Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/704

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

New Providence, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He married Mary Elizabeth Klein, of a Palatinate family, which settled in Pennsylvania. John Samuel Raboteau was born January 22, 1766, at Philadelphia. He married, September 5, 1790, Susannah Graeflf, descended from Herman Opden Graef, who removed to Crefield, and mar- ried a Mennonite girl, Grietjen, daughter of Driessen Pletjes. Herman O. Graef was delegated from Krevelt to the council of the Mennonite church at Dordrecht, April 21, 1632. He died 1642, and his wife the fol- lowing year. Of their eighteen children, Isaac, born 1616, died 1669, was the father of Herman, Abraham and Dirck, who were linen weavers and immigrated to German- town, Pennsylvania, where they were part of a company of eleven to whom William Penn issued a charter for the incorporation of Germantown. The fourth daughter of John S. Raboteau, Catherine Eleanor, be- came the wife of Thomas Puller, as above noted. His widow with her three small children returned to her people in Franklin county. The eldest child, Sarah, became the wife of R. H. J. Blout, of Durham, North Carolina, later of Washington. The sec- ond son, Bartholomew, was a lawyer of dis- tinction in Fayetteville.

The third child, Thomas Charles Fuller, was born near Louisburg, February 20, 1832, and died at Raleigh, October 21, 1901. He was a prominent attorney and a judge of the United States court of private land claims at the time of his death. He served as a soldier of the Civil war, being first lieutenant in Starr's battery, commissioned at Fort Fisher. He married, September 4,

1857, Caroline Douglas Whitehead, daugh- ter of Williamson and Janet (Eccles) White- head. Her mother was a daughter of John and Lucy (McLaurin) Eccles, who emi- grated from Scotland and settled in Fayette- ville, North Carolina, where Mr. Eccles was an eminent merchant, and died in 1831.

Williamson Whitehead Fuller, son of Thomas Charles and Caroline Douglas (Whitehead) Fuller, was born August 28,

1858, at Fayetteville, North Carolina. He was educated at the University of Virginia, from which he graduated in 1878. He pur- sued the study of law at Dick & Dillard's Law School, Greensboro, North Carolina, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1880. After one year of practice at Raleigh,

he removed to Durham, North Carolina, and thence, in 1895, to New York City, where he continued in practice until December, 191 1, when he retired to his farm at Briar- cliff Manor, New York. For many years he was general counsel of the American Tobacco Company. A Presbyterian in re- ligious faith, he has always adhered to the Democrats in politics. He is a member of the college fraternities, Zara Psi and Phi Beta Kappa, as well as various clubs in New York, including the Metropolitan, Ardsley, Sleepy Hollow and Riding clubs. He is a trustee of the University of Vir- ginia, and was president of the North Caro- lina Society and subsequently of the South- ern Society of New York. He married, Feb- ruary 19, 1880, Annie Margaret Staples, born October 28, i860, at Montgomery, Alabama, descendant of a very old Southern family. Children : Thomas Staples, of fur- ther mention; Janet Douglas, wife of Win- field Fuller (no relative), of New York City; Margaret Hereford, Mrs. Arthur Taylor Remick, of Boston ; Caroline Whitehead ; Annie Norman ; Dorothy. The Staples family has been traced to Samuel Staples, who was in Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1760, later in Buckingham county. His son, John Staples, was in Henry county, Vir- ginia, in 1784, high sheriff in 1815-16, and died intestate in 1817. His wife's baptismal name was Martha, and they were the par- ents of Norman Staples, of Patrick county, A'irginia. His son. Harden Hairston Staples, married, September 23, 1844, Mar- garet Elizabeth Hereford, daughter of John Hereford, of Henry county, Virginia. Har- den H. Staples was a descendant of Martin Harden, born 1720, in France. After the massacre of St. Bartholomew he removed to Canada and thence to the British colony of Virginia, locating in Fauquier county. He was called "Ruffled Shirt Martin" be- cause of his courtly manners and superior education. He married Lydia Waters, and died at Georges Creek, Monongahela county, Virginia (now West Virginia). Annie Mar- garet, daughter of Harden H. Staples, be- came the wife of Williamson W. Fuller, as above noted.

Thomas Staples Fuller, son of Williamson Whitehead and Annie Margaret (Staples) Fuller, was born February 9, 1881, at Ral- eigh, North Carolina, and completed his classical education at the University of Vir-