" whatever shall be done by them, or any three of them, Peter Folger being one, shall be accounted legal and valid." He was also a clerk of the courts for a time. Cotton Mather, in his " Ecclesiastical History of the Province in New England," refers to Folger as pious and learned. He was familiar with the scriptures, taught them to the youths, and oc- casionally preached. Among other lesser pieces, he pul)lished a poem entitled "A Looking-G-lass for the Times ; or. The Former Spirit of New England revived in this Greneration" (1675; 2d ed., 1763). Of it Benjamin Franklin, in his autobiography, says : " The poem, in familiar verse, appeared to be written with a manly freedom and a pleasing sim- plicity, agreeably to the tastes of the times and the country. The author addresses himself to the gov- ernors of the colonies, speaks for liberty of con- science, and in favor of the toleration of sects, among them the Quakers and Anabaptists, who had suffered persecution." — His daughter, Abiall, b. in Nantucket, 15 Aug., 1667, married Josiah Franklin, and became the mother of Benjamin Franklin. — His great-grandson, Peleg', sailor, b. in Nantucket, Mass., 18 Oct., 1733 ; d. there. 26 May, 1789. His life was passed on a farm until he was twenty-one years old, when he changed from land to sea, and "for several years was engaged in the cod and whale fisheries. He kept a journal of his voyages, which is written in a much more scholar- ly manner than could be expected from his limited education. Some of the verses that he introduced into his journal wei'e quoted in Macy's " History of Nantucket," and seem to be those of a scholar rather than a sailor. On his retirement from the sea, his counsel was much sought by his neighbors. He was a member of the society of Friends.
FOLGER, Walter, lawyer, b. in Nantucket,
Mass., 12 June, 1765 ; d. 8 Sept., 1849. He attended
the common schools, studied higher mathematics,
navigation, and French by himself, and became a
proficient scholar. He was for many years a watch
and clock maker, and in 1788 began an astro-
nomical clock, which he completed in 1790. He
calculated and published an almanac for 1790, and
assisted in compiling others. He then studied
medicine and surgery, and practised gratuitously ;
also studied law, and followed this profession in
the courts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island till
about 1828. He was one year a representative in
the Massachusetts legislature, state senator in
1809-'15, was for six years a judge of the court of
common pleas and of the court of sessions in Nan-
tucket county, and at one time chief justice of both
of these courts. He represented his state in con-
gress from 1817-21, having been elected as a
Democrat. During the war of 1812 he established
a factory at home, where carding, spinning, and
weaving were carried on by himself and his sons.
His power-looms were among the earliest in this
country, and he manufactured many kinds of cot-
ton and woollen goods. He kept a record of the
weather for twenty-one years (1827-'48), was for
some time principal of Nantucket academy, and
during two winters, in the evenings, taught navi-
gation and nautical astronomy to several ship-
mates. He made observation on the comet of
1811, and afterward calculated the orbit of another
comet. In his seventieth year he began a gene-
alogy of the people of Nantucket, on which he
continued to write till his death. He contributed
mathematical problems to various newspapers and
scientific journals in Boston and New York, and
was the author of " Description of Nantucket," in
the Massachusetts historical collections (1794),
and "Observations of the Solar Eclipse of 1811."
FOLLEN, Charles Theodore Christian,
educator, b. in Romrod, Germany, 4 Sept., 1796; d. in
Long Island sound, 13 Jan., 1840. He was the
second son of Christopher Follen, an eminent
jurist. He was educated at the preparatory school
at Giessen, where he distinguished himself for
proficiency in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, and
Italian. At the age of seventeen he entered the
University of Giessen, and began the study of
jurisprudence, but presently, on hearing the news of
Napoleon's defeat at Leipsic, he enlisted in a corps
of riflemen. A few weeks after enlisting, his
military career was cut short by an acute attack of
typhus fever, which seemed for a time to have
completely destroyed his memory. After his
recovery he returned to the university, where he took
the degree of doctor of civil law in 1817. In the
following year he lectured on the pandects in the
University of Jena. Here he was arrested on
suspicion of complicity with the fanatical assassin,
Sand, in the murder of Kotzebue. The suspicion
was entirely groundless. After his acquittal he
returned to Giessen, but soon incurred the dislike
of the government through his liberal ideas in
politics. His brother had already been thrown
into jail for heading a petition begging for the
introduction of a representative government. Dr.
Follen, perceiving that he was himself in danger,
left Germany and went to Paris, where he made
the acquaintance of Lafayette. In 1820 the French
government ordered all foreigners to quit France,
and Dr. Follen repaired to Zurich, where he became
professor of Latin in the cantonal school of the
Grisons. He was soon afterward transferred to the
University of Basel, as professor of civil law, and
here, in association with the celebrated De Wette,
he edited the literary journal of the university,
and published an essay on the “Destiny of Man,”
and another on “Spinoza's Doctrine of Law and
Morals.” In 1824 the governments of Russia,
Austria, and Prussia demanded of the Swiss
government that Dr. Follen should be surrendered to
“justice” for the crime of disseminating
revolutionary doctrines, and, finding the Swiss
government unable to protect him, he made his escape to
America, and, after devoting a year to the study of
the English language, was appointed instructor in
German at Harvard. He studied divinity with
Dr. W. E. Channing, began preaching in 1828, and
also served as instructor in ecclesiastical history in
the Harvard divinity-school. In 1830 he was
appointed professor of German literature at Harvard.
There was no regular foundation for such a
professorship; it was merely continued from time to
time by a special vote of the corporation. About
this time Dr. Follen became prominently connected
with the anti-slavery movement, which was then
extremely unpopular at Harvard, and in 1834 the
corporation refused to continue his professorship.
Thrown thus upon his own resources, after nearly
ten years of faithful and valuable service at the
university, Dr. Follen supported himself for a
time by teaching and writing, living at Watertown,
Milton, and Stockbridge. In 1836 he was
formally ordained as a Unitarian minister, and
preached occasionally in New York, Washington,
and Boston. He continued conspicuous among
the zealous advocates of the abolition of slavery.
In 1840 he was settled over a parish in East
Lexington, Mass., but while on his way from New
York to Boston he lost his life in the burning of
the steamer “Lexington.” He published a
“German Reader” (Boston, 1831; new ed., with
additions by G. A. Schmitt, 1858); and “Practical
Grammar of the German Language” (Boston,
