John Fillmore

John FILLMORE's ancestry remains UNKNOWN, no matter how many of us have searched!

Parents are unknown. Some trees have him as a son of Edward Filmer (Fillmore) and Elizabeth Argall and is unproven and inconclusive and so disconnected from them. His profile here states he was born in Manchester England which there is no proof or his exact birth date.

Not much is known about John Fillmore. He married, on the 19th June, 1701, Abigail, the daughter of Abraham and Deliverance Tilton, also of Ipswich, MA. Abraham Tilton and Deliverance were non-conformists. Abraham was resident in Ipswich as early as 1678 and is recorded in 1679 as a Commoner, not a voter, in the Town when he substituted by voting for one Wry Averill. In 1690 he was an officer in the expedition against the French in Quebec

As a result of his participation in this expedition he and other officers petitioned to obtain land grants in the town of Winchendon, known as 'New Ipswich' in New Hampshire in 1735). Also in 1696 Abigail's brother, Abraham Tilton Jr. was permitted to build a mill on Mile River. There does not seem to be any record of John Fillmore owning any property in Ipswich prior to his purchase in 1704

John while on a voyage homeward bound, was taken by a French frigate and carried a prisoner into Martinique, where he suffered incredible hardships, and, although ultimately redeemed, was supposed to have been poisoned, with many others, by the French, during his passage home. He died before 1711, when his wife, Abigail, is called widow.

John is thought to have died on the 23rd July, 1711, after being taken a prisoner of the French. His wife, Abigail, later remarried Robert Sell on the 2nd November, 1717.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Quebec_(1690)

The first of the name whom we find in this country was John Fillmore, or Phillmore, "Mariner", of Ipswich, Mass., who purchased an estate in Beverly, November 24, 1701, and who was, probably, the common ancestor of all of that name in America. He married, June 19, 1701, Abigail; daughter of Abraham and Deliverance Tilton of Ipswich, by whom he had two sons and a daughter. (Note: The original deed, signed by Luke Perkins, "Blacksmith", and Martha his wife, conveying two acres of land and appurtenances, lying on the road from Wenham to Beverly, to John Fillmore, "Mariner," of Ipswich, for the consideration of 50 pounds, and bearing date Nov. 24, 1704, in the third year of her majesty's reign, Queen Anne, is now before the writer in a perfect state of preservation.)

President Millard Fillmore 13th President of the USA is known to be a descendant of John Fillmore, (his 2nd Great Grandfather) mariner, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, where John purchased an estate in Beverley on the 24th November, 1704.

the evidence is not entirely conclusive, that John Fillmore (the mariner), or more likely his ancestors (originally from England), emigrated first to Nova Scotia, and that, subsequently, John settled i n the colony of Massachusetts'. Dr. Woodward, however, gives no reasons for this supposition. She could have been misled by the fact that John, the eldest son of John by his first wife, Mary Spiller, (mentioned above) settled in Nova Scotia in 1763. (The grant gave his name as both John Fillmore and John Philimore in the same document).

Apparently, however, Millard Fillmore's contemporary, Joseph Lewis Fillmore (1834-1900), a descendant of the John Fillmore who settled in Nova Scotia, was then of the opinion that the family came from Kent and that President Millard Fillmore deliberately fudged on his ancestry as he wanted to bury his connection with his relatives in the South as they owned and traded in slaves, this being politically very embarrassing. (Letters from W.L. Fillmore - born 1902 - of Amherst, Nova Scotia, a grandson of Joseph Lewis Fillmore).

There could be some element of truth in this as most of the leading mariners, particularly those sailing to and from Boston, engaged in the lucrative three-way trade of slaves to the West Indies, molasses to Massachusetts and rum to Europe. On e could look to Virginia rather than Nova Scotia as the possible link accordingly.

However, The Illustrated London News, when Millard Fillmore became President, described him as descended from an old respectable English family from Devonshire but again no evidence was given for this assertion. Indeed this could well be a better supposition based on the proposition that the Devonshire Fillmore's frequently followed a seafaring way of life. Unfortunately it can just as well be argued that the Filmers could have been seafarers too in view of their Argall connection and their connections with Virginia. One seems to be left therefore with the two possible connections - to Kent or to Devonshire - both on extremely thin evidence.

A search of about 150 parish baptismal registers in Kent for the period 1610-1695 failed to disclose any John Filmers with seafaring connections although there were a few of whom nothing was known, and many were not recorded during the Hiatus . Clearly the Fillmore's were non-conformists and indeed Glezen Fillmore, Millard's contemporary, was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1825. Certainly several offshoots of the Filmer family did at a later stage turn to nonconformism but there does not seem much evidence for this at so early a date. This fact would seem to point towards Devonshire. Against this whilst there is clear evidence that Abigail was a nonconformist and John Fillmore was or later became one, without more evidence as to how he came to meet Abigail and settle in Massachusetts, this point must again remain inconclusive. There is no evidence that he fled Europe to escape religious persecution or develop his religious ideas.

The Devonshire Filmores are associated principally with the parishes of Halberton, Lympstone, Cullompton, Bradnich, Rockbeare, Otterton, Black Torrington, East Pulford, Apsham, Topsham, Morchard Bishop and various parishes in Exeter. It seems likely that they had their origin in the family associated with Finmere in Oxfordshire.

It is known that in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries a Gilbert de Finemere of Finemere in Oxfordshire held a knight's fee and a half in Devon of the Honor of Gloucester. According to Sir William Pole this land was at Winkley . There is also a Charter of John, Earl of Morton, of 1183 concerning land at 'Albertone' (Halberton) which mentions William son of Gregory, Gilbert de Finemere's father (Dugdales Monast.vi.366).

Early evidence of the name in Devonshire is also provided in the Curia Regis Rolls. In 1204 a Richard Finamor and his wife Margaret (Matilda) are mentioned and it seems they were plaintiffs in an action concerning lands in Woodhuish, a hamlet in South Devon in 1219 (Devon Fines). (It is possible that this Richard is the same person who held lands at Elsfield in Oxfordshire in 1220 noted in the Cartuliary of St. Frideswides). Also in 1228 a Thomas Finamor was involved in a land apportionment in Devon (Feet of Fines No 163 and 169). This family also appear to have had lands in Topsham and in 1369 a Joel Fynamor sold one messuage of twelve acres of land there (Devon Feet of Fines held at Westminster 11th May, 1369) . There are also many other early references given in the publications of the Devon and Cornwall Record Society, Transactions of the Devon Association, Testa de Nevil, Victoria County History and Devonshire Notes and Queries. There is no evidence that the inhabitants of the parishes previously mentioned are in any way directly related to the Kent Filmers.

W.P.W. Fillimore, in 1886, undertook a review of certain of these parishes around Topsham and Halberton to determine any connection but without success. It is known that there was a John Fillmore resident in Apsham in 1686 in which year he married a Mary Bass; and there was a John Fillmore in charge of the ship 'Paragon.' in 1692. In 1712 a John Fillmore arrived in Boston on the 6th June in the ship 'Mary' from Topsham but there does not seem to be any trace of him in the parish registers. He was possibly in charge of this ship (M. Tepper, 1977).

Clearly the evidence is too scanty to come to any firm conclusion.

Sources for John Fillmore 1 Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Datebase), New England Historic Genealogical Society (2001-2008), Marriage record for John Fillmore and Abigail Tilton. 2 The American Genealogist, New Haven, Connecticut: D. L. Jacobus (issues newer than 5 years not online), 1988, Vol. 63, p. 49, New England Historic Genealogical Society (Online Database). 3 Cutter, William Richard, Genealogical and Family History of Western New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People . . ., Vol. 1, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co. (1912), 806-807. 4 Napoli, Marjorie Little, The Smith Genealogy, Rutland, Vermont: Academy Books (1974), 158.