We are not related to Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin. To whom we are not related.

As the 4th of July draws near, the Founding Fathers are on our minds. We are related, distantly, to some of them, but alas we are not related to my favorite: Benjamin Franklin. We do, however, have a non-family connection (of a sort).

In my post on the Cape Cod Calvinist Kerfuffle of 1717-1738, I mentioned my eight great-grandmother, Jedidah Smith Osborn. Her grandfather and great-grandfather were both named Thomas Mayhew. They were founders and leaders of the European colony on Martha's Vineyard, and they ran a mission school on the island. They were both fluent in the Wapanoag language and their strong relationships with the Wapanoag community (among other things, they required Europeans to pay an honest price for the land they colonized) kept the island from being pulled into King Phillip's War. By the (admittedly quite low) standards of the day, they were respectful and considerate of the indigenous people.

The two Thomases were assisted by Peter Folger (or Foulger). Peter had come to New England in 1635 with his parents, but he was a Baptist and therefore was harder to employ or to integrate into the Puritan society. The Mayhews were more tolerant in this respect, also, than their brethren on the mainland. When Thomas Jr. left for a return trip to England (from which he never returned) he left the mission and school in Peter's hands. Peter later surveyed and then led a European settlement on Nantucket. He married Mary Morrill, with whom he had a number of children, including their second-youngest daughter, Abiah, who married Josiah Franklin and was mother of Benjamin Franklin.

So, although we have no blood relationship with Benjamin Franklin, our families are intertwined, and young Ben no doubt grew up hearing stories about our Mayhew great-grandfathers from his own grandfather.