Inventor Name
Folger, Walter
Repository
Nantucket Historical Association Research Library
7 Fair Street
P.O. Box 1016
Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554-1016
508-228-1655
http://www.nha.org/library/guide/nha.html
Physical Description
3.5 linear ft.
Summary
Correspondence, deeds and land records, legal documents, financial papers, reports, publications, and miscellaneous materials, of Walter Folger, Jr. (1765-1849), mathematician, inventor, judge, and legislator, relating to family affairs; his clock and other inventions; mathematical calculations, navigation, and astronomy; political career including activities as sealer of weights and measures of Nantucket County, state legislator, and U.S. senator (1816-1821); judge of courts of common pleas and general sessions; participation as proprietor of common and undivided lands; and many other topics. Also includes correspondence, diaries, land records, legal and financial documents, genealogical materials, and other papers of George Howland (1816-1891), James Walter (b. 1851), and Admiral William Mayhew (1844-1928) Folger, and other family members, chiefly concentrating on family affairs, but also covering all aspects of island life and history. Includes information pertaining to education, architecture, common lands and right of pasturage, farming, ships, lighthouses, windmills, whaling, shipwrecks, economic conditions during American Revolution, War of 1812, and Civil War, oil and candle businesses, and other subjects; and correspondence from relatives in Milford Haven, Wales, Guilford County, N.C., and Hudson, N.Y., describing life in those areas. Other family members represented include Alexander M. (1773-1846), Anna Gardner (1782-1852), Benjamin Franklin (1777-1859), Charles (1753-1818), Charles (1779-1860), Daniel (1736-1819), George Washington (1810-1849), Mayhew (1774-1828), Peter (1617?-1690), Simeon (1762-1847), Timothy (1732-1814), Uriah (1778-1836), Walter 3rd (1786-1888), William (1785-1865), and William C. (1806-1891) Folger.