The Connection
Benjamin Franklin’s mother was Abiah Folger (1667–1752), daughter of Peter Folger (1617–1690) of Nantucket — missionary, interpreter to the Wampanoag, poet, and one of the founding settlers of the island.
Peter Folger is our documented ancestor through the Nantucket Folger line.
The Polymath — A Life in Dates
Born January 17, Boston. Fifteenth of seventeen children. Father Josiah Franklin, tallow chandler. Mother Abiah Folger of Nantucket.
Attends school. Excels at reading, fails at arithmetic.
Enters Boston Latin School. Withdrawn after one year — father cannot afford it.
Works in father’s candle and soap shop. Hates it.
Apprenticed to brother James’s print shop. Falls in love with books. Teaches himself to write by reverse-engineering essays from The Spectator— reading, outlining from memory, rewriting, comparing to the original.
Writes fourteen anonymous letters as “Silence Dogood” published in James’s New-England Courant. Sensation in Boston.
Runs away to Philadelphia. Arrives with one Dutch dollar and a copper shilling. Buys three puffy rolls, walks up Market Street eating one.
Governor Keith sends him to London to buy printing equipment. Keith’s letters of credit are worthless. Stranded. Works as a printer in London.
Returns to Philadelphia. Works as clerk, then printer.
Publishes first Poor Richard’s Almanack. “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
Studies languages: French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, German.
Founds the Union Fire Company — first volunteer fire company in Philadelphia.
Appointed Postmaster of Philadelphia.
Begins electricity experiments.
The kite experiment. Proves lightning is electrical. Invents the lightning rod.
Appointed joint Postmaster General for all British colonies.
Proposes the Albany Plan of Union — first formal plan to unite the colonies. Publishes the “Join, or Die” cartoon.
Sails to London as colonial agent for Pennsylvania.
Testifies before Parliament against the Stamp Act. Helps get it repealed.
Returns to Philadelphia. Elected to Second Continental Congress.
Committee of Five — helps draft the Declaration of Independence. Sails to France as American ambassador. Becomes the most famous American in Europe.
Negotiates the French alliance — the treaty that won the war. Without France, Yorktown doesn’t happen. Our Green and Swift ancestors’ war was won partly because our Folger cousin was in Paris.
Signs the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolution.
Returns to Philadelphia.
Oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention. Carried to sessions in a sedan chair.
Dies April 17, Philadelphia. 20,000 attend funeral.
The Love of Books
Franklin taught himself to write by borrowing books he couldn’t afford, reading them overnight, and returning them before dawn. At twenty-five he founded America’s first lending library. He believed knowledge should be accessible to everyone, not locked behind wealth.
His autobiography — still in print after 230+ years — remains one of the most widely read American books ever written.
Lucretia Mott — The Next Generation
Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793–1880), born on Nantucket. Father: Captain Thomas Coffin, whale-fisherman, descendant of the original purchasers of Nantucket — our Coffin line. Mother: Anna Folger — our Folger line. Lucretia was Benjamin Franklin’s cousin — and ours.
She became the greatest American woman reformer of the nineteenth century: Quaker minister, abolitionist, co-organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention (1848), co-author of the Declaration of Sentiments, president of the American Equal Rights Association. Her home was a stop on the Underground Railroad. She co-founded Swarthmore College and the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania.
The Folger Thread
Peter Folger(Nantucket founder) → Abiah Folger → Benjamin Franklin.
Peter Folger → (through another line) → Anna Folger → Lucretia Coffin Mott.
And Thomas Coffin (Tristram Coffin’s descendant) → Lucretia Coffin Mott.
Research Confidence
Franklin–Folger connection
Universally documented. Benjamin Franklin’s mother was Abiah Folger, daughter of Peter Folger. This is established historical fact confirmed in Franklin’s own autobiography.
Lucretia Mott’s parentage
Well-documented. Father Captain Thomas Coffin (Tristram Coffin descendant), mother Anna Folger. Confirmed in multiple published biographies.
Our descent line to Peter Folger
Documented but needs PID verification through the full chain. The Folger line is established; the specific generational links from Peter Folger to our branch are under active research.