The Professors of Atlanta University: J. F. Fuller

J. F. Fuller
From First Congregational Church

Jesse Franklin Fuller (b. March 4, 1832; d. August 31, 1909)

Massachusetts.  White.
Education: A.B. (Amherst College), A.M. (Amhest College)
Occupation: bookkeeper, farmer, teacher.

J. F. Fuller was born in the town of Middleton, Massachusetts in 1832 to Abijah and Abigail Frances (Weston) Fuller. Like most residents of Middleton, the father Abijah ran a family farm. The son attended local schools until he was nineteen (in 1851) when he left to take college preparatory classes at Wilbraham Academy. After graduating from the academy in 1854, he enrolled in Amherst College. He received a degree from the college in 1858. 

After completing his college education, Fuller began teaching, the vocation that would occupy him for the next four decades. He taught for a year in the town of Gloucester, but in May 1859, he left Massachusetts to settle in Appleton, Wisconsin. There he worked as a teacher and as a school superintendent. He was also highly active in the First Congregational Church, serving as organist and clerk.

Fuller remained in Appleton for two decades, until 1871. That year he became active in the American Missionary Society's efforts to educate freedmen. He first moved to Straight University in New Orleans to serve as professor of mathematics. After teaching there for five years (in 1876), he moved to Atlanta University to hold a similar professorship.

Fuller left the south to return to Wisconsin in 1880. He first served as a high school principal and school superintendent in the town of De Pere. He returned to Appleton in 1884 and worked as an accountant until about 1897. Shortly before he retired from his work as an accountant, Fuller published a family genealogy. Four years later he published a history of the First Congregational Church in Appleton.

Fuller remained in Appleton until his death, due to heart disease, in 1909.  

Publications

1. A Brief Sketch of Thomas Fuller and His Descendants With Historical Notes. (Appleton, Wis.: Crescent Printing House, 1896).

2. The First Congregational Church, Appleton, Wis. Prepared for the Semi-centennial Anniversary, Dec. 18, 1900. (Appleton, Wis.: Appleton Printing Co, 1900?)

Sources

1. Obituary Record of Graduates of Amherst College, for the Academical Year Ending June 24, 1903.  (Amherst, Mass.: Amherst College, 1903), 332–333.

2.  Spencer, Elihu, The Pioneers of Outagamie County, Wisconsin.  (Appleton, Wis.: Post Publishing Company, 1895), 275–276.

3. Montague, W. L., Biographical Records of the Alumni of Amherst College During Its First Half Century, 1821–1871.  (Appleton, Wis.: ?, 1883), 326.

4. Year: 1850; Census Place: Middleton, Essex, Massachusetts; Roll: 315; Page: 359a

5. Year: 1870; Census Place: Appleton Ward 2, Outagamie, Wisconsin; Roll: M593_1730; Page: 372B

6. Year: 1900; Census Place: Appleton Ward 1, Outagamie, Wisconsin; Roll: 1809; Page: 12; Enumeration District: 0064; FHL microfilm: 1241809