KENT, Conn. – Despite cool temperatures and light rain, residents gathered at Good Hill Cemetery Saturday, May 30, to honor one of the town’s patriots, Revolutionary War physician Dr. Samuel Fuller.
Members of the Roger Sherman Chapter, DAR, in collaboration with the Kent Historical Society, American Legion Post # 153, and Kent’s USA 250 committee held a Patriot Grave Marking at the Good Hill Cemetery as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
The ceremony included words of faith, the placing of a wreath, and the unveiling of a plaque at the base of Fuller’s gravestone.
Fuller was born in 1742 in East Haddam, Conn., and died in 1817 in Kent. He and some of his family members are buried at the cemetery. The historical society uncovered his gravestone, along with the graves of two of Fuller’s daughters, in the fall of 2025.
Fuller served as a physician caring for 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.
During the ceremony, a story of Fuller’s daily month-long care of a 17-year-old soldier, Jonathan Berry, was shared. Unfortunately, the soldier died. He is buried just a few rows away from Fuller.
Among those present was Franki Coughlin, a member of the John Hopkins Chapter, DAR in Prince Frederick, Md. Fuller is her six-times-great-grandfather. Coughlin’s grandson, Scott Nelson, also attended the ceremony.
Coughlin credits her mother for researching the family’s lineage, a tradition she continues. Coughlin’s family members have a book of their genealogy. The location of the family gravestones had long been unknown to descendants until their discovery last year.
“This is like a miracle,” Coughlin said.
Research suggests Fuller was a “very humble person…a nice, gentle, very kind man, and knowledgeable,” Coughlin said of her ancestor.
The conclusion of the ceremony featured a canon salute, and the playing of “Taps” and “Amazing Grace.” A reception followed at the Kent Congregational Church.
