Mary Morrell Folger | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mary Morrell (Morrel/Morrill/Morrills/Morill) Circa 1620[citation needed] |
| Died | 1704 |
| Known for | Grandmother of Benjamin Franklin and being noted inHerman Melville's fictionalMoby-Dick |
| Spouse | Peter Folger |
| Children | Nine, includingAbiah Folger |
| Relatives | Grandson,Founding FatherBenjamin Franklin, Great-Grandson, Founder of Cornell UniversityEzra Cornell |
Mary Folger (née Morrell (Morrel/Morrill/Morrills/Morill);c. 1620–1704) was the maternal grandmother ofBenjamin Franklin, aFounding Father of theUnited States.[1] InHerman Melville's 1851 novelMoby-Dick, she was cited as an ancestor of the Folger whalers.
Folger immigrated toMassachusetts Bay Colony fromNorwich, England in 1635[2] with Rev.Hugh Peters and his family. She was anindentured servant, working for the family as a maid[3][4] on the same ship asPeter Folger and his parents.[2] Peter Folger paid Hugh Peters the sum of 20 pounds to pay off Mary's servitude, which he declared was the best appropriation of money he had ever made.[5][4]
She married Peter Folger in 1644.[3] They lived inWatertown, Massachusetts before moving in 1660 toMartha's Vineyard, where he was acquainted with theMayhews. He was a strict teacher, surveyor, and translator for theWampanoag people.[2]
They had nine children, eight of whom were born on Martha's Vineyard.[6] In 1663, they moved toNantucket,[2] where they were among the few people of European heritage.[3] Their youngest daughter,Abiah (1667–1752) was born there. later marrying Boston candle-makerJosiah Franklin and having a son,Benjamin Franklin.[1][7]
Her husband died in 1690,[2] and she died in 1704.[3]
Folger was referenced in defense of the whaling industry inHerman Melville's fictionalMoby-Dick.[8] In it, Melville sets up a series of objections to that industry, one of which is "No good blood in their veins?" The response is:
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.
— Herman Melville,Moby-Dick[8]
