FOLSOM, Charles, scholar, born in Exeter, New Hampshire, 24 December 1794; died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 8 November 1872. He was graduated at Harvard in 1813. During his College vacations he taught in Sudbury, Massachusetts, and after graduation had charge of the academy at Hallowell, Maine, for one year. He began the study of divinity in 1814, and became chaplain in the U. S. navy, and midshipman's teacher of mathematics on the ship " Washington," in 1816. He was charge d'affaires in Tunis in 1817'19. David G. Farragut was one of the youngest of Mr. Polsore's pupils on board the " Washington," and was given permission, at his own request, to leave the ship and remain with his teacher at Tunis. In after years Farragut was never weary of acknowledging his affectionate obligation to his friend and teacher.

Mr. Folsom was tutor in Harvard from 1821 till 1823, and in 1825 was instructor in Italian. He was librarian of Harvard in 1823'6, and of the Boston athenaeum from 1845 till 1856. After 1826 he was a member of the firm of Folsom, Wells & Thurston, proprietors of the University press, and was engaged in the examination, correction, and partial editing of various classical works. Throughout his life he was accustomed to give much time to the version and criticism of the proofs of the works of various authors, among whom Quincy, Sparks, Norton. Palfrey, and Prescott have tendered special tribute to his ability. From 1841 till 1845, with his wife, he conducted a school for young ladies in Boston. Late in life he was engaged with others in the preparation of Worcester's Dictionary. He was the author of the inscriptions upon the monuments erected to three presidents of Harvard Dunster, Willard, and Webberand was frequently called upon for aid in similar labors, as also in the deciphering and interpretation of ancient inscriptions. At the close of the civil war Admiral Farragut gave Mr. Folsom a silver vase, handsomely engraved from sketches made by Farragut himself. Mr. Folsom was coeditor with William Cullen Bryant of the " U. S. Literary Gazette'" in Boston and New York in 1824, and edited, with Andrews Norton, the " Select Journal of Foreign Periodical Literature" in 1833. He published " Cicero's Select Orations," veith notes (Boston, 1811), and " Additional Selections from Livy," with notes (Cambridge, 1829).

His wife, Susannah Sarah Folsom, daughter of Professor Joseph McKean, of Harvard, married Mr. Folsom in 1824, and has written both prose and poetry. During Mrs. Eliza Lee Pollen's absence in Europe she edited volumes thirteen and fourteen of the " Child's Friend " (Boston, 1850), and wrote an " Ode for Ladies Pair" (1840). She also contributed to Miss A. W. Abbot's " Autumn Leaves " (Cambridge, 1853), and to Arthur Gihnan's " The Cambridge of 1776 " (Cambridge, 1876).

Their son, Charles William Folsom, engineer, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 17 April 1826, was graduated at Harvard in 1845, and was engaged in the construction of railroads in New York, Virginia, and Ohio from 1848 till 1854, and in Nova Scotia from 1855 till 1856. He served in the National army during the civil war, was receiver of railroads in Virginia and Tennessee for the U. S. government in 1869, and superintendent of Mount Auburn cemetery, near Boston, from April 1870, till April 1873. He has been employed in the sewer department of Boston since 1876.Another son, Norton, physician, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 15 April 1842, studied in the Lawrence scientific school of Harvard, and was graduated at Harvard medical school in 1864. He was surgeon of the 45th colored troops in 1864'5, and acting medical director of the 25th army corps, receiving the brevet of lieutenant colonel. He was in Texas when mustered out of service, and became a surgeon in the Liberal Mexican army under General Escobedo. He was resident physician at the Massachusetts general hospital in Boston in 1869'76, and since that time has practiced his profession in that City. Dr. Folsom has invented sanitary appliances, and published "Essay on the Senses of Smell and Taste," which gained the Boylston society prize (Boston, 1863), and " Plans and Suggestions for Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore " (New York, 1875).