BHS 277-Abby Estey Fuller and the Civil War Years

Abby Estey was born in 1842, the first child of Jacob and Desdemona Estey. Jacob Estey was the founder of the Estey Organ Company. Miss Estey attended Brattleboro schools, including the Glenwood Seminary in West Brattleboro. The Estey’s lived on the east side of Canal Street. In 1865 Abby married a machinist and mechanical engineer with the Estey Organ Company, Levi Fuller. Fuller would go on to become Vice President of the Estey Organ Company and, in 1896, Governor of Vermont. In 1928 a compilation of Abby (Estey) Fuller’s addresses given to the Brattleboro Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution were published. The following story comes from her written recollections of Brattleboro in the Civil War years.