Businessman. Born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, the son of Samuel Brown Folger and Nancy Hill, the second youngest to nine children. At the age of 14, James and his brothers Henry and Edward headed for California in search for gold. James remained in San Francisco to work for his travel costs while his older brothers proceeded to the mines. In 1850, a 27-year-old entrepreneur named William H. Bovee was looking for a carpenter to build his first mill in San Francisco, which he called The Pioneer Steam Coffee and Spice Mills. Because James was skilled in carpentry, Bovee hired him to erect the mill. After a year James saved enough money to stake a claim and headed out to mine for gold. He agreed to carry along samples of coffee and spices, taking orders from grocery stores in the mining country until he arrived in a town called Yankee Jim’s in 1851. Upon his return to San Francisco in 1865, James became a full partner of The Pioneer Steam Coffee and Spice Mills. By 1872, James bought out the other partners,  and renamed the company J.A. Folger & Co. James married in 1861 and he and his wife had four children, two would die, while the two remaining children worked for the family business. In June of 1889, at the age of 51, James died of a coronary occlusion. His oldest son, James A. Folger, II, had worked in the company for seven years at the time of his father’s passing. He was 26 years old and stepped into the role of president of J.A. Folger & Co. (bio by: Shock)  Family links:  Parents:  Samuel Brown Folger (1795 – 1864)  Nancy Hillar Folger (1798 – 1869)  Spouse:  Eleanor Laughran Folger (1837 – 1906)*  Children:  James Athearn Folger (1864 – 1921)*  Ernest Rudolph Folger (1871 – 1937)*  Siblings:  Samuel B. Folger (1825 – 1844)*  Edward Pell Folger (1829 – 1869)*  Henry Clay Folger (1833 – 1914)*  James Athearn Folger (1835 – 1889)  Thomas H. Folger (1840 – 1843)* *Calculated relationship