In 1635 John, his son, a controversial half-Flemish preacher by the name of Hugh Peters[xii] (who later would hang for his role during the English Civil War for condoning the regicide of Charles I) and others (including Peter’s servant, Mary Morrill, whom Peter ‘purchased’ for £20, and who later became the 18-year old Peter Folger’s wife in America) boarded the ship ‘Abigail’ for New England. They were part of a great exodus that emptied out the Eastern Counties of England. So much so that later historians claimed 2/3 of all those claiming English descent in America could trace their ancestry from East Anglia.[xiii]

In the New World the Folgers prospered. John (a widower) married Mirabah Gibbs (another Norfolk native). Although we do not know Mirabah’s ancestry, as one historian put it: “Two generations had now passed since the great immigration [from Flanders] to Norwich and by this time a very large proportion of the citizens must have acquired a share” of Flemish DNA.[xiv]

http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2009/02/franklins-flemish-forefathers.html

John Folger came from Norwich, England to America in 1638.

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John and Meribah (Gibbs) Folger

John FOLGER - b. about 1593, Norwich, Norfolk, England; d. 1660, Martha's Vineyard, Dukes Co., MA. Son of John FOLGER (b. about 1569) and Elizabeth (b. about 1571). Peter immigrated with his parents from Norwich County, Norfolk, England in 1635 when he was about 18 years old. Just when they settled in Watertown, MA is not known, but John owned a homestead and 6 acres there in 1642. Married about 1615, Norwich, Norfolk, England.

Meribah GIBBS - b. 1595, Frenze Hall, Diss, Norfolk, England; d. after 1664, Martha's Vineyard, Dukes Co., MA. Daughter of John GIBBS (b. about 1572; d. 1608) and Alice ELMY (b. about 1574). Meribah may not have been the first wife of John FOLGER, since a tradition says that he arrived in America as a widower.

Son of John Folger

  1. Peter - b. 1618, Norwich, Norfolk, England; d. 1690, Nantucket, Nantucket Co., MA

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Notes from http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1456081&id=I69459795

Note: He was probable son of Flemish refugees who migrated to New England on ship "Abigail" landing in Boston 6 OCT 1635. They lived in Dedham and Watertown, MA; moved to Martha's Vineyard about 1648.

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John Folger, born Bet. 1590 - 1595 in Norwich, Norfolk, England; died 1660 in Martha's Vineyard, Dukes, Massachusetts. He was the son of John Folger and Elizabeth XXXX.

He married 907. Meribiah Gibbs Bet. 1615 - January 1616/17 in Norwich, Norfolk, England.

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/p/o/h/Pamela-J-Pohly/GENE3-0015.html -------------------- John Folger, born Bet. 1590 - 1595 in Norwich, Norfolk, England; died 1660 in Martha's Vineyard, Dukes, Massachusetts. He was the son of John Folger and Elizabeth XXXX.

He married 907. Meribiah Gibbs Bet. 1615 - January 1616/17 in Norwich, Norfolk, England.

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/p/o/h/Pamela-J-Pohly/GENE3-0015.html