My Genealogy Hound

GEORGE W. FULLER, who succeeded his father in the pioneer firm of wine manufacturers, Fuller & Skinner, of Portland, whose cellar has a storing capacity of thirty thousand gallons, is a son of Ralph D. and Adaline (Coney) Fuller, and was born in the town of Portland, Chautauqua county, New York, November 26, 1860. His grandfather (Fuller) was of German extraction and followed the trade of a shoemaker and farmer in Madison county, this State, where he died.

Ralph D. Fuller was born in Cazenovia, Madison county, in 1820. He was reared and educated at that place until his twentieth year, and then came and, in 1840, located in the town of Portland, engaging in a general mercantile business, which he continued thirty years. In 1866 he bought and constructed a wine-cellar in Portland and engaged in the manufacture of the sparkling fluid until his death, May 20, 1886. Politically he was a democrat and by that party was elected to various town offices in Portland. Mr. Fuller was essentially a self-made man. He started life without other capital than a well-developed brain and industrious habits, and at his death left a large estate. He was the first man to manufacture wine in the village of Portland. He married Adaline Coney, who was born and still lives in this town.

George W. Fuller was reared in the town of Portland, and his father’s store gave him his first practical business experience. A superior education was received in the public schools supplemented by a course at the Westfield academy. Upon returning from the academy he was employed in assisting his father in the wine business and grape-growing. Upon the death of his father he assumed the latter’s business, the partner being J. A. H. Skinner, of Brocton, who is still associated with him. Mr. Fuller has sixty acres of vineyard, his individual property, in Portland, which yields a large quantity of grapes annually. He is one of the most substantial and respected citizens of Portland, is a democrat and a member of Lodge, No. 219, Free and Accepted Masons, located at Westfield.