Mary Morrell Folger

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Mary Folger (née Morrell (Morrel/Morrill/Morrills/Morill); c.16201704) was the maternal grandmother of Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father of the United States.[1] In Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick, she was cited as an ancestor of the Folger whalers.

Quick Facts Born, Died ...
Mary Morrell Folger
Born
Mary Morrell (Morrel/Morrill/Morrills/Morill)

Circa 1620 [citation needed]
Died1704
Known forGrandmother of Benjamin Franklin and being noted in Herman Melville's fictional Moby-Dick
SpousePeter Folger
ChildrenNine, including Abiah Folger
RelativesGrandson, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, Great-Grandson, Founder of Cornell University Ezra Cornell
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Personal life

Folger immigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony from Norwich, England in 1635[2] with Rev. Hugh Peters and his family. She was an indentured servant, working for the family as a maid[3][4] on the same ship as Peter Folger and his parents.[2] Peter Folger paid Hugh Peters the sum of 20 pounds to pay off Mary's servitude, which he declared was the best appropriation of money he had ever made.[5][4]

She married Peter Folger in 1644.[3] They lived in Watertown, Massachusetts before moving in 1660 to Martha's Vineyard, where he was acquainted with the Mayhews. He was a strict teacher, surveyor, and translator for the Wampanoag people.[2]

They had nine children, eight of whom were born on Martha's Vineyard.[6] In 1663, they moved to Nantucket,[2] where they were among the few people of European heritage.[3] Their youngest daughter, Abiah (1667–1752) was born there. later marrying Boston candle-maker Josiah Franklin and having a son, Benjamin Franklin.[1][7]

Her husband died in 1690,[2] and she died in 1704.[3]

Legacy

Folger was referenced in defense of the whaling industry in Herman Melville's fictional Moby-Dick.[8] In it, Melville sets up a series of objections to that industry, one of which is "No good blood in their veins?" The response is:

They have something better than royal blood there. The grandmother of Benjamin Franklin was Mary Morrel; afterwards, by marriage, Mary Folger, one of the old settlers of Nantucket, and the ancestress to a long line of Folgers and harpooneers—all kith and kin to noble Benjamin—this day darting the barbed iron from one side of the world to the other.

Herman Melville, Moby-Dick[8]

References

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