The Story of John Fullagar

This post tells the story of my paternal Great Great Great Great Grandfather John Fullagar (1757-1803). Records for this period are a little light on, and it took me quite a lengthy period of time before I had any details of John at all.  Thankfully, I now have enough to at least put together a little bit of a story.

John was born on the 24th of March 1757, in the small village of Woodchurch, in Kent, England.

England during the time was reigned by King George 11, and British rule was beginning to be established in India.


John was christened at All Saints Church in Woodchurch, Ashford Borough, Kent.

All Saints Church, Woodchurch, Kent  (Etching by Charles Miles 1847)

When John was born his father John Fullagar was 30, and his mother Sarah Gilham was 34.


There were already three children in the family.

Mary was born in 1748.
Elizabeth was born in 1752.
Joseph came along in 1754.






John's father had been running the Bonny Cravat Inn in the village since 1750, after the birth of the first child Mary, although the family had in fact been associated with the inn since the early 1730s.

The modern Bonny Cravat Inn

John's grandfather had been the innkeeper for the Bonny Cravat for twelve years from 1734.

When he died, John's grandmother took over and ran the inn for four years.

John's father then took over from John's grandmother after he had married.





In 1758, the year after John's birth, John's sister Sarah was born.  It was at this point in time that John's father, for some reason I have yet to uncover, stopped being the innkeeper of the inn that had been in the Fullagar family's hands for 24 years.  I wonder why?

The inn was then kept by members of another family, the Hukins family, for the next 24 years until my 4x great grandfather John took over, and it was in the hands of the Fullagar family once more.

(Interestingly, many years later, one of John's daughters, my Great Great Great Grandmother Susannah, married the grandson of one the Hukins brothers, so it seems there was no bad blood between the families!)

Well now, back to my great great great great grandfather John's story ... 

His sister Sarah was born the year after John, in 1758.
Thomas was born in 1759.

I have no information to share about John's childhood years, and what it might have been like growing up in the village of Woodchurch.  I have wondered what his father's occupation was during this time though?  Was John's father still involved in the day-to-day running of the Bonny Cravat Inn, even though he was no longer the innkeeper?

John's father, John Fullagar Snr., passed away in 1775, when John was aged 18. I wonder how the family got along after this.  It's likely both of John's older sisters were married by this time or married soon after, as they were aged 27 and 23 respectively.  John's other brothers, Joseph now aged 21 and Thomas aged 16 were perhaps working and bringing in an income to help support the family.  No doubt, John himself was also working by this time.  His sister Sarah, aged 17, was most likely helping out with the domestic duties at home, alongside her mother.

In May of 1782 John's mother Sarah died, just after John had turned 25. As it turned out, this happened just two months before John's wedding, which meant neither of his parents witnessed his marriage.

John married Elizabeth Bourne on the 7th of July in 1782, when he was 25 years old.  Elizabeth was a daughter of a well-known family in Woodchurch, so it appears John married well.

A view of Woodchurch early 1900s -  the Bonny Cravat Inn is on the left.

As mentioned previously, John took over as innkeeper of the Bonny Cravat Inn that same year, 1782, when he was 25 years of age.  He was to be the innkeeper for the next 20 years.

The Bonny Cravat Inn had been in the hands of other members of the Fullagar family before John became the innkeeper, and there were to be other Fullagars who followed in the same occupation later on as well; but it was John who ended up being the Fullagar who worked the longest as an innkeeper of the Bonny Cravat over its long lifespan.

Interestingly, the Bonny Cravat is still standing and is still operating today on Frone Road in Woodchurch.

Given John's long career as the innkeeper of the inn, it is likely that he made a comfortable enough living and provided a reasonably substantial place of residence.  It also seems likely that he would have become quite a well-known, if not prominent, member of the community in that time. 



Indeed, the Kent Poll Book record of 1790 shows John Fullagar's name recorded in the village of Woodchurch as a 'freeholder' of a home and land.  This also meant that he was now qualified to vote as a consequence of being a home and land owner.  It seems that he was one of the prominent members of the village community.  He was 33 years old.



The Poll Book record of 1802 shows John Fullagar's name once again, now aged 45, still a landowner and still qualified to vote.

During my research of the years John spent as an innkeeper, I stumbled upon this photo ...

 ... two of the tankards pictured in this photo have an inscription - 'Bonny Cravat Inn' - which was quite a nice surprise to find.  Then I noticed the other part of the inscription!  Surely not, I thought!  What were those initials?  Half in hope I looked into the details of this photo.  Apparently these tankards were up for auction, and had been identified as original "George 111 pewter pint tankards" that had been used at the Bonny Cravat Inn, with the initials "J.F." inscribed above the name of the inn.  Well!  Guess who was the innkeeper at the inn during the reign of George the Third?  Yes, that would have been John Fullagar.  I wonder where these tankards had ended up?

At the same time, I was doing a little reading up on Woodchurch, and I was left with an impression of the quintessential English village. Back in the late 1780s to early 1800s when John was working as an innkeeper and raising his family, the village was surrounded by forest.  Although most of that is now gone, there are still woodland areas to be found nearby.

To the north stood a pair of Kentish smock windmills and mills.



If you had climbed to the top of one back in the late 1780s or 1800s, you would have had an expansive view over the marshes to the coast.


To the south-west was a large area of moor, a wetland area and low wooded hills.


One of the windmills still stands today.

Within the village there was a very large village green (which is still there today).  It was (is) almost the size of an English Common! 

On the north side of the village green stood Kentish houses, typical of  the time.


Many can still be found standing.






On the west side of the green stood (and still stands) the remarkable and distinctive looking All Saints' Church, dating back to the 13th century. Built of Kentish ragstone, it has three aisles, three chancels and a shingled spire steeple in which hangs six bells.

A short video about the church:  History of All Saint's Church in Woodchurch

Surrounding the church is the graveyard, where many Fullagars are buried. When I first began researching my Fullagar ancestors, I discovered sketchy information from other family trees on Ancestry.com, but there was little in the way of factual evidence or records attached to these trees.

Thankfully one record source came up trumps with loads of information which enabled my research on my Fullagar ancestors to move forward considerably.  This is where I digress for a second and mention the prompt for this weeks's '52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge': Cemetery.

The 'UK and Ireland Find A Grave Index' has proven to been invaluable in determining family relationships and family members on the Fullagar side of my family.  I began searching this source with quite limited information about John, primarily his name, possible dates of birth and death and his spouse's name. 

I quickly found this record which matched the birth and death dates and place of birth that I already had.  Further research led me to a record of the inscription on the headstone that can be seen in the photo above.  The words were obviously worn away with age and weather by the time this photo was taken, but the text of the inscription had been kept in the church's cemetery records.

There was a list all of my 4x great grandfather's children, in the order of their birth, no less!  I also found confirmation of my 4x great grandmother's name and date of death.

Where to from there?  Knowing that all of my 4x great grandfather's children were born in Woodchurch, back I went to the 'Find A Grave Index'. That's when I noticed the section on the left hand side of the screen: "Find all the Fullagars in: All Saints Churchyard".  I wasn't sure that all of the children would have stayed in the village and therefore died in the village, but I presumed that would have been the case for most of them.  So, using the list of children's names from the inscription record, off I went on my hunt.

Success!  These cemetery records led me to some of the details of John's children, especially details of the children who had died in Woodchurch.  I then continued my search elsewhere for details about the children who had moved away.  Eventually, I was able to pull together the story of John and his children and unfortunately it was rather a sad tale.

My great great great great grandfather John and wife Elizabeth had 13 children over a span of 19 years, seven sons and six daughters.

Richard was born in 1782, seemingly rather early given that his parents had only married in July of 1782.  He married Elizabeth Goldsmith, had seven children and emigrated to the U.S. when he was in  his mid 40s.

John came along in 1784, when my 4x great grandfather was aged 27.  Sadly, the son named after John died just a few months later, in July of 1784.  💔

Mary was born in 1785, but also died just a couple of months later in August of 1785. 💔

Another son was born in 1786, and also named John, after my 4x great grandfather.  Tragically, he died just a few months later in December of 1786. 💔
 
George was born in 1787, but also died a few months later in November of 1787. 💔

Sarah was born in 1788.  She went on to live for 41 years, married Harry Hook and had nine children of her own.

Susannah (my Great Great Great Grandmother) came along in 1791.  She married James Hukins, had nine children and emigrated to Australia in her late 40s.

Elizabeth was born in 1793, but died a couple of months later in September of 1793. 💔

Thomas was born in 1794.  He lived for 62 years in the village of Woodchurch, married Elizabeth Coomber and had twelve children.  He did take over the Bonny Cravat Inn after his mother in 1816 and was the innkeeper for four years.

Josiah was then born in 1796, but tragically, he died just one year later. 💔

Josephus came along in 1799, and died in January of 1800, aged 2 months. 💔

Sophia was born in 1801, but only lived for five days. 💔

Ann was born in 1802.  She lived for 55 years, married John Mannering and had two children.


After finding out these details, I had to sit and ponder this for quite a while. The gravity of it really hit me, and even though I was taking it all in some 200 years later, my own feelings of sorrow were quite palpable.

Imagine having 13 children in the space of 19 years, but losing 8 of them, including the two boys who had been named after you!

I can not begin to comprehend the anguish and grief that must have filled the life of my 4x great grandfather and grandmother, given these circumstances.  How do you live through that?

I guess working as an innkeeper would have kept John very busy, and perhaps there wasn't enough time to spend grieving and experiencing the sorrow and heartbreak. 

I'm not entirely convinced of that however, as John died quite young, in 1803 at the age of 46.

He was survived by his wife Elizabeth aged 42, his son Richard aged 21, daughter Sarah aged 14, daughter Susannah (my 3x great grandmother) aged 12, son Thomas aged 8, and daughter Ann who was not yet 1 year old.


The All Saint's Church cemetery is on my bucket list of places to visit one day.  That list doesn't include many cemeteries I have to admit, but this one holds a special place in the family story and therefore is on my list. 💔







Special Note to any family members:  If you have memories to add, photos or information to share, can I graciously ask that you do so.  Please use the comments box below or email me.  It may prove to be invaluable to the story and provide future generations with something to truly treasure.


Extra note:  I'm joining Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project / challenge.

The prompt for Week 17 is 'Cemetery'.

You can join by blogging or posting on social media with the tag #52ancestors.

Check out this FB page:  Amy Johnson Crow