the Discovery of Maine," whieh was delivered before the New York historical society, 6 Sept., 1840.
FOLSOM, Joseph L., soldier, b. in Meredith, Belknap co. (then a part of Strafford county), N. H., 19 May, 1817 ; d. in San Jose, Cal., 19 July, 1855. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1840, and assigned to the infantry, serving in the Florida war against the Seminoles until 1841, and then on the northern frontier until 1844. In that year he was appointed assistant instructor of infantry tactics at West Point. He was transferred to the quartermaster's department, with the rank of captain, in 1846, and served in California during the war with Mexico. From 1840 till 1848 he was also collector of customs for the port of San Francisco. He was one of the first to appreciate the discovery of gold in California, and to impart the news officially to the government. He was identified with the early history and development of San Francisco, where he was a large property owner, and one of the wealthiest citizens of California. Folsom City, on the American river, near the locality where gold was discovered, was named for him.
FOLSOM, Nathaniel, Revolutionary soldier, b. in Exeter, N. H., in 1720: d. there, 26 May, 1790. His earliest ancestors in America wrote the name Foulshame. In the French war of 1755 he com-
manded a company at Fort Edward, was distinguished at the defeat and capture of Baron Dieskau, and appointed general of militia, before the Revolution. He served during the siege of Boston, in
1775, until he was relieved by Sullivan in July, was a member of the Continental congresses of 1774-'5 and 1777-8, was a councillor in 1778, and served as president of the Constitutional conven-
tion of New Hampshire in 1783.
FOLSOM, Nathaniel Smith, clergyman, b. in
Portsmouth, N. H., 12 March, 1806. He was graduated
at Dartmouth in 1828 and at Andover
theological seminary in 1831, and ordained on 26 Sept.
of that year. After acting as a missionary in
Liberty county, Ga., in 1831-'2, he was pastor of a
Presbyterian church in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1832-'3,
professor in Lane theological seminary in 1833,
and held the chair of biblical literature in Western
Reserve college in 1833-'6. He held Congregational
pastorates at Francestown, N. H., in 1836-'8, and
Providence, R. I., in 1838-'40, was pastor of a
Unitarian church at Haverhill, Mass., in 1840-'6,
and edited the “Christian Register” in Charlestown,
Mass., in 1846-'8. He was professor of
biblical literature in Meadville, Pa., theological
seminary in 1848-'61, and in 1862 was a teacher in
Concord, Mass., also acting as pastor of a church
there in 1867-'8. In 1875 he removed to Boston.
Dr. Folsom has contributed to current literature,
and has published “Critical and Historical
Interpretation of the Prophecies of Daniel” (Boston,
1842).—His son, Charles Follen, physician, b. in
Haverhill, Mass., 3 April, 1842, was graduated at
Harvard in 1862. He taught among the freedmen
in the south from 1862 till 1865, when he returned
to Massachusetts, studied medicine, and, after his
graduation at Harvard medical school in 1870,
began general practice in Boston. In 1873-'5 he
attended lectures in Vienna, Berlin, and Munich.
He was lecturer on hygiene in Harvard in 1877-'85,
and lecturer and assistant professor of mental
diseases from 1879 till 1882. He has been secretary
of the Massachusetts board of health, and of the
state board of health, lunacy, and charity, and has
been a member of the national board since 1882.
Dr. Folsom is visiting physician to various hospitals
and asylums, and is a member of the State medical
society, and of numerous medical societies. His
writings have been chiefly confined to health
reports and articles on hygiene and mental diseases.
Several of his lectures have been reprinted, one of
them, on “Mental Diseases,” for the use of students
in the Harvard medical school. This was first
published in Pepper's “American System of Medicine.”
He has written papers on “Limited Responsibility,”
“General Paralysis,” and “Insanity in
England and America”; “Letters from Europe,”
which appeared in the Boston “Medical and Surgical
Journal,” and has published in book form
“The Present Aspect of the Sewage Question as
Applied to Boston” (Boston, 1877).
FOLTZ, Clara Shortridge, lawyer, b. in Henry
county, Ind., 10 July, 1849. She removed to
Mount Pleasant, Iowa, with her father, Rev.
Elias W. Shortridge, and was educated chiefly at
Howe seminary in that town. She taught in 1863
in Mercer county, Ill., and in December, 1864,
married. She went with her husband to Oregon
in 1872, and soon afterward to San José, Cal.,
contributing to the “New Northwest” and the
San José “Mercury.” About 1876 she was thrown
on her own resources, and, though having the care
of four children, she determined to study law, aiding
herself by lecturing. She went before the
legislature of 1877-'8, secured the passage of an
act permitting women to practise law, and was the
first to take advantage of it, being admitted to the
bar on 5 Sept., 1878, after passing creditably a
strict examination. In 1880 she was clerk of the
assembly judiciary committee, and in the same
year removed to San Francisco, where she spoke
for the Republicans during the canvasses of 1880,
1882, and 1884. In 1886 she became a Democrat,
and in the winter of that year lectured in Wisconsin,
Illinois, and Iowa. She has been successful at
the bar, and is an effective public speaker.
FOLTZ, Jonathan Messersmith, surgeon, b.
in Lancaster, Pa., 25 April, 1810; d. in Philadelphia,
Pa., 12 April, 1877. He entered the U. S.
navy as assistant surgeon, 4 April, 1831, and landed
with the storming party at Qualah Battoo, Sumatra,
being specially commended in Capt. Shubrick's
official dispatch. He was made surgeon, 8 Dec.,
1838, and was attached to the frigate “Raritan,”
of the Brazil squadron, in 1844-'7, and to the
“Jamestown,” of the same squadron, in 1851-'4.
He was fleet-surgeon of the Western Gulf squadron
in 1862-'3, and was with Farragut on the “Hartford”
in all his battles during those years. He
occupied the same place on the “Franklin” during
Farragut's voyage to Europe in 1867-'8, and in
1870-'1 was president of the naval medical board.
He became medical director on 3 March, 1871, and
chief of the bureau of medicine and surgery, with
the rank of commodore, on 25 Oct. of that year.
He was placed on the retired list, 25 April, 1872.
Dr. Foltz published “Endemic Influence of an
Evil Government” (New York, 1843).
FOLWELL, William Watts, educator, b. in Romulus, Seneca co., N. Y., 14 Feb., 1833. He was graduated at Hobart in 1857, and in 1859 became adjunct professor of mathematics there. He spent the years 1860-'1 in the study of philology at Berlin and in travel, and during the civil war served in the 50th N. Y. engineers, reaching the rank of major. He then engaged in business, but in 1869 accepted the chair of mathematics in Kenyon college, Ohio, and in the same year was appointed to the presidency of the University of Minnesota, after resigning which he remained professor of
political science and librarian. He has published “Public Instruction in Minnesota” (1875), and “Lectures on Political Economy.”
