Collection #

M 0109

 

 

Benjamin franklin folger
collection, 1829–1929

Collection Information

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Series Contents

Cataloging Information

 

 

 

Processed by

Charles Latham
November 1989

Revised by Emily Comstock
30 June 2005
Revised by Dorothy A. Nicholson
September 2008

 

Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269

www.indianahistory.org

 

COLLECTION INFORMATION

VOLUME OF
COLLECTION:

Manuscript Materials: 2 document cases
Visual Materials: 1 box of photographs, 1 OVA graphic, 1 OVB photograph

COLLECTION
DATES:

1829–1929

PROVENANCE:

Willard Heiss, ca. 1960

RESTRICTIONS:

None

COPYRIGHT:

 

REPRODUCTION
RIGHTS:

Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society.

ALTERNATE
FORMATS:

 

RELATED
HOLDINGS:

 

ACCESSION
NUMBER:

1960.0009

NOTES:

 

BIOGRAPHiCAL SKETCH

This collection carries through four generations of three families, Folger, Ross, and Allender, who moved from North Carolina to Rush County, Indiana.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin Folger, 24 July 1806–7 January 1879, son of Reuben and Lydia (Wilson) Folger, moved to Sumner, Posey Township, Rush County, about 1850.  In 1834 he married Nancy Ross, 12 January 1816–17 October 190 5, daughter of John and Jane Ross.  Nancy (Ross) Folger was a prime mover in the founding of the Blue River Wesleyan Methodist Church at Sumner.

One of the sons of Franklin and Nancy Folger was William O. Folger, born 27 April 1849, who lived at various times in Manilla and Carthage, Indiana, both in Rush County.  On 24 September 1874 he married Lydia E. Allender, 8 December 1849–14 July 1912, whose family lived in Beech Grove and Arlington, also in Rush County.  She had a brother in Kansas and sisters in Bluffton, Indiana, Texas, and Washington.

A daughter of William and Lydia Folger was Mary Florence Folger, who was born 27 November 1879.  She taught at the Indiana School for the Deaf in 1903 and was still living in Indianapolis at 555 North Hamilton Street in 1929.  Her father apparently lived with her in Indianapolis after his wife's death in 1912.

Sources:  Materials in the collection.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of genealogical materials, correspondence, diaries and notebooks, four books, photographs, and clippings.  It is arranged chronologically within each category.

Series 1: Historical Context and Correspondence:

The first folder of the collection contains family background information from family trees to origins of the Folger name.  The correspondence largely concerns the distaff side of the family.  Nancy (Ross) Folger appears, writing in a very shaky hand, until 1903 when she was in her late eighties.  All of the Allender relatives of Lydia Folger keep her up to date on their far-flung activities until her death in 1912.  Mary Florence Folger writes weekly to her family from her job at the School for the Deaf.  In the 1927–1929 correspondence, addressed as "My dear Toots," she receives a lively series of letters from Earl Beyer about his life at the Battle Creek Sanitarium.

Series 2: Personal Effects:

Folders 19 and 20 contain poems, one is an elegy by Melinda Folger, sister of B. F. Folger, another is a long doggerel description of the preachers who had served the church, presumably Blue River Wesleyan Methodist. Folders 23 through 25 contain diaries, including a religious diary of John and Jane Ross, 1829–1830.

The final manuscript folders contain notebooks, including one with vital statistics for the Folger and Allender families, a hymnal dated 1835, Songs of Zion by Thresher, a Lindley Murray English Reader of 1836, and two Sunday school texts. 

Series 3: Visual materials:

The visuals consist of various photographs, tintypes, cabinet cards, and cartes de visite.  These portray images of family members, the Allender homestead, the Blue River Wesleyan Methodist Church, scenes from various parts of Indiana, especially Marion County.  Also incorporated into the collection is a scrap of wallpaper from the Allender home in Rushville and a rather large photograph of the Pembroke Arcade.

series CONTENTS

Series 1: Historical Context and Correspondence

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Genealogical materials

Box 1, Folder 1

History of Blue River Wesleyan Methodist Church, 1853

Box 1, Folder 2

Correspondence, 1852–1860

Box 1, Folder 3

Correspondence, 1861–1870

Box 1, Folder 4

Correspondence, 1871–1877

Box 1, Folder 5

Correspondence, 1878–1880

Box 1, Folder 6

Correspondence, 1881–1890

Box 1, Folder 7

Correspondence, 1891–1893

Box 1, Folder 8

Correspondence, 1894–1896

Box 1, Folder 9

Correspondence, 1897–1900

Box 1, Folder 10

Correspondence, 1901–1903

Box 1, Folder 11

Correspondence, 1904–1905

Box 1, Folder 12

Correspondence, 1907–1908

Box 1, Folder 13

Correspondence, 1909–1911

Box 1, Folder 14

Correspondence, 1912

Box 1, Folder 15

Correspondence, 1913, 1924

Box 1, Folder 16

Correspondence, 1925–1929

Box 1, Folder 17

Correspondence, n.d.

Box 1, Folder 18

Series 2: Personal Effects

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Melinda Folger poem, 22 Apr. 1848

Box 1, Folder 19

Two poems, n.d.

Box 1, Folder 20

Miscellaneous

Box 1, Folder 21

Clippings

Box 1, Folder 22

Religious diary, John and Jane Ross, 1829–1830

Box 1, Folder 23

Diary, Col. Isaac F. Folger, 1866, 1870

Box 1, Folder 24

Diary excepts, 1874–1876; diary, 1878

Box 1, Folder 25

Account books, 1856, 1876–1878; notebook, 1892; recipe book

Box 1, Folder 26

Memoranda, 1878

Box 1, Folder 27

Written words to hymns, n.d.

Box 2, Folder 1

Songs of Zion; … by M. Springer, 1835

Items found inside the Songs of Zion book: some scraps of cloth, a drawing, and cross stitch samples

Box 2, Folder 2

English Reader: or Pieces in Prose and Poetry... by Lindley Murray, 1830. Typewritten slip inserted with message “Lydia Ellen Allendar’s Book”

The Child’s Scripture Question Book, American Sunday School Union, 1836. Inscribed “B.F. Folger’s book”

Box 2, Folder 3

Series 3: Visual Materials

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Franklin and Nancy Folger, ca. 1870–1900

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 1

William O. and Lydia (Allender) Folger, ca. 1860s–1900

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 2

Daniel and Jane (Folger) Presnall, ca. 1860s–1890

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 3

Folger family, ca. 1860s–1870s

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 4

Garland and Mary Allender, ca. 1870s

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 5

Allender and Parrish family,, ca. 1860s–1890s

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 6

Allender homestead, ca. 1920

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 7

Wallpaper scrap from Allender house, Rushville, Indiana

OVA Graphics:
Folder 1

Blue River Wesleyan Methodist Church , ca. 1882, 1919

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 8

Carthage, Indiana, group photos at the Strawboard Factory, ca. 1907, Carthage High School group, 1908

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 9

Airplanes at Speedway, racetrack at Speedway, Airplane at Ft. Harrison, City Market, Saint Vincent Hospital, Riley’s House at Lockerbie, Monument Circle view from top, 1919, 1920, 1922

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 10

Pembroke Arcade

OVB Photographs,
Folder 1

Indiana miscellany: Jones preacher [tintype],
Earlham College Dorm 1916–17

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 11

Indiana Postcards
Marion County: Indiana: Tornado damage 18 May 1927,
Jennings County: Bridge construction
Rush County: Covered Bridge, Mays, Indiana

Photographs,
Box 1, Folder 12

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1.      Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog:  http://opac.indianahistory.org/

2.      Click on the "Basic Search" icon.

3.      Select  "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.

4.      Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, M 0109).

5.      When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.