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Millard Fillmore

arriano

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Total Posts: 1303

Joined 20-08-2004

Posted: 20 April 2009 17:47

Found this on Google Books:

"Millard Fillmore," by William Elliot Griffis, 1915

MILLARD FILLMORE CHRONOLOGY

"The name Fillmore is of English possibly Norman origin, the family having its seat in Herst, Parish Otterden, in which place James Filmer had his arms confirmed to him in 1570, viz. sable, three bars three cinquefoils in chief, or; died, 1585; and had issue, Sir Edward, of Little Charlton, who purchased East Button in Kent."

http://books.google.com/books?id=rhl3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145&dq=fillmore+“three+cinquefoils”&source=bl&ots=WFJmQOcQOA&sig=d3uNZYRcLSK7WAEYWClq-U5vo9w&hl=en&ei=OuvsSdjsO5DwtAOxh4TgAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1

James Dempster

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Posted: 21 April 2009 08:17

I can’t imagine any US President wanting to claim descent from the Filmers of East Sutton in Kent. The most famous member of that family is the 17th century Sir Robert Filmer, author of Patriarcha, a famous defence of the Divine Right of Kings. It was later thoroughly demolished by John Locke in one of his Two Treatises on Government. I remember reading both at university.

I notice that Wikipedia (not always reliable) claims that Fillmore came of Presbyterian Scottish stock. It isn’t a common name in Scotland. Does anyone know if this statement in Wiki has any foundation?

James

Michael Swanson

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Total Posts: 2462

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Posted: 21 April 2009 10:36

According to the LDS site, his earliest recorded ancestor was John FILLMORE b. 1676 Manchester, Lancashire, England d. 1712

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/af/individual_record.asp?recid=13422765&lds=0&frompage=0

An oral traditions is recorded here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=IDr_W-wch94C&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=MILLARD+FILLMORE+geneaology&source=bl&ots=C443celN6J&sig=QZTxXYsplVhLT5RDkSK73k9nOFM&hl=en&ei=sNjtSdGCGZbKtgeSspnQDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9

Joseph McMillan

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Posted: 21 April 2009 12:26

Michael Swanson;68607 wrote:

According to the LDS site, his earliest recorded ancestor was John FILLMORE b. 1676 Manchester, Lancashire, England d. 1712

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/af/individual_record.asp?recid=13422765&lds=0&frompage=0

I wonder what the connection to Manchester is based on. Everything I’ve seen dead-ends with mention of this John Fillmore’s marriage in Ipswich, Mass., in 1701. Another fine piece of pop-genealogy in the LDS records, with no citation of evidence?

There were very few Scots or Scotch-Irish in New England before the middle of the 18th century. Most of the settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony came from East Anglia (which is where both Ipswich, Mass., and Essex County, in which it’s located, got their names).

It’s possible that John Fillmore might have come from Kent, which is on the opposite side of the Thames estuary from Essex, but even so any connection to the Filmers of East Sutton is entirely speculative. The John Fillmore mentioned above is described in contemporary records as a mariner; his son John, the president’s great-grandfather, was a ship carpenter. Quite a drop in status from the grand Filmers of East Sutton in the space of 50 years! We should believe Millard Fillmore’s own disclaimer of grand ancestry rather than the fanciful 19th century speculations contained in…

Quote:

An oral traditions is recorded here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=IDr_W-wch94C&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=MILLARD+FILLMORE+geneaology&source=bl&ots=C443celN6J&sig=QZTxXYsplVhLT5RDkSK73k9nOFM&hl=en&ei=sNjtSdGCGZbKtgeSspnQDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9

This oral tradition isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on!

Michael Swanson

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Posted: 21 April 2009 12:51

Joseph McMillan;68608 wrote:

I wonder what the connection to Manchester is based on. Everything I’ve seen dead-ends with mention of this John Fillmore’s marriage in Ipswich, Mass., in 1701. Another fine piece of pop-genealogy in the LDS records, with no citation of evidence?

A couple of footnotes are here:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=gfthibault&id=I03460

ninest123

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Posted: 25 July 2018 10:53

Chester A. Arthur FDR Bookplate