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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name= Thomas Wafer Fuller |office=Louisiana State Senator for Bienville, Bossier and Webster parishes |term_start=1896 |term_end=1900 |..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name= Thomas Wafer Fuller
|office=[[Louisiana]] State Senator for Bienville, Bossier and Webster parishes
|term_start=1896
|term_end=1900
|preceded=[[Marcus D. Wren|George Lovick Pierce Wren]] (1836-1901)<br>
W. L. Stroud
|succeeded=Elam Sparks "E.S." Dortch
|office2=Superintendent of Webster Parish Schools
|term_start2=1908
|term_end2=1920
|preceded2=John M. Davies
|succeeded2=[[E. S. Richardson]]
||birth_date=May 28, 1867
|birth_place=[[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], Webster Parish
|death_date=December 20, 1920 (aged 53)
|death_place=Minden, Louisiana
|spouse=Alma Bright Fuller (married 1891–1920, his death)
|children=Lee Aura Fuller Griffin<br>
Xenia Doyle Fuller Ruffin<br>
Miriam Rupert Fuller White<br>
'''Parents''':<br>
Thomas Walker Fuller<br>
Margaret Wafer Fuller
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
|occupation= [[Educator]]<br>[[Newspaper]]man
|alma_mater=[[Minden (Louisiana) High School] (then Minden Male Academy)<br>
[[Centenary College of Louisiana]]
}}
'''Thomas Wafer Fuller''' (May 28, 1867 – December 20, 1920) was an [[educator]] and [[newspaper]]man from [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], [[Louisiana]],<ref name=jagan>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindenmemories.org/images/teachers/teachers.htm|title=Webster Parish historian John Agan, "Webster Superintendents of Schools"|publisher=mindenmemories.org|accessdate=June 6, 2011; website closed; information no longer available}}</ref> who served as a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] in the Louisiana State Senate from 1896 to 1900.<ref name=legis>{{cite web|url=http://senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/1880membership.pdf|title=Senate Directpory 1880-Present|publisher=Louisiana State Senate|accessdate=March 21, 2011}}</ref>
Fuller's Senate colleague from Bossier Parish was John Augustus Way Lowry, Jr. (1848-1899), known as J.A. W. Lowry;; the two represented Bienville, Bossier, Claiborne, and Webster parishes. Thereafter, a single-member district was created for Bossier and Webster parishes with Elam Sparks "E.S." Dortch (1841-1943) of Haughton in southeastern Bossier Parish as the senator from 1900 to 1908. One of the Senate colleagues of Fuller and Lowry was Samuel McCutcheon Lawrason (1852-1924), who represented East and West Feliciana parishes, the author of the Lawrason Act, which defines the scope of municipal government in Louisiana.<ref name=legis/>
==Background==
Fuller was the fifth of six children born to a planter, [[attorney]], [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] captain, and district attorney, Thomas Walker Fuller (1828–1896), a native of Houston County, [[Georgia]]. His mother was the former Margaret A. Wafer (1832–1880) of then Claiborne Parish, from which Webster Parish was severed in 1871. Margaret Fuller was a graduate of the former Minden Female College.<ref name=twfuller/> Thomas Walker and Margaret Wafer Fuller are interred in the former Fuller Memorial Shrine Cemetery behind West Union Street in Minden.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmpid=47481233&GRid=14323994&|title=Capt. Thomas W. Fuller|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 21, 2020}}</ref>
Fuller attended the former Minden Male Academy, a forerunner to [[Minden (Louisiana) High School]]. In 1890, he graduated at the age of twenty-three from the [[Methodist]]-affiliated Centenary College, then in Jackson in East Feliciana Parish and subsequently relocated to [[Shreveport]], where one of his classmates was future [[Governor]] Oramel H. Simpson.<ref> For a time, Fuller taught school in Sibley, a [[rural]] community south of Minden.<ref name=jagan/>
==Superintendent and publisher==
In 1908, upon the death of John M. Davies, Fuller became only the second school superintendent for Webster Parish, a position that he retained for the last twelve years of his life. At the time the superintendent ran in a parishwide plebiscite, from which the school board members made the final selection. Fuller narrowly led in the election with 35 percent of the vote and was chosen by the board after it was deemed that his principal opponent lacked the educational credentials to be superintendent. Fuller was succeeded as superintendent by [[E. S. Richardson]], a Webster Parish native and a former superintendent in neighboring Bienville Parish, who later became the president of [[Louisiana Tech University]] in [[Ruston, Louisiana|Ruston]].<ref name=jagan/>
In 1915, Fuller attended the convention of the [[National Education Association]] in [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]], at which he became acquainted with the agricultural extension and home demonstration agent programs. He soon named, with school board approval, Mrs. Julia Cookey as the first home demonstration agent in Webster Parish.<ref>"Model School System in Parish," ''Minden Signal-Tribune'' and ''Springhill Journal,'' Historical Edition, April 30, 1971, in Webster Parish Library in Minden, Louisiana.</ref> Fuller was still the superintendent of Webster Parish schools at the time of his death.
From 1891 to 1894 and again from 1917 until his death, Fuller published the former ''Webster Signal,'' a weekly newspaper founded in 1864 and one of the numerous forerunners of what in 1966 became the daily ''[[Minden Press-Herald]].'' ''The Signal'''s competitor at the time was the ''Minden Democrat,'' and the two publications contested for legal advertising revenues from the various governmental entities. Fuller sold ''The Signal'' in 1894 to James Peter Kent, and then re-purchased it in 1917.<ref>"Signal Was Founded in Year 1864: Parish Owes Much to the Recording of This Paper", ''Minden Signal-Tribune'' and ''Springhill Journal,'' Historical Edition, April 30, 1971</ref> In 1926, Mrs. Fuller merged ''The Signal'' with ''The Minden Tribune'' to become ''The Webster Signal-Tribune,'' which operated under that name until 1937.
==Death and family==
Fuller died at his Minden home at the age of fifty-three as a result of complications from an appendectomy.<ref name=polk>Statement of Ted Polk of Magnolia, [[Arkansas]], the caretaker of the Fuller-White House, Minden, Louisiana, August 15, 2011.</ref> Fuller was married in 1891 to the former Mary Alma Bright (November 16, 1871 – June 3, 1949), a daughter of Edward Clarence Bright (1840–1893) of [[Tennessee]] and the former Texana Phillips (1845–1893), who was born in [[Alabama]] but reared in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana.
Thomas and Alma Fuller had three daughters, Lee Aura Fuller Griffin (born 1895), Xenia Doyle Fuller Ruffin (c. 1898-1977),<ref>Xenia Fuller Ruffin obituary, ''[[Minden Press-Herald]],'' September 6, 1977, p. 1.</ref> and Miriam Rupert Fuller White (1900–1983), and sons-in-law, Robert M. Griffin (born 1896), a native of Henderson, [[Texas]], Trueheart H. Ruffin (born 1895), a native of DeSoto Parish, and Russell Lanier White (1898–1967) of Minden. A subsequent granddaughter, Miriam White King, was born in 1929. Thomas and Alma Fuller are interred at the Fuller-White plot in the old Section A at the historic Minden Cemetery.<ref>Minden Cemetery records.</ref>
The Fuller-White House (built 1905) at 229 West Union Street in Minden, is located down a hill from the front campus of Minden High School. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house has five upstairs bedrooms, with parlors, a study, and kitchen on the bottom floor. It is not open for public touring, but the caretaker may conduct individual tours when he is on the property. Fuller lived there for at least the last five years of his life. After his death, Alma Fuller resided there as she continued publishing ''The Webster Signal''.<ref name=polk/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Thomas Wafer}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Educators]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
|name= Thomas Wafer Fuller
|office=[[Louisiana]] State Senator for Bienville, Bossier and Webster parishes
|term_start=1896
|term_end=1900
|preceded=[[Marcus D. Wren|George Lovick Pierce Wren]] (1836-1901)<br>
W. L. Stroud
|succeeded=Elam Sparks "E.S." Dortch
|office2=Superintendent of Webster Parish Schools
|term_start2=1908
|term_end2=1920
|preceded2=John M. Davies
|succeeded2=[[E. S. Richardson]]
||birth_date=May 28, 1867
|birth_place=[[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], Webster Parish
|death_date=December 20, 1920 (aged 53)
|death_place=Minden, Louisiana
|spouse=Alma Bright Fuller (married 1891–1920, his death)
|children=Lee Aura Fuller Griffin<br>
Xenia Doyle Fuller Ruffin<br>
Miriam Rupert Fuller White<br>
'''Parents''':<br>
Thomas Walker Fuller<br>
Margaret Wafer Fuller
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
|occupation= [[Educator]]<br>[[Newspaper]]man
|alma_mater=[[Minden (Louisiana) High School] (then Minden Male Academy)<br>
[[Centenary College of Louisiana]]
}}
'''Thomas Wafer Fuller''' (May 28, 1867 – December 20, 1920) was an [[educator]] and [[newspaper]]man from [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], [[Louisiana]],<ref name=jagan>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindenmemories.org/images/teachers/teachers.htm|title=Webster Parish historian John Agan, "Webster Superintendents of Schools"|publisher=mindenmemories.org|accessdate=June 6, 2011; website closed; information no longer available}}</ref> who served as a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] in the Louisiana State Senate from 1896 to 1900.<ref name=legis>{{cite web|url=http://senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/1880membership.pdf|title=Senate Directpory 1880-Present|publisher=Louisiana State Senate|accessdate=March 21, 2011}}</ref>
Fuller's Senate colleague from Bossier Parish was John Augustus Way Lowry, Jr. (1848-1899), known as J.A. W. Lowry;; the two represented Bienville, Bossier, Claiborne, and Webster parishes. Thereafter, a single-member district was created for Bossier and Webster parishes with Elam Sparks "E.S." Dortch (1841-1943) of Haughton in southeastern Bossier Parish as the senator from 1900 to 1908. One of the Senate colleagues of Fuller and Lowry was Samuel McCutcheon Lawrason (1852-1924), who represented East and West Feliciana parishes, the author of the Lawrason Act, which defines the scope of municipal government in Louisiana.<ref name=legis/>
==Background==
Fuller was the fifth of six children born to a planter, [[attorney]], [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] captain, and district attorney, Thomas Walker Fuller (1828–1896), a native of Houston County, [[Georgia]]. His mother was the former Margaret A. Wafer (1832–1880) of then Claiborne Parish, from which Webster Parish was severed in 1871. Margaret Fuller was a graduate of the former Minden Female College.<ref name=twfuller/> Thomas Walker and Margaret Wafer Fuller are interred in the former Fuller Memorial Shrine Cemetery behind West Union Street in Minden.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmpid=47481233&GRid=14323994&|title=Capt. Thomas W. Fuller|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 21, 2020}}</ref>
Fuller attended the former Minden Male Academy, a forerunner to [[Minden (Louisiana) High School]]. In 1890, he graduated at the age of twenty-three from the [[Methodist]]-affiliated Centenary College, then in Jackson in East Feliciana Parish and subsequently relocated to [[Shreveport]], where one of his classmates was future [[Governor]] Oramel H. Simpson.<ref> For a time, Fuller taught school in Sibley, a [[rural]] community south of Minden.<ref name=jagan/>
==Superintendent and publisher==
In 1908, upon the death of John M. Davies, Fuller became only the second school superintendent for Webster Parish, a position that he retained for the last twelve years of his life. At the time the superintendent ran in a parishwide plebiscite, from which the school board members made the final selection. Fuller narrowly led in the election with 35 percent of the vote and was chosen by the board after it was deemed that his principal opponent lacked the educational credentials to be superintendent. Fuller was succeeded as superintendent by [[E. S. Richardson]], a Webster Parish native and a former superintendent in neighboring Bienville Parish, who later became the president of [[Louisiana Tech University]] in [[Ruston, Louisiana|Ruston]].<ref name=jagan/>
In 1915, Fuller attended the convention of the [[National Education Association]] in [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]], at which he became acquainted with the agricultural extension and home demonstration agent programs. He soon named, with school board approval, Mrs. Julia Cookey as the first home demonstration agent in Webster Parish.<ref>"Model School System in Parish," ''Minden Signal-Tribune'' and ''Springhill Journal,'' Historical Edition, April 30, 1971, in Webster Parish Library in Minden, Louisiana.</ref> Fuller was still the superintendent of Webster Parish schools at the time of his death.
From 1891 to 1894 and again from 1917 until his death, Fuller published the former ''Webster Signal,'' a weekly newspaper founded in 1864 and one of the numerous forerunners of what in 1966 became the daily ''[[Minden Press-Herald]].'' ''The Signal'''s competitor at the time was the ''Minden Democrat,'' and the two publications contested for legal advertising revenues from the various governmental entities. Fuller sold ''The Signal'' in 1894 to James Peter Kent, and then re-purchased it in 1917.<ref>"Signal Was Founded in Year 1864: Parish Owes Much to the Recording of This Paper", ''Minden Signal-Tribune'' and ''Springhill Journal,'' Historical Edition, April 30, 1971</ref> In 1926, Mrs. Fuller merged ''The Signal'' with ''The Minden Tribune'' to become ''The Webster Signal-Tribune,'' which operated under that name until 1937.
==Death and family==
Fuller died at his Minden home at the age of fifty-three as a result of complications from an appendectomy.<ref name=polk>Statement of Ted Polk of Magnolia, [[Arkansas]], the caretaker of the Fuller-White House, Minden, Louisiana, August 15, 2011.</ref> Fuller was married in 1891 to the former Mary Alma Bright (November 16, 1871 – June 3, 1949), a daughter of Edward Clarence Bright (1840–1893) of [[Tennessee]] and the former Texana Phillips (1845–1893), who was born in [[Alabama]] but reared in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana.
Thomas and Alma Fuller had three daughters, Lee Aura Fuller Griffin (born 1895), Xenia Doyle Fuller Ruffin (c. 1898-1977),<ref>Xenia Fuller Ruffin obituary, ''[[Minden Press-Herald]],'' September 6, 1977, p. 1.</ref> and Miriam Rupert Fuller White (1900–1983), and sons-in-law, Robert M. Griffin (born 1896), a native of Henderson, [[Texas]], Trueheart H. Ruffin (born 1895), a native of DeSoto Parish, and Russell Lanier White (1898–1967) of Minden. A subsequent granddaughter, Miriam White King, was born in 1929. Thomas and Alma Fuller are interred at the Fuller-White plot in the old Section A at the historic Minden Cemetery.<ref>Minden Cemetery records.</ref>
The Fuller-White House (built 1905) at 229 West Union Street in Minden, is located down a hill from the front campus of Minden High School. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house has five upstairs bedrooms, with parlors, a study, and kitchen on the bottom floor. It is not open for public touring, but the caretaker may conduct individual tours when he is on the property. Fuller lived there for at least the last five years of his life. After his death, Alma Fuller resided there as she continued publishing ''The Webster Signal''.<ref name=polk/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Thomas Wafer}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Educators]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Democrats]]