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Rh " 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 &ldquo;Destiny of Man,&rdquo; and another on &ldquo;Spinoza's Doctrine of Law and Morals.&rdquo; In 1824 the governments of Russia, Austria, and Prussia demanded of the Swiss government that Dr. Follen should be surrendered to &ldquo;justice&rdquo; 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 &ldquo;Lexington.&rdquo; He published a &ldquo;German Reader&rdquo; (Boston, 1831; new ed., with additions by G. A. Schmitt, 1858); and &ldquo;Practical Grammar of the German Language&rdquo; (Boston,