Mary Morrill
Mary Morrill/Morrel/Morrills/Morill (Circa 1620 – 1704) was the grandmother of Benjamin Franklin who was an American printer, journalist, publisher, author, philanthropist, abolitionist, public servant, scientist, librarian, diplomat, and inventor. Mary married Peter Folger, a miller and schoolteacher in 1644. Benjamin Franklin's mother, Abiah Folger was born on August 15, 1667 in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Mary was mentioned by name as a historical figure in Herman Melville's fictional Moby Dick in chapter 24 which is entitled "The Advocate". This chapter is a defense of Nantucket's whaling industry. In it, Melville sets up a series of objections to that industry, one of which is "No good blood in their veins?" His response to this objection is: "They have something better than royal blood there. The grandmother of Benjamin Franklin was Mary Morrel [sic]; 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."
Other notable descendents Ezra Cornell, Co-Founder of Cornell University James Athearn Folger, Founder of Folger's Coffee Henry Clay Folger, Founded the Folger Shakespeare Library with his wife Mayhew Folger, Captain of the sealing ship Topaz that rediscovered Pitcarin Island in 1808 Rev. Phebe Ann Coffin Hanaford, Author, Poet, Suffragist, Editor, First female minister in New England Maria Mitchell, Astronomer Lucretia Coffin Mott, Feminist
External links, resources and references A family tree of Benjamin Franklin A descendent chart of Peter Folger and Mary Morrill
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