THE FOLGER LINE FOLGER LINE - FIRST GENERATION JOHN FOLGER Born: 1585 at Norwich County, Norfolk, England Died: Parents: Married: Meribah Gibbs Children: 1. Peter Folger b. 1617 (see below) FOLGER LINE - SECOND GENERATION PETER FOLGER Born: 1617 Norwich County, Norfolk England Died: 1690 Parents: John Folger - Meribah Gibbs Married; 1644 to Mary Morrill. (Story goes he bought her from Hugh Peters for 20 Pounds, although this has never been proven.) They moved to Nantucket in 1663. Many of their children were born in either Watertown or Martha's Vineyard, MA. Children: 1. JOANNA FOLGER b. abt 1645 (see below) 2. Bethiah Folger b. ___, m. 26 Feb 1667 to John Barnard. They both died 6 Jun 1669 by drowning. 3. Dorcas Folger m. 12 Feb 1675 to Joseph Pratt 4. Eleazer Folger b. 1648 Edgartown, MA, m 1671 to Sarah Gardner. He died 1716. They had: Eleazer b. 2 Jul 1672; Peter b. 28 Aug 1674; Sarah b. 24 Aug 1676; and Mary b. 14 Feb 1684, all born Nantucket. 5. Bethsheba Folger m. John (Joseph) Pope 6. Patience Folger m. 1st Ebenezer Harker, 2nd James Gardner 7. John Folger b. 1659 d. 1732 m. Mary Barnard b. 24 Feb 1667 8. Experience Folger m. John Swain Jr. He b. 1 Sep 1664, d. 2 Mar 1739. 9. Abiah Folger b. 15 Aug 1667 Nantucket, m. 1690 Josiah Franklin. FOLGER LINE - THIRD GENERATION JOANNA FOLGER Born: abt 1645 Died: Parents: Peter Folger - Mary Morrill Married: 1666 to John Coleman. He was born 1644 and died 1715. We descend through their son, John Coleman. See the Coleman line for their children and descendants. Line of Descent: JOHN FOLGER, PETER FOLGER, JOANNA FOLGER, JOHN COLEMAN, ELIHU COLEMAN, EUNICE COLEMAN, BETHIAH MACY, PAUL MACY, THOMAS MACY, JOHN MACY, LORETTA MACY, JAMES PARISHO, WAYNE PARISHO, SUSANNE PARISHO NARRATIVE: Ref "History of Nantucket" Peter Folger came from Norwich, County Norfolk, England in 1635, went early to Watertown, to Martha's Vineyard, probably with Thomas Mayhew. He bestowed great pains in teaching the Indians, and removed about 1663 to the island, where his name has ever since been in high regard. ....Peter wed Mary Morrill in 1644, having bought her of Hugh Peters, to whom she owed service, and paid the sum of L20 which he very gallantly declared ws the best appropriation of money he had ever made. Peter Folger's houselot was on the road extending from Main street west, about two miles from the Upper Square. It may be readily identified by a monument erected on the site by the Daughters of the American Revolution, in honor of his daughter, Abiah. (Peter Folger and Mary were the grandparents to Benjamin Franklin. Their daughter, Abiah Folger wed in 1690 to Josiah Franklin, the father of Benjamin. Josiah was not from Nantucket.) Ref: "The Nantucket Way" by Mooney and Sigourney....Pete Folger was called "white chief's old-young man" by the Nantucket Indians, meaning he was wise for his age. Peter was a surveyor, Town clerk, Clerk for the General Court. He ground his own eyeglasses and made the frames. He was a public servant, miller, machinist, blacksmith, schoolmaster, author, poet, and preacher all rolled into one. His wife, Mary Morrill came to the New World as a bondservant. It is said she so widened out in later years, that she had to sit in a special chair which she carried with her whenever she went visiting neighbors. Ref: "Historic Nantucket" by Kim Downs-Watson, Coordinator, Peter Folger Project for the Nantucket Historical Association.....Peter Folger was probably of Norman (French) descent, rather than Flemish, as supposed by his grandson, Benjamin Franklin, linking him to families knighted by William the Conqueror in the eleventh century. Through his mother, Peter is related to an Italian monk, named Larentius, buried in Kent in 916...a Learned and Pious monk....and to Sir Robert Lawrence, therefore to the Past President of Harvard College and our own George Washington. The story that Peter "bought" Mary Morrill's indenture from Rev. Hugh Peter in order to marry her, is most likely just a story. Documentation to date cannot be located mentioning Rev. Hugh Peter as having an indentured servant named Mary Morrill. Only two indian girls can be found in his service. Mary Morrill's origins, are most elusive. She may have been an orphan from England, as many suppose. She may have arrived in New England several years after Peter. Remember they were not married until 1644. SURNAME INDEX BG's/Images by "Daze of Our Lives"