Peter Folger & Benjamin Franklin
Your 1st Cousin, 10 Times Removed
Peter Folger is your ~10th great-grandfather. Poet, surveyor, interpreter of the Wampanoag language, and patriarch of the Nantucket Folgers.
The Connection
Peter Folger (1617–1690, PID: 99BX-1P2) had nine children on Nantucket. His son John Folger (1659, PID: L5YS-VGM) is your direct ancestor (S59 verified). His daughter Abiah Folger (1667) married Josiah Franklin and became the mother of Benjamin Franklin. Because John and Abiah were siblings, their descendants are cousins. Benjamin Franklin (PID: LJLQ-WRC) is one generation below the sibling level (Abiah’s son). You are eleven generations below the sibling level. That makes Benjamin Franklin your 1st cousin, 10 times removed.
The Chain from Peter Folger to You
| Name | Born | PID | Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Folger | 1617 | 99BX-1P2 | Common ancestor |
| John Folger | 1659 | L5YS-VGM | Peter's son — your direct line (S59 verified) |
| Jethro Folger | 1689 | KPD1-53J | 8th great-grandfather |
| Jedidah Folger | 1711 | LZKC-HXD | 7th great-grandmother — married a Gardner; Folger surname exits here |
| Eunice Gardner | 1744 | LZD4-RLB | 6th great-grandmother — Coffin/Folger convergence |
| Margaret ‘Peggy’ Macy | 1782 | K81V-53P | 4th great-grandmother — married Frederick William Folger (surname re-enters) |
| Frederick William Folger | 22 Dec 1805 | K4TW-BFB | 4th great-grandfather |
| Harriet Ann Folger | Jan 1830 | KZDT-ZC5 | 3rd great-grandmother |
S59 note: The Folger surname does notrun as an unbroken Folger‑Folger chain from Peter down to Frederick William. The direct line passes through Peter’s son John Folger (not Eleazer), exits the surname at Jedidah Folger’s marriage into the Gardner family, travels through Eunice Gardner and Peggy Macy, and re-enters the Folger surname at Frederick William Folger (1805) via Peggy’s marriage into the Macy / Gardner descent. The retired surname chain through Frederick (1725) → Charles (1753) → Frederick (1780) has been removed per data/tristram-chain-verify-s59.md.
Other Nantucket Folgers of the period — Eleazer Folger (1648, PID L5PG-QGF) and his son Eleazer Folger Jr. (1672, PID LH5B-2JN) — may be siblings / nephew of John Folger (and therefore collateral cousins to your direct line), but the descent relationship is not S59-verified. They are kept here only as a historical marker for the broader Nantucket Folger cluster; reinstating them on any direct-line chain requires FamilySearch relationship-view verification or a Barney Genealogical Record citation.
The Chain from Peter Folger to Benjamin Franklin
| Name | Born | PID | Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Folger | 1617 | 99BX-1P2 | Common ancestor |
| Abiah Folger | 15 Aug 1667 | — | Peter's daughter (Franklin's line) |
| Benjamin Franklin | 17 Jan 1706 | LJLQ-WRC | Abiah's son = 1st cousin to John Folger's children |
Benjamin Franklin
Who Was Peter Folger?
Peter Folger was a poet, schoolmaster, surveyor, and interpreter of the Wampanoag language. Born in England around 1617, he emigrated to Massachusetts and settled first in Watertown, then on Martha’s Vineyard, where he served as interpreter for the missionary Thomas Mayhew. He married Mary Morrell, an indentured servant whose freedom he purchased for twenty pounds. Together they had nine children.
Folger surveyed Nantucket between 1659 and 1662 and was one of the half-share men who received land in exchange for his skills. He sided with the half-share men during the Coffin–Gardner feud and was jailed for his defiance. He wrote “A Looking Glass for the Times,” a poem criticizing the Puritan establishment for its treatment of Quakers and Baptists. He died in 1690 and is buried in the Founders Burial Ground on Nantucket.
Peter Folger grave, Nantucket
Who Was Benjamin Franklin?
Benjamin Franklin is your 1st cousin, 10 times removed. The connection runs through Peter Folger of Nantucket — your shared ancestor.
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston. His mother, Abiah Folger, was born on Nantucket in 1667. His father, Josiah Franklin, emigrated from Ecton, Northamptonshire, England. Franklin became a writer, scientist, inventor, printer, and diplomat—one of the most celebrated figures in American history. He is the only person to have signed all three of America’s founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, and the Constitution.
His inventions include the lightning rod, bifocals, and the mapping of the Gulf Stream. He founded the institution that became the University of Pennsylvania. His face appears on the $100 bill.
From Nantucket to Folgers Coffee: The J.A. Folger Story
In 1846, the Great Fire of Nantucket destroyed much of the town and accelerated the island’s decline. Among those who left was eleven-year-old James Athearn Folger, who moved with his family to the mainland. At fourteen, he joined the California Gold Rush and made his way to San Francisco. Rather than mining for gold, he went to work for a coffee and spice mill called Pioneer Steam Coffee and Spice Mills. Through persistence and skill, he eventually took over the business and renamed it J.A. Folger & Co.—the company that became Folgers Coffee.
The connection runs through the same Peter Folger (PID: 99BX-1P2) who is your common ancestor with Benjamin Franklin. J.A. Folger II continued the family business, and his grandson Peter Folger became chairman of the company. Abigail Anne Folger (1943–1969, PID: LC7H-9H4), a Radcliffe graduate and heiress to the Folger coffee fortune, was murdered on August 9, 1969, at 10050 Cielo Drive by members of the Manson Family. Read the full story.
The Folger coffee fortune, built by a Nantucket teenager who followed fires from island to city, ended in one of the most infamous crimes of the twentieth century.
Phebe Long: The Name on Both Sides
Frederick William Folger (1805) married Phebe A. Long (1807, PID: KCCM-S7B), whose father was Richard Long (1771, PID: LHKZ-ST1). The Longsurname appears independently on both sides of the family—two unrelated families, centuries apart, converging.