it off.” But the minute-men found it more satisfactory to gird on the harness and put off the minister; so the Rev. Timothy Fuller was dismissed from his parish by an ecclesiastical council in 1776. He preached elsewhere; sued the town of Princeton in vain for his salary; had even to pay the costs, for which contingency he had carefully kept money; but finally came back to the town as a farmer, his large farm embracing the Wachusett Mountain. He evidently regained the full confidence of his rebellious parishioners, for he represented Princeton in the state convention which accepted the Constitution of the United States. Independent as ever, he voted steadily against that instrument, and has left on record his reasons, all based on the fact that the Constitution recognized human slavery. In this attitude he no doubt found support from his wife, whose father, the Rev. Abraham Williams, had emancipated his own slaves by will; had required his children to give bonds for their support in old age, if needed; and had deprived any child so delinquent of all share in his estate, substituting in that case “a new Bible of the cheapest sort, hoping that, by the blessing of Heaven, it may teach them to do justice and love mercy.” Thus fortified on his wife’s side, also, in Roman virtue and anti-slavery principles, the Rev. Timothy Fuller died in 1805, five years before the birth of his most eminent grandchild, Margaret.
He left five daughters and five sons, all these
