Millard Fillmore
FILLMORE, Millard, thirteenth president of the United States, born in the township of Locke (now Summerhill), Cayuga County, New York, 7 February 1800; died in Buffalo, New York, 7 March 1874. The name of Fillmore is of English origin, and at different periods has been variously written. Including the son of the ex-president, the family can be traced through six generations, and, as has been said of that of Washington, its history gives proof "of the lineal and enduring worth of race." The first of the family to appear in the New World was a certain John Fillmore, who, in a conveyance of two acres of land dated 24 November 1704, is described as a " mariner of Ipswich," Massachusetts.
His eldest son, of the same name, born two years before the purchase of the real estate in Beverly, also became a seafaring man, and while on a voyage in the sloop "Dolphin," of Cape Ann, was captured with all on board by the pirate Captain John Phillips. For nearly nine months Fillmore and his three companions in captivity were compelled to serve on the pirate ship and to submit, during that long period, to many hardships and much cruel treatment. After watching and waiting for an opportunity to obtain their freedom, their hour at length came. While Fillmore sent an axe crashing through the skull of Burrall, the boatswain, his companions dispatched the captain and other officers, and the ship was won. They sailed her into Boston harbor, and the same court, which condemned the brigands of the sea presented John Fillmore with the captain’s silver hilted sword, and other articles, which are preserved to this day by his descendants. The sword was inherited by his son, Nathaniel, and was made good use of in both the French and Revolutionary wars.
Lieutenant Fillmore's second son, who also bore the name Nathaniel, and who was the father of the president, went with his young wife, Phebe Millard, to what at the close of the past century was the "far west," where he and a younger
His eldest son, of the same name, born two years before the purchase of the real estate in Beverly, also became a seafaring man, and while on a voyage in the sloop "Dolphin," of Cape Ann, was captured with all on board by the pirate Captain John Phillips. For nearly nine months Fillmore and his three companions in captivity were compelled to serve on the pirate ship and to submit, during that long period, to many hardships and much cruel treatment. After watching and waiting for an opportunity to obtain their freedom, their hour at length came. While Fillmore sent an axe crashing through the skull of Burrall, the boatswain, his companions dispatched the captain and other officers, and the ship was won. They sailed her into Boston harbor, and the same court, which condemned the brigands of the sea presented John Fillmore with the captain’s silver hilted sword, and other articles, which are preserved to this day by his descendants. The sword was inherited by his son, Nathaniel, and was made good use of in both the French and Revolutionary wars.
Lieutenant Fillmore's second son, who also bore the name Nathaniel, and who was the father of the president, went with his young wife, Phebe Millard, to what at the close of the past century was the "far west," where he and a younger