This simple obelisk is located at the Granary Burial Ground in Boston. Benjamin Franklin erected this memorial to his parents, Abiah Folger and Josiah Franklin, and I decided to write about it this week for Independence Day. After all, it was the day the Declaration of Independence was ratified, and Ben was one of the signers.
Abiah Folger, Franklin’s mother, was born 15 August 1667 on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, daughter of Peter Folger and Mary Morrill. Peter Folger came from Norwich, England to Massachusetts with his father John in 1635. In 1663 he went to Nantucket as an Indian interpreter for Tristram Coffin. Mary Morrill was a servant to Reverend Hugh Peters, so Peter bought her for 20 pounds to pay off her servitude. He declared it was the best appropriation of money he ever made. Now you know where Benjamin got is sense of humor! (from History of Nantucket, by Obed Macy, 1835)
Abiah Folger married Josiah Franklin on 25 November 1689 at the Old South Church in Boston. Josiah was from Ecton, Northamptonshire, born on 23 December 1657, and he died on 16 January 1745. He had previously been married to Anne Child, who left him with seven children when she died on 9 July 1689. You can see he wasted no time in remarrying Abiah, who not only raised his other children, but she had ten more! Benjamin was number eight, and the youngest son.
How do I know so much about this family? Well, my 7x great grandmother was Bethshua Folger, Abiah’s sister! Yes, Benjamin Franklin is my first cousin 8 generations removed. Bethshua (also known as Bathsheba) was born about 1650 on Nantucket Island, and she married Joseph Pope in 1679 in Salem, Massachusetts.
I previously blogged about my Franklin connection here in my post http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/09/treasure-chest-thursday-at.html about the Franklin Chest, also known as the Pope Valuables Chest.
For more FRANKLIN blog posts, click here:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Franklin
For my POPE family genealogy:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/surname-saturday-pope-of-salem.html
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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Abiah Folger and Josiah Franklin", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 29, 2010, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/06/abiah-folger-and-josiah-franklin.html: accessed [access date]).
I too am a descendent! I am related to Abiah Folgers sister. She is one of my descendents!
ReplyDeleteThis obelisk was not constructed by Benjamin Franklin.
ReplyDeleteIn 1827 obelisk was constructed under renovation by citizens of Boston to preserve the inscription engraved by Benjamin Franklin on orignal tombstone.
It is mentioned in autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
This obelisk was not constructed by Benjamin Franklin.
ReplyDeleteIn 1827 obelisk was constructed under renovation by citizens of Boston to preserve the inscription engraved by Benjamin Franklin on orignal tombstone.
It is mentioned in autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
Hello Heather -- I enjoyed reading your post. I too descend from one of Abiah Folger Franklin's siblings -- in my case, from her brother Eleazer. He and his wife Sarah Gardner (she, the daughter of Richard Gardner Sr., another early Nantucketer) were my 9th great-grandparents.
ReplyDeleteI assume you know of the reference in "Moby-Dick" to Abiah and Eleazer's parents, Peter Foulger and Mary Morrill? Melville wrote this about the whalers of Nantucket in chapter 24:
"(It is said that there is) NO GOOD BLOOD IN THEIR VEINS? 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."
This is all interesting stuff.....I descend from Abiah's brother, John Folger,born 1659, who married Mary Barnard. Thank you for the information. I need to get to Nantucket !
ReplyDeleteI too descend from Abiah's brother, John Folger, born 1659, who married Mary Barnard. I find this all so interesting and need to take a trip to Nantucket soon !
ReplyDeleteI am descended from Abiah's brother Eleazer too, like 'the clicker'! I'm Margaret Kempton Kennon (not Carl, LOL!)
ReplyDeleteI am also related to Benjamin Franklin, his mother’s sister, I cannot recall her name but my parents have done our family history, my parents are deceased and my sister has all of the work and will be giving me copies of everything! So excited to hear this, I am 55 yrs old and ever since I can remember, my parents have worked so hard to trace our heritage! Listening to funny, interesting, sad, happy and exciting stories from my parents was a treasure!
ReplyDelete