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Peter Foulger What We Have Discovered About A Most Remarkable Man Part II by Kim Downs-Watson, Coordinator Peter Foulger Project for the Nantucket Historical Association THE PETER FOULGER PROJECT is lovingly dedicated to the memory of "Sally" (Dr. Isabelle Virginia Kendig) in the name of her husband, Howard B. Gill. She was a Foulger descendant through Ben jamin Franklin.
MY DESK OVERFLOWS with letters, notes and copies of documents recorded in England during the 17th century. Parish records from England, counting Foulgers one by one, know their place in the metal box that sits on the floor. Maps of Norfolk and surrounding areas of England sit by the window on the spare bed. Along with those maps, reference books and note books cover the top of the bed. Old wills, and other reference materials, books and a typewriter, permanently on strike, share the remaining space in the room my family calls the guest room, and I call my office. The subject of this material is a man that has been a part of my life for almost three years, Nantucket's own Peter Foulger (1617-1690). Allow me to explain. In the fall of 1981,1 was commissioned by the husband of a Foulger descendant to study the life and ancestry of Peter Foulger in loving memory of his wife. In order for the work to benefit both the individual and the community, the research was arranged through the auspices of the Nantucket Historical Association. With this duly accomplished, the program began to take shape. During the initial coordination of the program, I found it necessary to develop a research networking (link-up) system of off island con tacts to augment my ability to trace and link missing data with that which was already known as fact: a system which would serve to con nect me with outside resources and which would give me access to various research and reference material otherwise unavailable to isolated island research. This networking system extends from New England, to North Carolina, California, trickles through the midwest and back to New England. It crosses over several times, to various
