Francis Follet

Francis Follet was born in March 1768. He was the first-born son of Charles and Mary Bloodgood Folliot/Follet. He grew up with only one brother in a merchant's home on Mark Lane near the Albany waterfront where "Bloodgood & Follet" kept a store at least into the early 1790s. Francis was named for his mother's father - the Bloodgood family patriarch.

During the 1780s and early 1790s, he witnessed the filing of administrative papers on behalf of a number of residents from around greater Albany County. This probably meant that he had a connection to the Albany courthouse and to courthouses in elsewhere in New York State.

He was the 287th person to sign in at the Albany Masonic lodge - probably after the war.

In 1792, Charles Folliot granted a power of attorney to his son, Francis. Perhaps, that was because the elder Follet had relocated to eastern New York (Schaghticoke).

In March 1795, Francis Folliot had commissioned a miniature from Ezra Ames.

In June 1797, he married Jane Watson in New York City.

In January 1797, he was among the petitioners for the incorporation of an Albany library. In May, letters of administration on the estate of deceased merchant Matthew Watson were granted to his son William and to "Francis Follet," a friend. Later that year, he was identified as a merchant and as a freeholder living in the first ward.

In March 1799, Follet and his wife sold land in Onondaga County to Saratoga County farmer Robert Mc Knight. A few years earlier, he was involved in a real estate transaction involving property in New York City.

In 1799, his house, store, and lots in the first ward were valued substantially on the city assessment roll. In 1800, his first ward home was configured on the census with a boy under ten, a man 26-45, two women of that age, another free person, and a slave as members of his household.

After that, the name of Francis Follet dropped from city rolls.

Sources: The life of Francis Follet is CAP biography number 8066. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. At least two relatively prominent, same-named individuals lived during his lifetime in New Hampshire and Virginia. Additionally, in 1790 the household of a "Francis Follet" was included on the census for Orange County, Vermont.