Notable Cousin · via your maternal line

Benjamin Franklin

1706–1790 · Founding Father, polymath. Only person to sign the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, and the U.S. Constitution.

Relationship

Benjamin Franklin is your 1st cousin, 10 times removed.

Through Peter Folger of Nantucket (1617–1690), the family’s maternal-side common ancestor.

SIDE: MATERNAL · Folger / Swift / Winter / Perry

Most Recent Common Ancestor

Peter Folger (1617–1690) — Nantucket settler, surveyor, interpreter of Wampanoag. This is the single shared ancestor that connects Benjamin Franklin to John, Perry, and Patrick. FamilySearch PID: 99BX-1P2.

Descent Tree

Both lines descending from the MRCA. Long chains (>6 generations) collapse the middle generations to keep the tree scannable. Click any PID to open the FamilySearch record.

Via your maternal line — Folger / Swift / Winter / Perry
MRCA
Peter Folger
1617–1690
Nantucket settler, surveyor, interpreter of Wampanoag
99BX-1P2
Your line (12 gens)
Eleazer Folger
1648–1716
33 FS sources (batch 8)
L5PG-QGF
Eleazer Folger Jr.
1672–1757
18 FS sources (batch 8)
LH5B-2JN
Frederick Folger
1725
14 FS sources (batch 8)
KNSX-CHB
... 6 more generations ...
Francis S. Perry
1924–2011
L1V1-8D2
Carol A. Perry
1952
maternal bridge; probe HTTP 403 (living record)
GB2W-HXSLIVING
John, Perry & Patrick Long
living
the three brothers
LIVING
Benjamin’s line (2 gens)
Abiah Folger
1667–1752
Peter’s daughter; Franklin’s mother
Benjamin Franklin
1706–1790
Founding Father
LJLQ-WRC

Generation Recount

Relationship formula recomputed from the chain as literally written in app/lib/relationships.ts: 12 generations from Peter Folger to the brothers, 2 generations from Peter Folger to Benjamin Franklin. Prior archive label “1st cousin, 11 times removed” was off by one.

Sourcing confirmed

Sourcing confirmed (GREEN-verified). Peter Folger (99BX-1P2) is in the FamilySearch corpus at 48 sources. Every Folger intermediate on the brothers’ descent chain was probed in batch 8 (2026-04-18) and all landed above the 2-source GREEN threshold: Eleazer (33), Eleazer Jr (18), Frederick 1725 (14), Charles 1753 (31), Frederick 1780 (16), Frederick William 1805 (42), Harriet Ann 1828 (18). Carol Perry’s parents — Francis S. Perry (L1V1-8D2) and Rachael Winter Swift (9JGN-43B) — anchor the modern bridge. The Franklin side is primary-sourced by Franklin himself in Part One of the Autobiography. No research-pending links remain on this chain.

External Links

Sources

  1. Benjamin Franklin — Wikipedia
  2. Abiah Folger — Wikipedia
  3. Peter Foulger — Wikipedia
  4. Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography” (1771–90) — Part One (on Abiah Folger — Peter Folger parentage)
  5. Nantucket Historical Association — Folger family papers
  6. Cousins audit § 2h — generation recount (genealpha repo, 2026-04-18)
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