USA > Massachusetts > Nantucket County > Nantucket > Early settlers of Nantucket, their associates and descendants > Part 5
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* Nathaniel Weare, Newbury, son, perhaps, of Peter, of the same, born in England about 1631, . . . became coun- sellor of N. H. . . . married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Swain of Rowley." (Savage, vol. iv., p. 441.)
N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg., vol. xxv., p. 246, says: "The family of Wier is one of good standing in Scotland, whose name is said to be the same as Vere.
" In early years in this country were persons spelling their name Weare, Weir, Weyer, Wier, Wire, Wyer, all probably in- tending the same name, and many, if not all, possibly belonging to one family.
" First was Robert Wyer, of Boston; next Peter Weare, who died in Newbury.
" There was a Nathaniel Weare or Wire early in Newbury, af- terwards of Nantucket, where he died March Ist, 1681, who had a daughter Hester, wife of Benjamin Swett and Stephen Green- leaf, and a son Nathaniel, who married in Newbury December 3, 1656, Elizabeth Swain, moved to Hampton, was a Councillor and Chief Justice of New Hampshire, and died May 13, 1718, leaving sons Nathaniel and Peter," and, Savage says, "six others."
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CHAPTER IX.
PETER FOLGER.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, in his genealogical notes, infers that the Folger family was of Flemish origin, and went to England in the time of Queen Elizabeth.
Peter Folger, son of John Folger, was born in 1617, and came from Norwich, England, in 1635.
He went with his father to Martha's Vineyard, where he taught a school and surveyed land; he also assisted Thomas Mayhew, Jr., in his labors as a mission- ary among the Indians.
He was a Baptist, but it is believed that when an old nian he embraced the views of Friends.
Although he was not one of the first proprietors of Nantucket, he may be regarded as a very early settler, having removed to the island in 1663.
" Nantucket, 4th July, 1663.
" These presents witnesseth that we whose names are underwritten do give and grant unto peter foulger, half a share of accommodations on the land above sayd, that is to say half so much as one of the twenty purchasers, both in respect of upland, meadow, wood, timber and other appurtenances belonging to him and his hiers for- ever on condition that he com to inhabit on Ifland aforesayd with his family within one year after the sale hereof. Likewise that the sayd peter shall atend the English in the way of an Interpreter between the In-
68
Early Settlers of Nantucket.
dians and them upon al necessary ocasions, his house lot to be layd at the place commonly called by the name of Rogers field so as may be most convenient.
" Witness our hands.
" JOHN SMYTH
" THOS MACY
" EDWARD STARBUCK
" JOHN SWAYNE them.
" ROBERT BARNARD
" RICHARD SWAYNE
" JOHN ROLFE
" THOS MAYHEW
" TRISTRAM COFFIN SR for myself and others being empowered by
" PETER COFFIN
" STEVEN GREENLEAF
" TRISTRAM COFFIN JR
" WILLIAM PILE for two shares " NATHANIEL STARBUCK
" THOMAS COLEMAN."
Cotton Mather describes Peter Folger as an " Able Godley Englishman who was employed in teaching the youth in Reading, Writing and the Principles of Re- ligion by Catechism, being well-learned likewise in the Scriptures and Capable of Help in religious matters."
At Nantucket he was chosen clerk of the court and recorder July 21, 1673; he also surveyed lands for the settlers, and was regarded as the scholar of the com- munity.
The varied employments of Peter Folger prove him to have been as versatile as industrious; to him, at least, " the knowing Folgers lazy " could not have been ap- plied; and if there was ever any foundation in fact for the character which the little Nantucket rhyme has
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69
Peter Folger.
fastened upon this family, it must have been earned by a later representative of the name.
His mantle fell upon some of his descendants, and he bequeathed to them decided ability.
" Ilis son Eleazer, and Eleazer, Jr., were intelligent, literary and mathematical."
Peter Folger died in 1690; Mary, his widow, in 1704.
Abiah Folger, the youngest child of Peter Folger, and the only one born on Nantucket, married Josiah Franklin, of Boston.
Benjamin Franklin, son of Josiah and Abiah (Fol- ger) Franklin, married Deborah Read, of Philadelphia.
Richard Bache, born in England, in 1737, immi- grated to the United States, where he married, in 1767, Sarah, only daughter of Benjamin and Deborah (Read) Franklin. Richard Bache was Postmaster-General of the United States in 1776.
Richard Bache's marriage with Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Franklin, continues the Folger family line in Philadelphia, Mrs. E. D. Gillespie, of Philadelphia, being a granddaughter of Richard Bache .* This branch of Peter Folger's family has made its mark in many lines of work; there have been among the generations which have succeeded the great philosopher men who have reached distinction in the army and navy, as men of letters, at the bar, and in the service of the church, and women who in patriotic and educational work have proved the ability transmitted to them from their ven- erable ancestor.
* Other descendants in this line intermarried with Irwin, Hodge, Humphrey, Davis, Pepper, and Perry (of the family of Commo- dore Perry).
70
Early Settlers of Nantucket.
It is gratifying to note in the autobiography of Franklin that he was deeply interested in his ancestors, nor did he consider time lost when in England he made an effort to ascertain from records there the past his- tory of his family.
That he did not lose sight of the fact that Nan- tucket contributed a very considerable factor to his an- cestry is evidenced by his interest in the place and its people.
One of Franklin's biographers says:
" He took much pains to collect information about the Gulf Stream.
" This wonderful river in the ocean has been long known, but the first people to observe it closely were the Nantucket whalemen, who found that their game was numerous on the edges of it, but was never seen within its warm waters.
" In consequence of their more exact knowledge they were able to make faster voyages than other seamen. Franklin learned about it from them, and on his numer- ous voyages made many observations, which he care- fully recorded.
" He obtained a map of it from one of the whalemen, which he caused to be engraved for the general benefit of navigation on the old London chart, then univer- sally used by sailors."
This account is confirmed by Franklin's notes, in which he states that the Nantucket whalemen were ex- tremely well acquainted with the "Gulph Stream " " from their island quite down to the Bahamas," and he further says that from Captain Folger he obtained a copy of the sketch or draft used by Nantucket whale-
71
Peter Folger.
men, and caused it to be engraved on the London chart.
Alexander Starbuck, in his " History of the Ameri- can Whalefishery," says, "it is substantially the same as is found on charts of the present day."
WALTER FOLGER, another descendant of Peter Fol- ger, was the son of Walter and Elizabeth (Starbuck) Folger. Elizabeth was daughter of Thomas Starbuck.
Walter Folger first was son of Barzillai and Phebe (Coleman) Folger.
Barzillai was son of Nathan, who was son of Eleazer and Sarah (Gardner) Folger, and Eleazer was son of Peter Folger.
Walter Folger second practiced law for twenty years, and was for six years judge of the Court of Common Pleas, during which time no case decided by him was ever carried to a higher court; he was six years in the Massachusetts Senate, one year in the House of Repre- sentatives of Massachusetts, and four years in the Con- gress of the United States; in addition to this he was one of the best mathematicians and mechanics of his day. He has left as a record of his mechanical skill a remarkable clock, still in the possession of his family.
He commenced work upon this clock at the age of twenty-two, and, devoting to it his leisure hours only, completed it in the course of the second year.
It was put in motion July 4, 1790, and in 1901, though brown with age, is still a good time-keeper; the glass only which covered its face has been renewed. William C. Folger says, " He made not only the works but the case also, I am told."
Early Settlers of Vantucke ..
" It is made of brass and steel. It keeps the date of the year and the day of the month: the sun and moon rise and set in accordance with those in the heavens; it also shows the earth's place on the ecliptic: it keeps the moon's nodes around the ecliptic: the wheel that keeps the date of the year revolves once in one hundred years, remaining still ten years, and at the expiration of each ten years it starts regularly one notch: the diurnal motion of the sun is represented by a circular metallic plate so adjusted that it is seen through a slit in the dial-plate at a greater or less meridian altitude. as the declination changes, rising and setting as in na- ture, and changing the time in conformity to the lati- tude. . . . giving also through the entire dar the time of his rising and setting and place of the earth on the ecliptic: the moon is represented by a spherule exhib- ited to the ere in the same manner, but by having one hemisphere colored. and. by a process much more com- plicated. shows not only the rising. setting. and south- ing of the moon with the time of full sea at Nantucket. but also the chief phenomena dependent on the ob- liquity of the moon's path to the ecliptic, such as the hunter's and harvest moons.
"Some of these involve a motion of the works through a period of eighteen years and two hundred and twenty-five days, and the wheel by which the date of the year is advertised is so constructed that its revo- lution is only completed in one hundred years."
Walter Folger never learned a trade. never studied law with a lawyer. nor went to any institution of learn- ing where anything above the alphabet. spelling. read- ing in the Bible. arithmetic. and surveying were taught.
.. IL
....
-
73
Peter Folger.
MARIA MITCHELL, late Professor of Astronomy at Vassar College, whose mathematical ability needs no comment to the present generation, was a lineal de- scendant of Peter Folger. Maria Mitchell was daughter of William and Lydia (Coleman) Mitchell. Lydia Coleman was daughter of Andrew Coleman, who was son of Enoch, who was son of Jeremiah, who was son of John, who married Joanna Folger, daughter of Peter Folger. On the paternal side as well she was descended from Peter Folger, and from many of the early settlers on the island. (See page 141.)
William Mitchell filled many positions which brought him into touch with men of letters. Ile was at one time chairman of the IIarvard Observatory Com- mittee, and for a long time one of the Overseers of Harvard College; a member, also, of the Massachusetts Senate, and one of Governor Briggs' Council; and his associations were with the brilliant minds that public life in Boston knew in the earlier half of the nineteenth century.
In their home the children were accustomed to culti- vated society. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell entertained many people of rare attainments, as well as the minis- tering Friends who visited the island.
Here, at the age of twelve, Miss Mitchell began her astronomical observations.
Her brother, Prof. Henry Mitchell, referring to the eclipse of 1831, says: " It was this annular eclipse de- scribed in the next year's American Almanac as a ' splendid spectacle '-' beautiful and sublime,' that first called in the services of Maria Mitchell, as appears
74
Early Settlers of Nantucket.
from the accompanying fac-simile of her father's ob- servations at Vestal Street.
" We conjecture that the note signed 'M. M.' was added after her father's death in 1869, at the time his papers were gathered up.
* *
" These observations of the eclipse made in concur- rence with those of Paine at Monomoy and Bond at Dorchester had for practical object the determination of the longitude of the house in Vestal Street where the chronometers of the whale-ships were carried to be rated and set to Greenwich time."
" Mr. Mitchell came in time to be the rater of all chronometers of a fleet of ninety-two whale-ships re- quiring observations on every fine day of the year. We mention this to indicate how accustomed his daughter must have been to the talk of astronomy, even as the source, in part, of her daily bread."
The connection of the Barker family with Nantucket and with the family of Peter Folger furnishes a link between Nantucket and Plymouth.
JACOB BARKER, financier and merchant, was son of Robert Barker and Sarah Gardner.
Robert Barker was son of
Samuel Barker and Bethiah Folger.
Samuel Barker was son of Isaac Barker and Judith Prence.
Bethiah Folger was daughter of John, and granddaughter of PETER FOLGKE.
Felipe of 2 me 1931
Time by clocky 11. 58 . 14 8
Formation ofring 1.29. 35
Chapter of ring 1.31.17
End of the Eclifton 2.55.42
Duration ofring
1.42
clock too fast - 3.7
Duration - - Mean - Jisne corrected =
Beginning - 11. 55. 07 Formation ofring 1.26.28
Rupture of way 1.28.10 End of echipa 2 . 52. 35 Duration of ring - - - 1.42 Duration of Echipe 2. 5%. 25? 11.55.07
04.53 2 .52.35 2.57 .. 28 This time we notere by one ; I was 12 2 years old. M. M.
75
Peter Folger.
JUDITH PRENCE was daughter of GOVERNOR THOMAS PRENCE and Mary Collier, and granddaughter of WILLIAM COLLIER.
WILLIAM COLLIER, whose daughter Mary was second wife of Governor Prence, was a wealthy merchant, who came early to Plymouth and soon removed to Dux- bury .* It is not known whether he brought with him a wife, but Savage says " four daughters of excellent character came with him,"-Sarah, who married Love Brewster; Mary, who married Thomas Prence; Elizabeth, who married Constant Southworth; and Re- becca.
William Collier was assistant governor twenty-eight years, + member of Council of War four years, } member of Provincial Congress in 1643, and one of the com- mittee of two appointed by Congress to sign the Arti- cles of Confederation.§ He died in Duxbury in 1671.
THOMAS PRENCE was born at Lechdale, Gloucester- shire, England, in 1600; he died in Plymouth, Massa- chusetts, in 1673. He was governor of the Plymouth Colony eighteen years, assistant thirteen years, treas- urer one year, member of the Council of War five years, commissioner twelve years, alternate commis- sioner several years. The N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg., vol. vi., p. 234, thus speaks of him:
* Savage, vol. i., p. 443.
+ Plymouth Colonial Records, vol. i., pp. 32-36, etc.
į Ibid., vol. ii., pp. 47, 64.
§ See Winsor's History of Duxbury, p. 90, and Savage, vol. i., p. 433.
76
Early Settlers of Nantucket.
" He was a worthy gentleman and very able for his office, and faithful in the discharge thereof, studious of peace, a well willer to all that feared God and a terror to the wicked."
Doubtless, from various records, Thomas Prence was a zealot in his own belief and intolerant of all whose views did not accord with his; it must be remembered that in that day intolerance was the rule and charity the exception.
Governor Prence and his associates believed they were engaged in their Master's service in any perse- cutions they were party to, and the author of " The Pilgrim Republic " says, " A severe execution of the laws was exceptional with them and they often exer- cised leniency on slight pretexts."
He further says, "Thomas Prence had ever swayed the courts in religious matters. Let it stand as a redeeming trait to his character that he used this influ- ence to emancipate his people from the bonds of a world-wide superstition .* Prence also honored himself by zealously promoting public education. . . . The stern Calvinism which he cherished had long been losing its hold on the publie mind, and the signs of the times were ominous to those conservative principles which he considered essential to a good government . . . it is probable that the weary Governor was quite ready to go when death summoned him from the Gov- ernment-house April 8, 1673, at the age of seventy- three.+
* Witchcraft.
¿ For dates and authorities concerning the services of Thomas Prence, see Justin Winsor's History of Duxbury; Plymouth Col-
.
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Peter Folger.
" Ten days later, with all the ceremony due to his office, he was laid on Burial Hill, in a grave now un- known."
Dr. Edward T. Tucker, in an article written for " The American Friend," and published in its issue dated Sixth month 20th, 1901, gives many inter- esting facts concerning the attitude of the Plymouth Colony toward Quakers and the intolerance of Gov- ernor Prence toward the sect. Among his descendants are many representatives of the Society.
" Arthur Howland, brother of John Howland, was summoned to appear at the house of John Alden to answer for entertaining a Quaker. . .
" At a Court held June 1st, 1658, before Thomas Prence, Governor, and his assistants, Robert Harper, Ralph Allen, Jr., John Allen, Thomas Greenfield, Ed- ward Perry, Richard Kirby, Jr., William Allen, Thomas Ewer, William Gifford, George Allen, Jr., Matthew Allen, Daniel Wing, John Jenkins, Jr., and George Webb, of Sandwich, were summoned and gave a reason for refusing to take the oath of fidelity to the government and to the mother country, as they de- clared it unlawful to take oath. . . .
" William Newland, of Sandwich, and Henry How- land, of Duxbury, were disfranchised for being abettors of and entertainers of Quakers.
" Arthur Howland, of Marshfield, and Henry How- land, of Duxbury, were numbered among the staunch advocates of the Society in their respective localities. John Howland, their brother, was one of the company
ony Records; Savage; N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg .; and The Pil- grim Republic, by John A. Goodwin.
Early Settlers of Nantucket.
in the Mayflower, nearly forty years before, and had been an influential resident in the Colony."
John Howland was not a member of the Society of Friends.
Arthur Howland, Jr., son of Arthur, married Eliza- beth Prence after many years of opposition on the part of her father, Governor Prence.
His prejudice against Quakers was so strong that Arthur was fined five dollars for presuming to pay at- tention to Elizabeth, and forbidden to see her.
When, after years, the young people, faithful to each other, and regardless of their duty to parental au- thority, renewed the engagement, Arthur was again fined five dollars, which fine was duly paid, but the ardent lover prevailed, and history says Elizabeth Prence became " Mistress Arthur Howland."
WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER belongs to this branch of the family, his great-grandmother having been a half- sister of Jacob Barker and daughter of the aforesaid Robert Barker.
Another descendant of Peter Folger was the late CHARLES JAMES FOLGER, who was born at Nantucket in 1818; when he was thirteen years of age the family removed to Geneva, New York. He graduated at Hobart College in 1836, read law with Mark H. Sibley, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He was judge, State senator, chief justice, sub-treasurer of the United States, in New York, and finally Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.
CHAPTER X.
THOMAS GARDINER, AND HIS SONS RICHARD AND JOIN GARDNER.
WILLIAM C. FOLGER, in his notes on the Gardner family, makes the following entry: "Farmer, in his Register, says, 'Thomas Gardner came from Scotland; ' a Nantucket tradition says he came from Sherborne, in the northern part of the County of Dorset, and that the former name of Nantucket (Sherburne) was given through the influence of his family. There is no ques- tion of the fact that they exercised considerable influ- ence over the affairs of the town."
There are few natives of Nantucket who do not claim descent from Thomas Gardner.
From New England History and Genealogical Reg- ister, vol. xxv., pp. 48, 49, we learn that " Thomas Gardiner, the first of the Salem stock, came over in 1624 from Dorsetshire, England, near which the name had flourished for more than three centuries, and set- tled under the auspices of the Dorchester Company and Rev. John White, with thirteen others at Gloucester, Cape Ann, upon the grant of Lord Sheffield to Robert Cushman and Edward Winslow, made in January of that year.
NOTE .- Mr. Folger, referring to the characteristic "silent " as applied to the Gardner family, says: "They certainly have been less noisy and have displayed more shrewdness than many other families, and in proportion to their numbers have had the largest share of offices."
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Early Settlers of Nantucket.
" Mr. Gardner was overseer of the plantation, John Tilley of the fisheries, Roger Conant being soon after appointed Governor.
" Not realizing the success they anticipated in founding a colony they removed, in 1626, to Naum- keag, or Salem, which continued the home of Mr. Gardner and his descendants down to the present cen- tury. He died in 1635."
Henry Drinker Biddle, in his "History of the Drinker Family," on page six, says:
" Sarah Gardner, the wife of Benjamin Balch, was the daughter of Thomas Gardner, the first Governor of the Cape Ann Colony."
Savage, Vol. II., p. 230, gives the following in sub- stance:
Thomas Gardner, Salem, was first at Cape Ann em- ployed by the projectors of the settlement to oversee the fisheries; 1624 or 5 he removed with Roger Con- ant; was made freeman 17 May, 1637, and was repre- sentative same year. He was also a member of the Town Council of Salem for a number of years.
The weight of authority would indicate that Thomas Gardiner and John Tilley were the chief rulers of the Cape Ann Colony during the time which preceded the appointment of Roger Conant as Governor.
As during that time they were in the highest posi- tion, other authorities than Mr. Biddle have referred to Thomas Gardiner as Governor, and as such he has been quoted through many generations.
From the Historical Collections of Essex Institute of Salem, we learn that the name of Gardiner has been
81
Thomas Gardiner.
known and respected throughout the entire history of the city.
He married: first, Margaret Frier, who was the mother of his children; second, Damaris Shattuck, widow.
Thomas Gardiner had several sons, among whom, as early settlers of Nantucket, although not original proprietors, were Richard and John, who took an active part in affairs civil and military.
Austin says that Richard Gardner lived at Salem from 1643 to 1666; he and his wife (Sarah Shattuck) were persecuted for attending Quaker Meeting, and went to Nantucket, where they spent the remainder of their lives.
In 1673, Governor Lovelace commissioned Richard as chief magistrate of Nantucket, " he to hold his com- mission until the next election and return and approba- tion of a new one by Francis Lovelace." *
Copy of " A Letter from the Secretary to ye Inhabts of Nantuckett. [Deeds III. 89, Secretary's Office.]
"New Yorke, Apr. ye 24th, 1673.
" Gent :- By the Governors Ord' I am to acquaint you, That hee Received your Letter (bearing Date the 3d Day of Aprill) about three weeks fince, by the Hands of Mr. Richard Gardner, together with eight
* Authority for this commission may be found on pp. 87. 88, in a manuscript volume entitled, Deeds, vol. 3, in the office of the Secretary of State in Albany.
NOTE .- Some descendants of Lion Gardiner live now on Nan- tucket; whether there is any connection between Thomas Gar- diner and Lion Gardiner is not known.
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Early Settlers of Nantucket.
Barrels of ffifh for two Yeares, Acknowledgement, and a Token of fifty weight of ffeathers, for which your Care of the Former and Kindnefs in the Latter hee Returns you Thanks. There came to the Governor in the Winter a Letter from Mr Tristram Coffin about your Election, but no other from you; in anfwer to which you had heard from him fooner, but the Diffi- culty of Conveyance hindered. You will now under- ftand the Governors Choice, by the Bearers hereof Mr. Richard and Captain John Gardner;
" That is, Mr. Richard Gardner for Chiefe Magiftrate this Yeare, and Capt. John Gardner for Chiefe Mili- tary Officer, for which they have Commiffions. They have alfo with them fome Additional Inftructions and Directions to Communicate to you; moft of which were Propofed by thofe two ffriends you sent who have pru- dently Managed the Truft you Repofed in them. They have alfo with them a Booke of the Lawes of the Gov- ernment, and three Conftables Staves;
" As to your Non-performance of the Acknowledge- ment according to the Strietnefs of the Time, his Honor being fenfible that Opportunityes doe not very fre- quently prefent between these Places, hee is very well Satisfyed with your Civill Excufe. If at any Time you have other Propofalls to make, for the Good of yo" In- habitants, you may reft affured of his Honor ready Complyanee therein. This is all I have in Charge to Deliver unto you from the Governour, foe take Leave and Subscribe
" Gent: Yo' very humble Servant
" MATTHIAS NICOLLS."
83
Thomas Gardiner.
JOHN GARDNER was magistrate at Nantucket in 1680, and judge of probate from 1699 until his death, which occurred in 1706, at the age of eighty-two. IIe is re- ferred to by Cotton Mather as being " well acquainted with the Indians, having divers years assisted them in their government, by instructing them in the laws of England and deciding difficult cases among them."* In 1673, John Gardner was appointed " Captain and Chief Military Officer of the Ffoot Company."
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