Lt. Nathaniel Fillmore

DAR Ancestor #: A040149 Nathaniel, one of the sons of Capt John Fillmore's second wife (Dorcas DAY, of Pomfret), born in 1740 married Hepzibah WOOD, and settled at Bennington, Vt., when that part of the country was new and unsubdued. He served as a soldier in the French was and in the war for independence, and died at Bennington in 1814. His son Nathaniel (2), born in 1771, married Phebe MILLARD, of Bennington, and he and his brothers, following the example of their ancestors, removed into the wilderness, and settled in Western New York, where they became farmers, and in the course of time clerks, teachers, justices, and members of the Assembly. This Nathaniel (2) was the father of Millard FILLMORE, thirteenth President of the United States, who was born in Cayuga Co., N. Y., Jan. 7, 1800.

GEDCOM Note

Nathaniel had quite a distinguished career as soldier, farmer and town official. He enlisted April 6, 1761 in 1st Regt., 3rd Coy in the Campaign of 1761, under Major Durkee. He was discharged December 4, 1761. This was the same regiment in which his half brother, John, served. It was probably the first of several periods of service with the army. In 1765, at the age of 25 years, he travelled on foot from Norwich, CT, to Bennington, VT. He settled on the so-called Hampshire Grant. The Wood Family, Hepzibah's parents, had gone to Bennington in 1762. Nathaniel served in the French and Indian wars and in the war of the Rebellion. Once, when wounded and left in the woods, he subsisted for nearly a week on a few kernels of corn and by roasting and eating a part of his shoes and blanket. In the Revolutionary War he distinguished himself as a Lieutenant under General Stark in the BAttle of Bennington, August 16, 1777. He was later promoted to Colonel. The story is told that there is an old flag in the Bennington Museum which had been carried by Lieut. Fillmore in the Battle of Bennington. Nathaniel took the flag home after the battle and in the course of time it was passed on to his nephew, Colonel Septa Fillmore. The flag was carried by a discendant in a Memorial Day parade in New York. While having dinner in a restaurant he placed the flag in a corner and someone took a corner of the flag for a souvenir. Although tattered and faded, the flag is still distinguishable as the 'Stars and Stripes' of '76. It is preserved in a glass case and is conceded by many authorities to be the oldest 'Stars and Stripes' in existence. Nathaniel became a Town Officer in 1768 and held other offices frequently thereafter. Nathaniel had several sons who gained distinction. One of them, Nathaniel, was the father of Millard Fillmore, thirteenth U. S. President.