Peter Folger & Benjamin Franklin
1st Cousin, 10 Times Removed
Peter Folger is the Long brothers’ 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 a direct ancestor of the Long brothers (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 two generations below Peter Folger (Abiah’s son). The Long brothers are twelve generations below Peter Folger (his tenth great-grandsons). That makes Benjamin Franklin the Long brothers’ 1st cousin, 10 times removed. The distance was verified against the FamilySearch relationship view in May 2026; see audit/00 for the cousin-math and the correction history.
The Chain from Peter Folger to the Long Brothers
| Name | Born | PID | Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Folger | 1617 | 99BX-1P2 | Common ancestor |
| John Folger | 1659 | L5YS-VGM | Peter's son, the brothers’ direct line (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 | 5th great-grandmother, married Frederick Folger (1780); mother of Frederick William Folger (surname re-enters) |
| Frederick William Folger | 22 Dec 1805 | K4TW-BFB | 4th great-grandfather, married Phebe Long in 1828 |
| Harriett Ann Folger | c. 1829 | KZDT-ZC5 | 3rd great-grandmother, married Francis Perry at New Bedford, 14 Dec 1848 |
| Charles Franklin Perry | 29 Jul 1860 | L1V1-W1H | 2nd great-grandfather |
| Charles Franklin Perry Jr. | 1890 | L1VB-T1N | Great-grandfather |
| Francis Swift Perry | 1923 | L1V1-8D2 | Grandfather |
Harriett Ann Folger is the daughter of Frederick William Folger and Phebe Long. Her own records say so: the 1850 census of New Bedford lists her in her parents’ household, her son Charles was born at New Bedford on 29 July 1860 to Francis T. Perry and Harriet A. Folger, and her death at Fairhaven on 22 February 1881 names her parents as William and Phebe Folger, both of Nantucket. FamilySearch also holds a duplicate record for her (L4K7-4PX) attached to a different Folger couple; the records do not support that duplicate, and this archive follows the records.
Three Routes to Peter Folger
The Long brothers descend from Peter Folger more than once. Three routes are confirmed in the tree, and each places Peter twelve generations above them, so each gives the same answer for Franklin: 1st cousin, 10 times removed.
- Through John Folger. Peter Folger, John Folger, Jethro Folger, Jedidah Folger, Eunice Gardner, Peggy Macy, Frederick William Folger, Harriett Ann Folger. This is the chain shown above.
- Through Joanna Folger. Peter Folger, Joanna Folger (1645, LCJ9-XNH), Jeremiah Coleman (1678, LHK4-PR2), Enoch Coleman (1724, 9N5T-N6R), Lydia Coleman (1757, 27CL-3HG), Frederick Folger (1780, K83S-9GQ), Frederick William Folger, Harriett Ann Folger.
- Through Dorcas Folger. Peter Folger, Dorcas Folger (1655, LR6Y-MH8), Sarah Pratt (1690, LC9N-D56), Enoch Coleman, and on as in the Joanna route.
A fourth route runs down the Folger surname itself. Frederick Folger (1780) was the son of Charles Folger (1753, K6M6-DKB) and Lydia Coleman; Charles was the son of Frederick Folger (1725, KNSX-CHB) and Mary Trott; that Frederick was the son of Eleazer Folger Jr. (1672, LH5B-2JN) and Mary Marshall; and Eleazer Jr. was the son of Eleazer Folger (1648) and Sarah Gardner. The Vital Records of Nantucket confirm each of these marriages and parentages. The last step, from Eleazer Folger (1648) up to Peter Folger, is not shown here as confirmed: the tree currently links Eleazer Jr. to a second Eleazer record (L6YJ-J39) that has no parents, while the Eleazer record that carries Peter Folger as his father is a separate entry (L5PG-QGF). Until those two records are reconciled, this route is held back.
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 the Long brothers’ 1st cousin, 10 times removed. The connection runs through Peter Folger of Nantucket, their 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 the brothers’ 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 Long surname appears independently on both sides of the family: two unrelated families, centuries apart, converging.
Phebe was born on Nantucket on 21 May 1808, the daughter of Richard Long and Elizabeth (Betsey) Foster. Elizabeth was born on 11 August 1770, the daughter of James Foster and Lydia Swain, which brings the Foster and Swain families into this line as direct ancestors. See Nantucket.
Sources for This Line
- Harriett Ann Folger, daughter of Frederic W. Folger and Phebe Long; her marriage to Francis Perry in 1848 and removal to New Bedford: Eliza Starbuck Barney, Barney Genealogical Record (Nantucket Historical Association), vol. III, pp. 167 and 181. Her birth: Vital Records of Nantucket, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, vol. 1 (Births), p. 482.
- Her marriage, 14 December 1848: Vital Records of New Bedford, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, vol. 2 (Marriages), pp. 202 and 412. Her household in 1850: United States Census, New Bedford, Bristol County. Her death, Fairhaven, 22 February 1881: Massachusetts death records, 1881.
- Charles Franklin Perry, born New Bedford, 29 July 1860, son of Francis T. Perry and Harriet A. Folger: Massachusetts birth records, 1860.
- Frederick W. Folger and Phebe Long, married 10 April 1828; Frederick Folger and Mary Trott, married 1 December 1751, he the son of Eleazer Jr. and Mary (Marshall): Vital Records of Nantucket, vol. 3 (Marriages), p. 448.
- Charles Folger and Lydia Coleman, married 19 July 1778, he the son of Frederic and Mary (Trott), she the daughter of Enoch Coleman: Vital Records of Nantucket, vol. 3, p. 444. Enoch Coleman and Mary (Myrick) as parents of their children: vol. 3, p. 240, and vol. 4, p. 288.
- Phebe Long, born 21 May 1808, daughter of Richard Long and Elizabeth (Foster): Vital Records of Nantucket, vol. 2 (Births), p. 247. Betsey (Elizabeth) Foster, born 11 August 1770, daughter of James Foster and Lydia (Swain): vol. 1, p. 514.