KENT, Conn.—The public is invited to attend a special dedication ceremony honoring Kent’s Revolutionary War Patriot, Dr. Oliver Fuller, on Saturday, May 30, at 11 a.m. at Good Hill Cemetery in North Kent.
Hosted by the Roger Sherman Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, in collaboration with the Kent Cemetery Committee, the Kent Historical Society, the Kent American Legion Post #153, and the Town of Kent’s USA 250th Committee, the event will pay tribute to Dr. Fuller’s service and legacy in the founding of our nation.
Born on Sept. 30, 1742, in East Haddam, Conn., Fuller provided medical care to soldiers during the Revolutionary War. He also served Kent as Lister (an official responsible for creating lists of taxable property) in 1780 and town clerk in 1783. He passed away on March 9, 1817, and was laid to rest in Good Hill Cemetery.
“Dr. Fuller was an amazing man whom I discovered back when I did the history of medicine in Sharon many years ago for the Sharon Historical Society,” said Kent Historical Society curator Marge Smith. “He was one of the founders of ‘the First Medical Society in the Thirteen United States of America,’ which was formed to help rid the medical world of quacks and to standardize medical practice. He was a staunch proponent of smallpox immunization. I … found a very touching story about his month-long care of a 16-year-old soldier from Kent who eventually died, despite the good doctor’s ministrations.”
The historical society has also uncovered the graves of two of Fuller’s daughters last fall. While demonstrating the appropriate way to clean ancient gravestones, Smith found she was not cleaning Doctor Fuller’s stone, but rather a twin stone erected to the memory of his young daughters, Lois and Rhoda, ages 11 and 12, who died two days apart in 1793. How bitter it must have been for the doctor when he could not save his own children.
Their epitaph, much of which cannot be transcribed, remains clear enough to bring the girls’ love for each other to life. A portion that can be discerned proclaims,
“One their Ambition hearts & care/ And Thus Together Joined/When Death had Called one tender flower/ The other Withered in an hour.
The historical society later found the graves of other family members, including the doctor’s.
The ceremony will feature participation by Fuller/Coughlin descendants, a Revolutionary War cannon salute and a color guard—bringing history to life.
Guests are invited to continue in fellowship immediately following the ceremony with light refreshments at the First Congregational Church Parish Hall in Kent.
For additional information contact, Heidi Norcross, regent, at Regent@RogerShermanDAR.org
