March 29, 2024
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series about the founders of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and their descendants, focusing on a colorful character named Stephen Macy. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue with my series on the scions of the founders of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
In 1850 Stephen Macy had a very unusual but noble request. He wanted to legally change his name to Franklin Macy in honor of his kinfolk Benjamin Franklin.
Stephen was the son of Samuel Macy and Lydia Folger. He never married or had issues, but he was a colorful character in Nantucket’s history, one to be remembered. He had plenty of siblings and cousins who continued the family line.
Stephen descended from several Nantucket founders, and many of his ancestors were practicing Quakers. In addition, his 5th great grandparents were Mayflower passengers John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley.
He was a noted “Town Crier,” philosopher, and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.
The record for Stephen’s petition to change his name appears on page 128 of the List of Persons Whose Names Have Been Changed in Massachusetts, 1780-1883.
It was also published in the New Bedford Mercury newspaper.
Stephen Macy’s petition was accompanied by a statement from Folger’s Almanac that provides details of Benjamin Franklin’s genealogy, as well as a note about Stephen’s own:
“John Folger came from England in the year 1636 from the city of Norwich in the county of Norfolk, a widower, with his son Peter, aged 16 years. His wife’s maiden name was Mesina Gibbs. She died in England. Hugh Peters, who was chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, came from England in the same vessel with them. They settled at Martha’s Vineyard, and in 1644 Peter Folger married Mary Moriel [Morrill], a waiting maid, that came from England with the family of Hugh Peters. They had eight children during their residence at Martha’s Vineyard. They removed to Nantucket in the year 1662, and afterwards had one daughter, named Abiah, who was the mother of Dr. Franklin.”
Peter [Folger] was great-great-great-grandfather to my mother, and she was Walter Folger’s senior daughter named Lydia.
Stephen’s mother Lydia was the daughter of Quakers Walter Folger (1735-1826) and Elizabeth Starbuck (1738-1821). Here are silhouettes of her parents.
“Nantucket Memories,” an article published in 1886, featured Franklin’s mother and grandparents.
This article reported:
Ben Franklin’s mother [Abiah Folger Franklin (1667-1752)] and grandmother [Mary] were residents of the island, and I suspect a good share of his mother[’s] wit and sound sense were due to Nantucket sea-breezes and nitrogenous food. Here is the record of his mother’s birth: “Abiah, daughter of Peter [and Mary] Folger, born August 15, 1667.” She was of the same family that produced the late Judge [Charles James] Folger.
The article also adds an additional tidbit to the story of how Abiah’s father Peter Folger fell in love with his wife Mary:
Quite a romance attaches to her [Abiah’s] mother Mary Moriel, the wife of Peter Folger. She was a maid-servant in the family of the Rev. Hugh Peters, one of Cromwell’s chaplains, and in 1662 accompanied her master and his family to the New World. Peter Folger was a passenger on the same vessel, and became so enamored of the maid that he bought her indenture of her master for £20, an enormous sum in those days, and on landing, married her.
A clip from the Nantucket Atheneum newspaper archives entitled “Rooted in History” described famous scions bred from Nantucket’s founders, and most are interrelated. Benjamin Franklin (statesman) is featured in the tree just below James A. Folger (coffee magnate) and across from Lucretia Mott Coffin (reformer).
When our subject Stephen Macy died in 1868 his obituary was just as colorful as he had been in life. This obituary refers to him as a “well-known character”; after all, this was a man whose official name change petition said he wanted to be called Franklin because:
“I wish to have my name changed to Franklin Macy, instead of Stephen Macy, being a relative of the illustrious Dr. Franklin, and having a mind like his.”
This obituary reported:
Death of Professor Macy
This well-known character departed this life in Nantucket on the 5th inst. The Inquirer & Mirror insert his name in its obituary announcements as Stephen Macy, but we believe the Professor had his name changed to Franklin Macy, by petition to the General Court. He was well known as a poet and lecturer on electricity, mesmerism, jackasses, and kindred subjects. He rode the goat, and was once honored with a commission purporting to come from His Highness the Emperor of Japan; and was the recipient of many honors while residing in this city. Some people lacked the perception to see that the Professor was a learned man, but anyone could perceive that he had acquired what many a greater man fails in, the art of living without work.
Maybe Master Macy took his cue from Benjamin Franklin:
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”
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Note on the header image: flag of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Credit: NuclearVacuum; Wikimedia Commons.
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