"It is remarkable how long the Fullers have lived in America, beginning with Edward and Samuel Fuller. The two brothers arrived on the Mayflower in 1620. The Fullers moved from Connecticut to Montrose, Pennsylvania, north of Scranton in 1806. President James Garfield appointed Charles Fuller (Edward’s father) as the Scranton postmaster May 16, 1881."
Overlook has been home to the Fuller family for more than 100 years, since Edward L. Fuller purchased the property in 1902 as a summer home for his family.
Edward Laton Fuller (1851-1909) and Helen Maria Silkman Fuller (1853-1911)
In 1902 Edward L. Fuller purchased Overlook as a summer home for his family. E. L. Fuller was to salt as Carnegie was to steel, Rockefeller to oil, and Gould and Vanderbilt to railroads. Known as the “Salt King” because he briefly controlled most of the salt production in the U.S., Fuller transformed his initial investments in the 1880s and 1890s in mining anthracite coal and rock salt into a fortune that linked him to America’s “Captains of Industry.”
Helen Fuller’s ancestors came to Scranton in the early 1840s. As the wife of a leading industrialist, she frequently hosted large gatherings at Overlook. When her son, Mortimer, was a young bachelor in 1902, she joined other mothers to sponsor a Bachelor’s Ball at the Scranton Armory with a fifty-piece military band. She was also a civic philanthropist pioneering the concept of free kindergartens and early childhood education. In 1905 the Helen Fuller Kindergarten was one of twenty-five in Scranton enrolling 750 children.
Mortimer B Fuller, Sr. (1877-1931)
The only child of Edward L. and Helen Fuller, Mortimer Fuller attended the School of Lackawanna in Scranton, The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ, and Princeton University, class of 1899. He traveled in Europe before joining the Retsof Mining Company and, in 1901, International Salt, the trust his father created to combine multiple salt mining and marketing companies. He worked as treasurer and, in 1909, succeeded his father as president of ISCO, Avery Salt Company, and of the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad.
Fuller was a dedicated businessman. His investments and board service included banks, salt companies, railroad companies, and educational publications. He was an investor and adviser to International Textbook Company, International Education Publishing Company, and the International Correspondence Schools (of London).
Kathryn Steell Fuller (1884-1960)
On February 12, 1904, Kathryn Steell married Mortimer B. Fuller, Sr., Kathryn, the daughter of Joseph H. and Fannie (Van Der Warker) Steell, grew up in Scranton where her father was initially a wholesale grocer. He invested in the Hillsdale Coal & Iron Company and served for many years as president of the Allegheny Lumber Company and the Lackawanna Lumber Company. The Van der Warker family was of Dutch origin and settled in New Amsterdam in the mid 1600s.
When her mother-in-law passed away in 1911, Kathryn Fuller succeeded her as hostess at Overlook. She and her husband sponsored numerous civic and social events on the estate.
“Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer B. Fuller have removed to their country place, ‘Overlook’ near Lily Lake. This beautiful spot from which a magnificent view extends in every direction is one of the largest estates in this region.”
The Scranton Republican, May 8, 1915
Mortimer B. Fuller, Jr. (1907-1989)
Mortimer Fuller, Jr., married Frances "Bobbie" Marian Acker in 1932 They had three children: Patricia, Frances “Fay,” and Mortimer B., III. Mortimer Jr. lived his entire life at Overlook. The family resided in a home on the property. Both he and Bobbie were dedicated equestrians.
For many years Mort held positions in the International Salt and the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad. He attended the Lawrenceville School and Princeton University. After his father's death in 1931 he became president of the Central Bank of Dalton, where Fuller family support prevented the bank from insolvency during the depression. In 1935 he became assistant secretary and assistant treasurer of ISCO, a director in 1936, treasurer in 1942, vice-president and treasurer in 1956, executive vice-president in 1961, and president in 1969. At ISCO he was responsible for the establishment of the Antilles Salt Company on the island of Bonaire in the Netherland Antilles. With his strong interests in natural history, Mort helped preserve the critical flamingo breeding grounds in the salt pans at Bonaire. A plaque commemorating his efforts in salt production and habitat preservation was placed at ISCO's facility site on the island.
Frances Marian Acker Fuller (1910-1999)
Frances “Bobbie” Acker married Mortimer B. Fuller, Jr., in 1932 and lived for nearly seventy years at Overlook. She studied at Rosemary Hall in Greenwich and Smith College. The mother of two daughters—Patricia and Frances “Fay”—and a son, Mortimer B. Fuller, III, she was active in numerous educational and civic affairs.
She served as a president of the Northeast Chapter of the Pennsylvania Mental Health Association, on the board of Friendship House (for at-risk Children), the local chapter of the American Cancer Society, and The Century Club of Scranton, which worked for community improvement. She served on the National Advisory Committee of the Citizens for Eisenhower and in 1952 was an alternate delegate to the Republican Party's national convention. In 1956 and 1960 she attended those conventions where her husband was a delegate.
The daughter of Warren T. and Frances (Mears) Acker of Scranton, she was active in equestrian competitions until the tragic death in 1936 of her father in a horse-jumping competition. She passed away in her eighty-ninth year, in her home at Overlook.
