John Tuller

John Tuller (sometimes Tullar) was b. c. 1652 in an unknown location to unknown parents. Some traditions have him being born in 1642 and dying as a centenarian, but 1652 is seen as closer to likely by most genealogists. No actual record exists confirming any date.

He is commonly shown in on-line family trees to be a son of William Tuller of the Netherlands and Margaret Donaldson of New York. This is likely a reference to Dutch-born William Teller and Scottish-born Margaret Duncanson of New Netherland Colony, who lived in the correct era. No evidence for this assertion has ever been provided, however, and noted Connecticut genealogist Donald Lines Jacobus agreed with previous genealogists (including Thomas Lathrop Kennan) that Tuller's ancestry was completely unknown.

John Tuller appears in the Simsbury, Connecticut records as the second husband of Elizabeth (Case) Lewis, widow of Joseph Lewis. John and Elizabeth married in 1684.

In 1690, John and Elizabeth had a farm on the south border of Simsbury, to the east of the Farmington River. He was taxed in 1694 and was one of the founders of the church on 10 November 1697.

John and Elizabeth had six children, all born in Simsbury:

1. Sarah Tuller, b. 4 August 1685
2. William Tuller, b. 10 June 1687
3. Samuel Tuller, b. 1689
4. Mary Tuller, b. 27 November 1692
5. Jacob Tuller, b. 22 May 1694
6. Mabel Tuller, b. 22 February 1699

Elizabeth died in 1718, and John married again on 9 July 1719 in Simsbury to Hannah Slowman.

His will was dated 28 January 1741/2 and the inventory was presented in court on 10 October 1743.

He is buried in Hop Meadow Cemetery in Simsbury.

Sources

• A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records, Hartford District, 1729-1750. Vol. III. n.p., 1906, p. 103.
• "Ancestral Heads of New England Families." Americana, Volume 16, Issue 3, p. ccxlv.
• Goodwin, Nathaniel. First Settlers of Connecticut and Massachusetts. New Orleans, Louisiana: L. Graham & Son, 1899, p. 275.
• Jacobus, Donald Lines. "John Lewis of New London, Conn.; Joseph Lewis of Simsbury, Conn.," American Genealogist 37 [1961]: 123-28.
• "John Tuller (abt. 1652 - bef. 1742)." WikiTree, revision of 27 January 2021. < link > Accessed 22 March 2022.
• Kennan, Thomas Lathrop. Genealogy of the Kennan Family. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Cannon Printing Co., 1907, p. 82.
• Torry, Clarence A. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004, p. 758.