Hon. Walter Folger

The Honorable Walter Folger Jr.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7505149/walter-folger

Folger was a self-taught mathematician, scientist, and astronomer, as well as a lawyer, inventor, and U.S. Congressman. Folger married Anna Ray in 1785 and the couple had ten children. In 1787, Folger finished construction of his "astronomical" tall-case clock and set it in motion. The clock tells not only the time of the day, but the motion and declination of the sun, the phases and motion of the moon, the day of the month, and the year.

Sources

1. The Walter Folger Clock
2. Folger Family Papers, 1676-1952
3. Proceedings of the Nantucket Historical Association, Volumes 16-20. By Nantucket Historical Association. Page 4
4. barney genealogical recordnantucket historical association - person page 716

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U.S. Congressman. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and proceeded to practice law in Nantucket, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Massachusetts State Senate, (1809-15). In 1817, he was elected as a Republican to the Fifteenth Congress and reelected to the Sixteenth Congress, serving until 1821. After his term, he was again a member of the Massachusetts State Senate, in 1882. He then resumed the practice of law until his death at age 84.