Representative women of New England/Sarah E. Fuller
SARAH ELIZABETH FULLER, a Past National President of the Woman's Relief Corps, was the first President of the Department of Massachusetts—the pioneer State organization—and has a record of forty years' faithful service for the soldiers of the Union, she having enrolled herself as a worker in the Christian Commission during the early days of the Civil War.
She was born August 1, 1838, in Portland, Me. She is descended on the paternal side from a titled English family, whose ancestry she is able to trace back for over three hundred years, and on the maternal side is of Scottish extraction. Her father, Samuel Mills, was born July 23, 1S04, and dieil January 31, 1888. He married Betsey Haines, who was born June 17, 1811, died February 21, 1886. Sanuiel Mills was son of Jacob Mills, Jr., born in 1763, and his wife, Sarah Taylor, born in 1765; grandson of Jacob Mills, born in 1720, and his wife, Elizabeth Cutts, born in 1729; and great-grand.son of John Mills, who died in 17S(). Many of her ancestors were distinguislicHl for piety and scholarship, some being noted lawyers and two great-uncles filling the ofhce of Secretary of State in Maine. Her grandsires on both sides fought in the Revolutionary War, also in the War of 1812.
Her father, Samuel Mills, who was an intense abolitionist and a public-spiriteil citizen, taught his daughter to take an interest in the leading topics of the day. When only a school-girl, she attended with him meetings which were addressed by Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate, Charles Sunmer, Wendell Phillips, and other great orators of that j^eriod. These early les- sons had a marked effect upon her character. Her education was begun in the public schools of Portland, but, her parents removing to East Boston in 1849, her school studies were com- pleted in that city.
In 185.5 Sarah E. Mills married George W. Fuller,, of Canton, Me. In 1861 the call for seventy-five thousand men aroused a spirit of patriotism that left its shadow on her threshold. Mr. Piller respondinl to the call for volunteers, but was rejected as physically unable to bear the hardships of war. In 1862 he volunteered in the naval service, on the gunboat " Roanoke," but his frail constitution was d(H'med a barrier. He did not, however, abandon the hope of serv- ing his country. On February 12, 1864, he enrolled his name for the third time, and was mustered into the .service six days later as a member of Company C, Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry. The regiment remained in camp at Readville until April 24, when it sailed from Boston for Newport News, Va., on the steamer " 'estern Metropolis." At Petersbiu'g in the following June Mr. Fuller was stricken with malarial tyi)hoid fever, and was removed to the hospital at Portsmouth, Va. He died July 2, 1864, and is buried in the National Cemetery at Hampton,
As stated aliove, from the early days of the Civil War Mrs. Fuller assisted in preparing hos- pital stores and other comforts for the soldiers. She also participated in many patriotic con- certs given in Maine and M;issachusetts for the hosjMtal fund. The ilay after the news of the battle of Antietam was received at the North, she arranged with the help of a few others a concert fnjm which four hmidred dollars were realized. This money was converted into ar- ticles which were forwarded to the front in less than two days after the concert was given. For seventeen years Mrs. l^'uller was a faithful member of the Handel and Haydn Society of lioston.
Remembering with gratitude that one of the noble band of army nurses ministered to her husband in the hospital, she has consecrated her life to the soldiers' cause. She represented Ward One of Boston on the Executive Com- mittee of the Christian Conunission. Mien the Grand Army of the Rei)ublic was formed, its objects enlisted her sympathies. In 1871 she assisted in forming a Ladies' Aid Society, auxiliary to Joseph Hooker Post, No. 23, of East I^oston. She served as secretary, vice- president, and president, also as a delegate to the State convention of Ladies' Auxiliary So- cieties, held at Fitchburg, February 12, 1879. At this convention the Woman's State Relief Corps of Massachu.setts was formed. Mrs. Fuller was cho.sen president, and was the first signer to its constitution. She was re-elected to this office in 1880 and in 1881. That she won the suj^port of many who were at first sce|)tical in regard to tli(> success of the move- ment is now a matter of record. There were not a few discouragements, but voice and pen united to surmount them; for, eloquent in speech and convincing in argument, Mrs. Fuller wisely directed both for the best interests of the cause.
The platform of the new order, welcoming to membership all loyal women who were willing to work for the veterans, was a broad one. The impressive ritualistic service and thorough methods of organizing indicated that the order had been formed upon u permanent basis. To win the approval of the Grand Army was the next step taken in the line of progress, for local corps could only be instituted by request of posts. General Horace Binney Sargent, Department Commander when the Woman's Relief Corps was formed, his successor, Captain John G. B. Adams, and Captain James F. Meech, Assistant Adjutant-general, gave hearty support to Mrs. Fuller and her associates. The use of Grand Army heatdquarters in Boston was tendered them for weekly meetings. Here they consulted with post commanders, explained the objects of Relief Corps work to numerous in- quirers, and outlined plans that i)roved of great value.
In 188I a committee was chosen by the women of the Relief Corps to co-operate with the trustees of the. Soldiers' Home in their plans for the bazaar. Mrs. Fuller was chairman, and by her personal appeals, official correspondence, and public addresses created great interest in the project, as shown by the fact that the Re- lief Cori)s tables netted four thousand one hun- dred and eighty-nine dollars and twenty-five cents. Mrs. Fuller was the first woman to give a public address in behalf of the Home, accept- ing an invitation extended by General Sargent to speak in Haverhill. When the Home was dedicated, Mrs. Fuller in an eloquent address presented, on behalf of friends, a Bible, burgee, and flag, which were procured at her suggestion. These gifts the trustees acknowledged by a vote of thanks, beautifully engrossed, now hanging on the walls of department headquarters.
Mrs. Fuller has served in official positions in the Ladies' Aid Association oi the Soldiers' Home ever since its formation, in 1SS2. At present she is one of the vice-presidents. A room in the Home has been dedicated in her honor by the Department W. R. C, and her portrait, the gift of John A. Hawes Relief Corps, No. 3, of East Boston, has been placed upon its walls. This corps also presented her portrait to Grand Army Hall. William Logan Rodman Post, No. 1, of New Bedford, likewise has thus honored her. Her portrait also hangs upon the walls of department headquarters in Bos- ton, a gift from her many friends throughout the State.
Upon retiring from the presidency at the annual convention in 1882, Mrs. Fuller was chosen secretary of the Department of Massachusetts. In her capacity as President and secretary she travelled thousands of miles, in- stituted nineteen corps in Massachusetts, five in Maine, and assisted Mrs. E. Florence Barker and Mrs. M. S. Goodale, associate officers, at the institution of eighteen others. The Department Encampment, G. A. R., of Massachusetts adopted a resolution January 27, 1881, recognizing the Woman's Relief Corps as "an invaluable ally in its mission of charity and loyalty" and "as a noble band of Christian women, who, while not of the Grand Army of the Republic, are auxiliary to it." ' The word "State" was dropped, and the word "Depart- ment" substituted, thus conforming to the title of the Grand Army.
Mrs. Fuller conducted a large correspond- ence, writing hundreds of letters and arousing an interest in the order outside of Massachu- setts. She believed in a national organization, and penned the first letter in its behalf. She secured the interest of prominent comrades in New Hampshire, and it was announced in general orders of Department Commnander George Bowers, of that State, that a conven- tion would be held at Laconia, October 21, 1880. Mrs. Fuller and Mrs. E. Florence Barker were invited to organize a State Department. The success of the work having been assured in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, a cor- respondence was conducted with the G. A. R. officials in Connecticut. As the result, in No- vember, 1882, Mrs. Fuller, in company with Mrs. Barker (her successor as Department President), organized several corps in that State. The Union Board, comprising the De- partments of Mas.sachu,setts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, was formeil with headquar- ters in Boston.
Mrs. Fuller, who realized from the first the necessity for a national order, was one of the three delegates chosen to represent the Depart- ment of Massachusetts at the convention in Denver, Col., in 1883. This convention, callcil by Commander-in-chief Paul Van Der Voort, resulted in the National Woman's Relief Cor]is, the early history of which is given in the sketch of Mrs. E. Florence Barker. Mrs. Fuller was a prominent participant in the convention, and was unanimously chosen National Sec- retary. A busy year ensued. Over two thousand communications were written and many hundred pages of instruction prepared by her, numerous otlier duties also receiving attention. From September 5, 1SS3, to Feb- ruary 23, 1884, she issued sup])lies for eighty- nine cor))s.
At the second National ('onvention, held at Minneapolis, July, 1884, she was elected Senior Vice-President. Dining that year she insti- tuted three corps in Rhode Island and visited Vermont on a tour of inspection, organizing a department in that State. At the third National Convention, held in Portland, Me., in June, 1885, she was elected National President, and, upon returning home tendered her resignation as Dei)artment secretary of Massachusetts. Meanwhile she had organized Corps No. 3 in East Boston, auxiliary to John A. Hawes Post, No. 159, and for nearly two years served as its president. In view of her retirement from the presidency of Corps No. 3, in order to enter upon her duties as the official heatl of the National Woman's Relief Corps, the post on July 24, 1885, adopted a series of resolutions expressing their warm appreciation of her loyalty and devotion to the principles of the order and of the valuable services she had rendered them, and assuring her that the sincere and heartfelt good wishes of the post would follow her day by day, as she continued to labor for the good of the order in the high position to which she had been called.
During her year as National President, Mrs. Fuller visited the Departments of New Hamp- shire, New York, Penn.sylvania, Ohio, and Illi- nois. She carried on a large correspondence and addressed many {)ublic gatherings. She issued a series of eight general orders, one of which, a memorial tribute to General Grant, was widely read, and considered a document of historic interest.
It was dated " He;i(l<(uarters Woman's Re- lief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, Boston, July 23, 1885," and was in part as follows: —
"On this bright suamier morning the bells are tolling the reciuiem of our country's noble dead.
" Ex-President Ulyi^ses S. Cirant has closetl his eyes and laid him ilown to rest. The long, weary months of pairi and suffering are over, and our brave, lion-liearted Commander and comrade is no more. . . . "As an auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, who to-day mourn the loss of their conn-ade, it is fitting Jiat we, the members of the Woman's Relief ('orps, should unite with them in our expre.ssio is of sorrow and mourn- ing.
"Therefore, in recognition of the faithful services of this patriot, sildier, and friend, and as a tribute of our respectt and love for the 'Hero of A]ipomattox' and (:ur grateful remembrance of his licroic deeds, the charters of all corps throughout our order will be draped in emblems of mourning for sixty days, and at the first regular meeting after the receipt of this order all corjis shall set apart one hour for special services commemorative of his life and glorious deeds as a soldier. . .
"Dei)artment and corps presidents are charged with a jjrompt distribution of this order.
" By command of
"Sarah E. Fuller,
"Nationnl President.
"Eleanor B. Wheeler,
"National Secretary^
At the fourth annual convention in San Francisco in July, 188(), Mrs. Fuller was elected a member of the National Executive Board, and at St. Louis a year later was unanimously cliosen a life member of the board. In LS89 she was elected secretary of the Conmiittee of Arrangements for the Eighth National Convention, to be held in Boston in 1890. As secretary of the National Pension Connnittee for Army Nurses, she was called to Washington in June, 1889. She conferred with committees and Congressmen, rendering valuable aid in support of favorable legislation for the pending bill. She was prostrated by the intense heat from which the city of Washington suffered during that summer. A severe illness followed, resulting in serious deafness, and she was obliged to defer active work for two years.
She was elected Department Treasurer in February, 1892, and has been unanimously re-elected at every subsequent State convention. She can rightfully claim the honor of being the pioneer of the Woman's Relief Corps. The organization, which now numbers one hundred and fifty thousand members, is largely indebted to her for the written work which was the foundation of its ritualistic system. Of her it may be said, as of Alexander Hamilton, that valuable facts are stored away in the deep recesses of her mind, to rest undisturbed until needed for reference. She is recognized authority on historical matters. She has delivered Memorial Day addresses in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, and has addressed hundreds of camp-fires and other patriotic gatherings. She has friends in every State in the Union.
She is a member of the Executive Committee of Arrangements for the National Convention in Boston (August, 1904), chairman of the Entertainment Conmiittee, and a worker on several sub-committees.
As National Counselor she has performed active duties during the, past year, and will have a prominent part in all the receptions and other gatherings connected with the Order during encampment week.
Her activities have not been confined to one branch of work. She is broad-minded, and her executive ability is quickly recognized in any organization in which she becomes interested. In the Sunday-school connected with the Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of East Boston, of which she is a member, she was for many years the teacher of a large class of young ladies. In temperance work she has always been active, filling prominent offices in the Independent Order of Good Templars, and is a Past Grand Commander of the United Order of the Golden Cross. Three years she has served as chaplain of the Sarah Bradlee Fulton Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, of Medford. She is also an earnest worker in the International Order of King's Daughters and Sons, holding for six years the office of leader of the Inasmuch Union of Medfont.
Unselfish and tender-hearted to a marked degree, she is beloved by all who are privileged to know her. To the fact that she is sunny and optimistic by nature, with the helpful faculty of seeing always the humorous side of things, is owing largely her power to overcome formidable obstacles in the line of duty. She is always just and impartial, seeking ever for both sides of the question, willing to concede, but remaining true to her convictions.
George Samuel Taylor Fuller, of Medford, her son, with whom she (a mother tenderly cherished) makes her home, was born November 27, 1856. He is a graduate of the Lyman Grammar School of East Boston, also of the Boston English High School. Since his residence in Medford he has been identified with plans for the benefit of the city, and has served as a member of the city government. At the last election he was chosen a member of the school board. He is corresponding secretary of the Medford Historical Society, serving his third year in that position. September 19, 1887, he married Ella Jane Prescott, of Exeter, N.H., who also comes of Revolutionary ancestors. They have one son, George Prescott Fuller, a patriotic lad, interested in all that pertains to the American flag and its defenders.