The Documented Descent

Notable Ancestors and Cousins

The documented descent records a network of notable kin. Direct ancestors trace generation-by-generation to medieval kings and the Holy Roman Empire. Documented cousins extend laterally to figures across English royalty, American statecraft, and reform movements. Each connection below is rendered in full on its dedicated proof page.

Direct Ancestors

Each traces generation-by-generation to John, Perry, and Patrick Long through the maternal line.

Documented Cousins

Collateral kin reached through a shared ancestor rather than direct descent. The royal cousins descend from Edward IV; the American cousins descend by independent New England lines.

Benjamin Franklin

1706-1790 · Statesman and polymath

Documented cousin. 1st cousin, ten times removed, through Peter Folger of Nantucket.

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Kezia “Miriam” Folger Coffin

1723-1798 · Nantucket merchant

Documented cousin. 1st cousin, nine times removed, through John Folger (father of the direct ancestor Jethro Folger).

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Lucretia Coffin Mott

1793-1880 · Abolitionist and suffragist

Documented cousin through the Coffin line of Nantucket; co-organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention.

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Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold V

1741-1801 · Continental Army general

Documented cousin. 4th cousin, seven times removed, through Stukely Westcott’s daughter Damaris.

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Capt. Lt. Joseph Arnold

1755-1840 · RI Society of the Cincinnati

Documented cousin. 4th cousin, seven times removed, through Stukely Westcott via the colonial Arnold line; the patriot side of Benedict Arnold V’s branch.

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Capt.-Lt. James Gardner

d. 1787 · Crane’s 3rd Continental Artillery

Documented cousin. 4th cousin, seven times removed, through Lt. George Gardiner Sr of Newport (the Gardiner line shared with Herodias Long).

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Walter Folger Jr.

1765-1849 · Inventor, astronomer, U.S. Congressman

Documented cousin. 4th cousin, seven times removed, through Tristram Coffin of Nantucket.

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Maria Mitchell

1818-1889 · First American woman astronomer

Documented cousin. 5th cousin, six times removed, through Tristram Coffin; at the boundary of the inclusion filter, graded sourced.

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Levi Coffin II

1798-1877 · “President of the Underground Railroad”

Documented cousin. 4th cousin, seven times removed, through Tristram Coffin of Nantucket.

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