Who were the ancestors of James B. Fullton and Anastasia Tuel?
There is no record in which either James or Anastasia mentioned the names of their parents, but there is very strong evidence that we do in fact know their identities.
James:
The parents of James were almost certainly Robert Fullton and Catherine Sparburn. On 4 Oct 1756, a Robert Fulton was bonded to marry Cath(e)rine Sparburn, both of Burlington Co, NJ [1]. According to WPA records at the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton, 3 sons were born of the marriage: the first in Dec 1757, the second in Dec 1760 and the last in Jan 1765. That last is James; since James did not mention siblings when he recounted his move to Maryland in 1771, they might have been dead by then. They are certainly absent on the 1776 Maryland census.
Catherine appears to have died either in childbirth or shortly thereafter, for on 19 July 1765, only 6 months after the birth of James, father Robert is bonded to marry Mary Rogers of Nottingham, Burlington Co, NJ. In this marriage bond, Robert is identified as a tailor from Bordentown [2], where we know that James was born by his own testimony [3].
At the age of 6 (c. 1771) James moved "with [his] father" to "Frederick County, later Montgomery County, Maryland" [3]. (The reference here is probably not to a later move from Frederick to Montgomery county, but rather to the creation of Montgomery County in 1776 from the piece of Frederick county in which they were living.) Robert (age 55), James (age 11) and Mary (age 47) all show up in the 1776 Maryland census, living in the "Lower Potomack Hundred" in what is now Montgomery County.
James remained there until shortly after his marriage in 1787, at which time he moved with Anastasia to York County, SC. He memorialized the mother he never knew by naming his 4th child after her: Horatio Sparburn Fulton.
On a side note, there are 2 Robert Fulton/Foulton's in Montgomery and Frederick counties who signed oaths of allegiance to Maryland when independence was declared and he is likely one of them.
I have found one reference to Robert and Mary having children of their own [4]: Robert, born after 1767, and Mary, born c. 1770. But why didn't they show up on the 1776 Maryland census? (Too young?)
Finally, the large mystery remains of where Robert and Catherine came from. The name Sparburn is highly unusual -- so much so that I can't find another single reference to it. On the other hand, there were large numbers of Fulton's living just across the Delaware River from Robert and he may well be connected to some of them, though I have never seen how. There may be one subtle clue: an advertisement in the 9 Dec 1756 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette (published in Philadelphia) from one David Fulton of Cheltenham Twp, Philadelphia Co, announces that he is missing a horse which had been brought to its present home from Bordentown, NJ after the previous harvest. Could this David be someone tied to our Robert?
Anastasia:
The parents of Anastasia are believed to be William Tuel and Rachel Offutt [5], though I have yet to see direct evidence for this. Some information on WIlliam can be garnered from the IGI. A William matching our expectations was born c. 1738 in Maryland or Philadelphia, however there may be more than one such person and more than one Tuel line. I have also heard from various forgotten sources that William died in the Revolutionary War. The IGI implies that William's parents were William Tuel and Eleanor Edmonston, but again there is confusion among various Tuel lines.
We know that Anastasia's mother was named Rachel, for after the death of Anastasia's father, she remarried to a widower by the name of Joseph Benton in Montgomery Co, MD, and by him had two sons: Leaven and Nathaniel Offutt [6]. The odds are high that Rachel's maiden name was Offutt, since the name Offutt appears as a middle name in her son Nathaniel Benton and well as for the eldest daughter of James and Anastasia. If this is correct, then Rachel Offutt was born c. 1737 in Frederick (now Montgomery) Co, MD and died sometime after 1807. Her parents are believed to James Offutt and Rachel Beall [5]. Rachel Beall is supposed to be the daughter of Ninian Beall, but the Beall line in Maryland is completely confusing, so I have put this aside for now. James Offutt was born c. 1703 in Prince George's Co, MD and died in 1750. James is in turn the son of William Offutt (c.1699-1734, both in Prince George's Co, MD) and Mary Brock (c.1676-1748, both in Prince George's Co). Mary Brock is the daughter of Capt. Edward Brock (??-1714), who had settled in Maryland already by 1672, and his wife Elizabeth.
On a side note, when Anastasia moved to York Co, SC with James, she was accompanied by her one full brother Horatio Tuel (c.1769-??, wife was Grace Ellison), whose name probably provides the source of the recurring Horatio's in the Fulton family tree, and by her half-brother Leaven Benton.
I would greatly appreciate any input on
these lines, especially any information on the Tuel family of Maryland
and Washington DC.
