John Folger

Notes:

Said to have come with his wife and son in 1635.

John married Merrable Gibbs before 25 Jan 1609. Merrable (daughter of John Gibbs and Frances Robertson) died after 1663 in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Aug 1617, Norwich, Norfolk, England
• Alternate death: Apr 1690, Nantucket, New York

Notes:

Maternal grandfather of Benjamin Franklin; also an ancestor of J. A. Folger (1835-1889), founder of the Folgers coffee company.

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

Folger, Peter (1617–1690), interpreter and public official in America, was born in Norwich, the son of John Folger and Meriba Gibbs. Little is known of Folger until 1635, when he and his widower* father moved to Massachusetts. During the voyage Folger met Mary Morrill, an indentured servant, and apparently fell in love for he spent the next nine years of his life working as a weaver, miller, surveyor, and shoemaker to raise the £20 to buy out her contract and marry her in 1644. The couple had nine children that survived infancy. During the 1640s the family moved to Martha's Vineyard, an island settlement that was effectively ruled by the senior and junior Thomas Mayhew. There Folger began a long and prosperous career as an interpreter and cultural intermediary with the American Indian population. At the Mayhews' puritan mission he evangelized the native inhabitants and mastered Algonquian, a major Amerindian language family that would have enabled communication with the vast majority of American Indians in New England. About 1648 the younger Thomas Mayhew extended the mission to nearby Nantucket Island, part of the Mayhew proprietorship, which was home to several thousand American Indians. In 1659 Folger, who was by then familiar with the island through his missionary work, aided a group of white settlers who had purchased the island from the younger Thomas Mayhew in surveying Nantucket. That same year Folger also publicly declared himself a Baptist at a Martha's Vineyard town meeting, which undoubtedly agitated the puritan Mayhews and prompted Folger to move to the more tolerant colony of Rhode Island.

In 1663 Folger returned to Nantucket at the request of the island's proprietors in order to soothe worsening tensions with the native population that had arisen mainly from the interference of the white settlement's cattle with Amerindian crops. As an enticement he was awarded a half share in the proprietorship (full shares were reserved for families of original white settlers). Nantucket was something of an anomaly in the puritan New England context in that established religion did not gain a substantial foothold among the whites until the eighteenth century. The only churches on the island in Folger's time, therefore, were found among the American Indians. In such tolerance Folger comfortably settled his family, acted as an intermediary with the American Indians, and continued his highly successful evangelizing efforts. He also worked as a teacher, surveyor, miller, and farmer, and even served as the clerk of courts.

Folger's greatest triumph as chief diplomat to the American Indians came in 1665, when Metacom ‘King Philip’, arrived with a number of his warriors in pursuit of John Gibbs. Gibbs, an Amerindian from Nantucket who had recently finished his studies at Harvard, had insulted the powerful Pokanoket sachem by publicly speaking his father's name, Massasoit, which was an offence punishable by death. Gibbs was most likely a close friend of Folger, who had baptized the American Indian and given him the Christian name John Gibbs, which was the name of Folger's maternal grandfather. Neither the Amerindian nor the white population (about 100 people) was in a position to thwart Metacom through force, but Folger intervened to save Gibbs, offering his pursuer a ransom in exchange for Gibbs's life. Metacom agreed, but the people of Nantucket were only able to raise £11—significantly less than he wanted. An angry Metacom threatened to destroy the settlement, but the islanders called his bluff, threatening to attack him unless he departed, which he promptly did. A decade later Metacom led a coalition of Amerindians against New England in what became known as King Philip's War. The brutal fighting saw extensive slaughter and murder on both sides, but did not touch Nantucket.

Folger died on Nantucket Island in 1690. He was survived by a substantial family that would produce a number of prominent American scientists, merchants, and politicians, the most famous of whom was Benjamin Franklin, Folger's grandson.

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* Editorial footnote: The Oxford DNB notwithstanding, John Folger was not a widower in 1635; he married Merrable Gibbs in England no later than 25 Jan 1609 and she outlived him on Martha's Vineyard by at least four years. For further particulars see the note on the marriage of John Folger to Merrable Gibbs.

Peter married Mary Morrill in 1644 in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Mary died in 1704 in Nantucket, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Jeremiah Vail on 24 May 1660 in Southold, Suffolk, Long Island, New York. Jeremiah was born about 1618 in England; died in 1687 in Southold, Suffolk, Long Island, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Sometimes called Bethseda.

Bathshua married Joseph Pope before 1679. Joseph (son of Joseph Pope and Gertrude) was born before 27 Oct 1650 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; was christened on 27 Oct 1650 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; died between 25 Jan 1712 and 3 Mar 1712 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Drowned, along with her husband, Isaac Coleman, and an unnamed Native American, when returning to Nantucket from Martha's Vineyard in a canoe.

Bethia married John Barnard on 26 Feb 1668. John (son of Robert Barnard and Joanna Harvey) died on 6 Jun 1669. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Eleazer married Sarah Gardner in 1671. Sarah (son of Richard Gardner and Sarah Shattuck) died on 19 Dec 1729. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Abiah married Josiah Franklin on 25 Nov 1689 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. Josiah (son of Thomas Franklin and Jane White) was born on 24 Dec 1657 in Ecton, Northamptonshire, England; was christened on 28 Dec 1657 in St. Mary Magdalene, Ecton, Northamptonshire, England; died on 16 Jan 1745 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; was buried in Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John Swain. John (daughter of John Swain and Mary Weare) was born on 1 Sep 1664 in Nantucket, Massachusetts; died on 29 Nov 1738 in Nantucket, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Grace Brockett before 1681. Grace (daughter of John Brockett) was born before 1666; died on 18 May 1751. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Nathaniel married Prisca Chatwell on 17 Dec 1703. Prisca (daughter of Nicholas Chatwell and Sarah Yonge) was born on 22 Apr 1679 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; died on 27 Dec 1756 in Enfield, Hartford, Connecticut; was buried in Enfield Street Cemetery, Enfield, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 26 Sep 1695, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts

Notes:

Sister of Benjamin Franklin.

Mary married Capt. Robert Homes on 3 Apr 1716 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. Robert (son of Rev. William Homes and Katherine Craighead) was born on 23 Jul 1694 in Stragolan, Fermanagh, Ireland; was christened on 25 Jul 1694; died before 22 Oct 1727. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

On the new-style calendar his birth date is 17 January.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 28 Aug 1722, Southold, Suffolk, Long Island, New York

Mary married James Landon in May 1707. James (son of Nathaniel Landon and Hannah) was born in Southold, Suffolk, Long Island, New York; died on 19 Sep 1738 in Litchfield, Litchfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]