J. A. Folger
James Athearn "J. A." Folger Sr. was an American businessman and the founder of the Folgers Coffee Company.
Early years
Folger was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, the son of Samuel Brown Folger and wife Nancy Hiller. His father was a master blacksmith who had invested in a tryworks and bought two ships. They had nine children of which James was the second youngest. The Folger family roots can be traced back to Peter Folger, an English colonist. On July 13, 1846, a fire broke out in Nantucket's business section and burned the works and ship and 11 year old James helped in the reconstruction.San Francisco
After the discovery of gold in California, James, along with his brothers Henry and Edward set out in the autumn of 1849 on a ship bound for the Isthmus of Panama. After a raft and hiking journey across the Isthmus, the brothers waited at Panama City for quite a while before catching the Pacific mail steamer Isthmus on April 10, 1850. They entered the Golden Gate on May 5, 1850. Edward Folger was in California as early as 1846, read a newspaper.The high wages being offered in San Francisco persuaded James to stay there to instead of heading to the gold fields. He helped in reconstructing the city after one of San Francisco's many fires, similar to how he had in Nantucket. He helped build a spice-and-coffee mill for a man named William H. Bovee.
In 1860, he founded the San Francisco coffee firm known as the J. A. Folger Coffee Company, known today simply as Folgers Coffee.