Most of his adult life he was Unitarian; there is little direct testimony about his religious views, but some of the aspects of his political career reflect his attitudes.

Born in the Finger Lakes country in the western part of the State of New York on January 7, 1800, Fillmore as a youth endured the privations of a frontier life. He attended one-room schools, worked on his father’s farm and fell in love with the redheaded school teacher, Abigail Power, who later became his wife.