This message is being forwarded to the list by the listowner. You may reply to the list at Fuller-L@rootsweb.com or to the sender at "'Nancy Smith'" <smith.n.n@comcast.net> ------------------------------------------- > >I William Harry Fuller speaks my mind. I would actually like to >invite one >couple. They would be some of my wife's paternal great >grandparents. Their >names are Orvis Darwin Fuller and Flavilla Isabella (Rolfe) Fuller. >What >interesting names! Orvis was born in 1852 in St. Charles, IL, and >"Belle" >was born in 1857 in Austin MN. Both of them died in old age in >Egan, SD >(Dakota Territory) on land they had homesteaded. > >Charles Darwin apparently didn't make any written record of his >theory of >evolution until 1843. "Origin of the Species" wasn't published >until 1859, >seven years after Orvis was born. William Henry Fuller and Emily >(Eaton) >Fuller must have been well read for their time, and maybe quite well >traveled. In today's terms, they may have been "blue-staters." I >wonder >what Orvis knew about the origin of his name, and I wonder what he >read in >those hard winters in his sod homestead in the Dakota territories. > >Isabella II was the queen of Spain when Flavilla Isabella was born. >Isabella II inherited her throne from her father Ferdinand VII, >although the >law of the land at the time said that a woman could not inherit this >throne. >Isabella II was deposed in 1868, eleven years after Flavilla >Isabella Rolfe >was born. I wonder if her parents, Samuel and Katie (Whitford) >Rolfe talked >to her about the strong woman she was named after. Again, Flavilla >Isabella's parents seemed to be thumbing their noses at convention >in naming >their child. > >Flavilla however, was not an uncommon name during the early 1800s. >It is >clear that Flavilla Isabella was known as "Belle" though because >that is how >she is listed in the 1880 census. > >This couple was hardy and adventurous enough to homestead in the Dakota >Territory. Their names seem to indicate that their parents might >have been >adventurous and nonconforming sorts. I would love to spend a long >afternoon >hearing them recount their adventures. > >Paul Smith >Citrus Heights, CA