18, 1816, died Aug. 10, 1890. Married there, July 3, 1839, Curtis H. Buckman, born July 10, 1816, died May 5, 1890. He was a farmer at Chazy, son of Stillman and Sophia (Burns) Buckman, of Chazy and of Grand Isle, Vermont.
Children of Curtis H. and Sabrina (Fillmore) Buckman:
1. William Henderson Buckman, born Oct. 17, 1840, died Nov. 27, 1884; married L. Emma Dodge, born Jan. 28, 1846.
2. Henry C. Buckman, Nov. 30, 1842, died Aug. 10, 1869, unmarried.
3. Juliet, Sept. 29, 1844; married Sept. 20, 1870, James F. Gilbert (see Gilbert VIII).
4. Septa Fillmore Buckman, Sept. 23, 1848, died March 9, 1891; married Ettie Stiles.
5. Alvah E. Buckman, July 28, 1851.
6. Frank W. Buckman, July 19, 1853; married (first) Maggie Stetson; children: Henry and Mary; married (second) Nettie Clark, of San Francisco; children: Elmore, Myrtle, Fillmore and Millard Buckman.
7. Kittie M. Buckman, Sept. 20, 1855; married Dr. Henry Knapp, of Malone, New York; children: Bertha V., Henry C. and Albert H. Knapp.