Folsom, Nathaniel, 1726-1790

<p>Nathaniel Folsom (September 28, 1726 – May 26, 1790) was an American merchant and statesman. He was a delegate for New Hampshire in the Continental Congress in 1774 and 1777 to 1780, signing the Continental Association. He served as major general of the New Hampshire Militia during the American Revolutionary War and is a Founding Father of the United States.</p>

<p>Folsom was born into a large family in Exeter, New Hampshire. His ancestors were among Exeter's earliest settlers, having arrived with the Gilman family, to whom they were related, from Hingham, Massachusetts, where both families settled for a time before moving on to New Hampshire. (The original spelling of the family name was Foulsham. The Folsoms continued to hold land outside Hingham, Norfolk, England, many years after leaving for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1673, John Folsom of Exeter gave his son Peter 50 acres (200,000 m2) of land in Norfolk County, England, which he had inherited from his family.) Nathaniel Folsom's father Jonathan (c. 1685–1740) married Ann Ladd (1691–1742), and she gave birth to Anna, Sarah, Lydia, Elizabeth, Abigail, John, Mary, Nathaniel, Jonathan, Samuel, Josiah and Trueworthy (named for Folsom's Treworgy ancestors).</p>

<p>When Folsom's father died in January 1740, the thirteen-year-old Nathaniel went to work for a merchant. He invested in timber and opened a sawmill. Then in 1761, he went into business with some distant cousins, Joseph and Josiah Gilman. They became Folsom, Gilman & Gilman and opened a general store, built ships, and carried on an import/export business. The firm operated in Exeter and Portsmouth. Though the partners separated in 1768, Folsom continued in foreign commerce, timber, and lumber operations for the rest of his life.</p>

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li>12/31/1779 NH Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1778 NH Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1777 NH Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1776 NH Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>09/01/1774 NH Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>

FOLSOM, Nathaniel, a Delegate from New Hampshire; born in Exeter, Rockingham County, N.H., September 18, 1726; attended the public schools; served in the French and Indian Wars as a captain in Colonel Blanchard's regiment; successively major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel of the Fourth Regiment of New Hampshire Militia, which he commanded at the beginning of the Revolutionary War; brigadier general of the New Hampshire troops sent to Massachusetts and served during the siege of Boston; appointed major general and planned the details of troops sent from New Hampshire to Ticonderoga; Member of the Continental Congress in 1774 and 1777-1780; executive councilor in 1778; a delegate to the State constitutional convention of 1783, serving as its president; chief justice of the court of common pleas; died in Exeter, N.H., on May 26, 1790; interment in Winter Street Cemetery.