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				HENRY MERRILL FULLER
			MRS. SARAH (NICHOLSON) FULLER (1st wife)
			MRS. CYNTHIA (STRATFORD) FULLER (2nd wife)

	Henry Merrill Fuller, a prominent citizen of Greenville, Mich., son of Judge Lucius and 
Candice (Newell) Fuller, was born at Orwell Hill, Pa, Nov 7, 1825.  His father's family consisted
of thirteen children, eight of whom survive.  The eldest son, Edwin, was a journalist of some 
distinction.  The second son Allen, was a prominent member of the New York bar, judge of Boon 
Co., Ill., and during the war was adjutant-general of Illinois. James Ensign, the third son, was 
for some years a prominent teacher.  He was an officer in the army during the Mexican war, and 
died at Vera Cruz.  Henry early exhibited an inclination for business, and at the age of fifteen,
resolved to free himself from the restraints of school and face the world for himself.  He 
started out with a capital of only one dollar and fifty cents, but he was endowed with 
indomitable perseverance an untiring energy, which crowed his earliest efforts with success.  He 
first obtained employment as a vender of stencil plates, but his ambition soon led him to engage 
in the business on his own account, which he did with remarkable success.  He manufactured the 
plates, employing agents to sell them, and soon has a business extending over the Canadas and 
many of the States.  He next entered his brother's printing-office, and served an apprenticeship 
of four years.  During this time he married Miss Sarah Nicholson, of Warsaw, N.Y. In 1846 he was 
employed on the Chicago Daily Journal, which position he left to assume charge of the Joliet 
(Illinois) Democrat.  Later he purchased the Lockport (Illinois) Telegraph, which under his 
management soon took high rank among the journals of the day.  In 1850, becoming imbued with the 
popular "gold fever," he disposed of his property, fitted out an expedition, and started overland
 for California, arriving at Haughtown, now Placerville, in August of that year.  He first 
engaged in buying and selling horses, which competition soon compelled him to abandon.  He 
invested money in several mining speculations, which proved disastrous.  He then organized a 
company and built a quartz-mill, which also proved a losing enterprise.  Depleted in purse, but 
not disheartened, he took up a large ranche near the Yuba River, and planted it with potatoes.  
He had an immense yield, which he sold at the enormous price of six dollars per bushel.  While 
engaged in potato-raising he obtained a charter from the State Legislature, and built a toll-road
from Eureka to Grass Valley, which also was a pecuinary success.  From the proceeds of the last 
two ventures he restored his fallen fortunes.  In 1854 he left his ranche and again and again 
embarked in the newspaper business, purchasing an interest in the Nevada City Journal.  This 
enterprise he successfully carried on until 1856, when a fire destroyed nearly the whole business
portion of the city, including the Journal office.  He then returned East, arriving in 1857 at 
Greenville, then a little hamlet in the pine woods of Northern Michigan.  Here were magnificent 
forests of pine yet untouched, and the inhabitants of the embryo city of Greenville were totally 
unconscious of the vast wealth within their grasp.  Few were engaged in lumbering, the only 
outlet being by means of rafts floated down the Flat River.  Mr. Fuller saw the grand 
possibilities for the future of the lumber business here, and, immediately purchasing a mill and 
a large tract of pine, commenced the manufacture of lumber.  When the civil war broke out he was 
among the first to enter the service of his country.  He enlisted as a private in the First 
United States Lancers, and was soon promoted to the rank of quartermaster.  Six months after the 
regiment was mustered in the government decided not to employ that branch of the service, and Mr.
Fuller returned home.  He was very popular with his brother-officers and men, and upon retiring 
from the regiment was presented with an elegant gold watch and chain as a token of their regard 
and esteem.  He at once obtained a commission as captain, raised a company, and went again into 
the service.  He was taken prisoner at Harper's Ferry, and after being exchanged found himself 
ruined in health and compelled to resign.  He returned to Greenville and re-entered the lumber 
business, in which he has since been extensively engaged.  He has also been engaged in other 
enterprises, all of which have been successful.  He is president and principal owner of the stock
of the Greenville Gas-light Company, which, under his management, has taken place among the 
permanent institutions of the city.  He is an extensive landed proprietor, owning considerable 
real estate in Greenville, a large farm six miles out of town, and large tracts of valuable 
pine-lands.  Himself and his brother, Allen, own a large amount of pine-lands near Ashland, Wis.,
and at this writing they are making preparations to erect a large sawmill for the extensive 
manufacture of lumber at that place.  He is a stockholder and director of the First National Bank 
of Greenville; also builder and owner of one of the finest little opera-houses in the interior of 
Michigan. 
	Mr. Fuller has always taken a deep interest in the welfare of the city, and has 
contributed largely to every enterprise of public interest.  The vigor and energy with which he 
pushes to a successful completion every project, either public or private, which he undertakes, 
has given him a prominent position among the business of the community.  He has never sought 
political preferment, though he has served a term as alderman of Greenville.  Mr. Fuller is a 
Mason of high rank, having taken thirty-two degrees, there being but one higher in the order.  
In 1864 he married his second wife, Miss Cynthia A. Stratford, daughter of Dr. H. K. Stratford, 
of Chicago.  He has had a family of eight children, only two of whom are now living.  The family 
are all members of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
	Mr. Fuller is a pleasant companion, an earnest and devoted friend, and in all the 
relations of life is highly esteemed for his integrity and unwavering adherence to the cause and 
principles which he believes to be right.



This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, MICHIGAN" 
by John S. Schenck. Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co., 1881.  Pages 392-393.