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By this time, Betty was being courted by Benjamin, the eldest son of Peter and Hannah Morrison Folsom, original proprietors in Exeter, New Hampshire. Betty fashioned her wedding dress from the piece of chintz which her father had given her. The colors of the tiny flowers blended with the neutral mauve background. The full skirt fell in graceful folds about her lithesome body. A soft cream-colored lace fichu collar adorned the plain neckline, intensifying the brown of her eyes and hair. Betty was ready with her linens and woolens as she clasped Benjamin's hand and repeated her marriage vows (no marriage date available).
The great fireplace in Grandfather John (Jr.) Folsom's home at Piscassic (now Newfields), New Hampshire, almost filled the entire north end of the kitchen. On the shelves of a small open cupboard step-grandmother Mary kept a few pieces of pewter and some of her cooking supplies, but the niche at the other end was just right for a boy of ten to sit with his back to the oven, his knees drawn up and his feet braced against the west wall. That was where young Benjamin, son of Lt. Peter Folsom of King Philips War, loved to be. Sometimes he had to coax the family dog out of the niche with a piece of jerky, but where the dog lay made a warm spot for him. Benjamin's own grandmother, Sarah Lyford, great-granddaughter of Governor Thomas Dudley of Massachusetts, had recently died, but he remembered her kindly ways. Grandfather John knew what the boy came to the house for. He wanted to hear the tales of how his great-grandfather, Francis Lyford, sailed the rocky coast of Maine and back to Boston, first piloting one of his vessels and then another. Sometimes John would tell of the time Francis Lyford piloted one of the ships to Nova Scotia and how appalled he was to see the fifty-foot tide which came into Fundy Bay. Then there was the time when the Lyford ships were requisitioned to carry the inhabitants of Saco, Maine, to Boston during one of the Indian uprisings. Young Benjamin decided that no life was quite as intriguing as the life of a Trader of the Seas.
There was work to be done on his father Peter's farm and sawmill, but he was at the docks and wharfs of Portsmouth Bay much of his time. His greatest ambition was to own a ship, so he set about with determination to accomplish this desire. He was still a young man when he became known as a “Trader" with a ship of his own. Being original proprietors of the town of Exeter, New Hampshire, the Folsoms and Gilmans either inherited from the original or setup their own saw and lumber mills in the Bay area. At first Benjamin traded in building materials which he bought from relatives, but soon had orders for ship-building lumber.
Benjamin Folsom was 18 years old when the Joshua Mitchell family moved from Newbury, Massachusetts, to Newmarket, New Hampshire, about 1758. It took no time at all for the ability of Joshua Mitchell as a shipwright to become known in his new location. No doubt Benjamin knew where to find the right kind of seasoned hardwood, had it laid down at the Newmarket piers and helped Joshua Mitchell build the ship which he had so longed for. Along with the acquaintance of Joshua came the acquaintance of his daughter Betty. So Betty sewed her wedding dress of chintz, and she and Benjamin were married. They made their home in the Piscassic (Newfield) section, and Benjamin conducted his trade in building supplies. For a short time he kept a tavern near Pike's Tavern. That he was granted this permit, bespoke the confidence which the selectmen of the community had in him. Only men of high standards of living were permitted to run a tavern. A tavern of that day was not a beer parlor as we know it today, but a place where honorable citizens found lodging as they traveled through the country.