♀Susanna Folsom

Susanna Folsom was a daughter of Lieutenant Peter Folsom of Exeter, in the Province of New Hampshire^W, and the wife of Caleb Gilman (1678–1766) of the same town. She was the sixth great-grandmother of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), through her daughter Elizabeth Gilman (1727–1806).

Marriage and her father’s estate

Peter Folsom had died by the summer of 1720. On 20 July that year his widow, also named Susanna, and his children made an agreement over his estate, and among the heirs it names “Caleb Gilman and Susanna Gilman”. Caleb signed his name; Susanna made her mark. She was therefore married by then, though the wedding itself is not on record. She acknowledged the agreement on 25 February 1723/4, and on 16 April 1737 a second agreement among the heirs again named “Caleb Gilman and Susanna his wife”. That is the last record of her, and the date of her death is not known.

Children

A genealogy of the Folsom family published in 1882 names two sons of the marriage, David and Caleb, and the Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire records the younger Caleb as of age in 1733. David was born between May 1714 and May 1721. In 1735 Caleb’s brother David Gilman of Exeter left his home place, house, orchard and adjoining land to “My Nephew David Gilman Son to My Brother Caleb Gilman”, and on 22 May 1735 the guardianship of the young heir, a minor “aged more than fourteen years”, was granted to his father.

A history of the Dudley family published in 1886 gives the birth of a daughter, Elizabeth, as 7 August 1727. No record names her mother. Susanna was Caleb’s wife from at least 20 July 1720 until at least 16 April 1737, years that take in Elizabeth’s birth, and no other wife of his is known in that time, so she was most probably Elizabeth’s mother. The Folsom genealogy leaves Elizabeth out of its short list of Susanna’s children, but a history of the Gilman family published in 1869 and the Genealogical Dictionary both place her among Caleb’s children, and the 1869 history describes Caleb as the husband of “Susannah, daughter of Lieutenant Peter Folsom”.

Notes

The probate records spell the family name Foulsham and ffoulsam. Peter Folsom married in 1678 according to the Folsom genealogy, which lists Susanna second among his children; the Genealogical Dictionary places her before a brother born in 1696. She was thus probably born between 1678 and 1696, and was likely in her thirties or forties when Elizabeth was born. The Genealogical Dictionary also lists an Israel and a Susanna among Caleb’s children, but David Gilman’s will of 1735 names an Israel Gilman of that generation as the son of Caleb’s other brother, Jeremiah.