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Winthrop Gilman took Betty Folsom and her family back to GilmantoD4 but the Gilmanton records are of little value; too many Folsoms, with little to distinguish the ancestor.
It was only three years after the death of Benjamin Folsom that Deborah, wife of Winthrop Gilman, passed away, and soon thereafter Winthrop (age 44) married Betty Mitchell Folsom (age 32), widow of Benjamin, They had four children born at Gilmanton: Caleb, Sally, Shuah and John,
Benjamin Jr., his sister Hannah, and the other children of Benjamin Folsom made their home with the Gilman family, but young "Bennie" spent a good deal of time with his grandfather, Peter Folsom, who was now making his home in Gilmanton. This was at the time of the Revolutionary War, when there was much debate and discussion, for and against the war, in the homes and community. Many were corning and going into the service. All this made a deep impression on Bennie, and he wished he were old enough to enlist. With so many men away at the war, it was not difficult for him to find employment, so by the time he was twenty-one he felt that he had accumulated enough money and chattels to marry and be "on his own". It was at Gilmanton that he married Agnes Fullington, daughter of William and Abigail Moulton Fullington of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
The charter for the town of Holderness, New Hampshire, was granted on November 10, 1751. Here was virgin timberland for the asking and plenty of work of all descriptions in the lumber mills. "Bennie" and Agnes decided to cast their lot in this locality. They filed on a large tract of land on the west side of Squam Lake. We learn just how large it really was after Bennie's (now Ben) death, when Agnes filed a petition August 14, 1823 with Arthur Livermore, praying for the administration of the estate. She stated that she was "entitled to dower in 150 acres of land with house (which seems to have been quite spacious), a cow barn and orchard next to the road leading from Captain Curry's over the hill to Esquire Morse's".
Their first child, Betsy, was born at Holderness, September 21, 1785 and on November 12, 1787 William Fullington Folsom was born. Then followed Benjamin, Samuel, Hugh Ramsey, and Abigail.
But something happened to "Ben" which made it impossible to better his financial condition.
One evening Ben sharpened his axe and hung it in the leather guard near the kitchen door. He was up early the following morning to be about his work of clearing more of his land. No man went into his field unarmed, so he carefully lifted his gun from its rack above the fireplace. He was very proud of his gun. It was one of the newer flintlock models which his grandfather, Peter Folsom, had assisted him in purchasing. Testing the powder, which he kept in a small leather pouch, he complained to himself about its texture, but since none other was available, he knew it must serve him. With a rod he rammed the powder into the bore, then shredding a bit of worn cloth he poked it carefully to prevent the powder gas from escaping. Next came the bullet, which he had molded from melted lead poured into a bullet mold. Again some wadding was tamped gently into the bore of the gun. With his powder pouch and a few extra bullets tucked away inside his leather cap to keep them dry, some pieces of dried meat and parched corn in a small bag hanging from a waist thong, he was ready to meet his neighbor, Morse, at the corner of the clearing where the property lines met.