The Folger Family - Scandals in high society

Although it is commonly assumed that the last few months of Abigail's life caused her family embarrassment , it is a 'fact' based on assumption. The truth is, none of us know how the family viewed Abigail, not truly anyway. We have various snippets we will be posting, that will hopefully dispel the theory within the community, that the family were ashamed of her. 
 But let's say there is some truth to it. It brings us very nicely to the scandals that rocked one of California's pioneering families. If the death of Abigail Folger bore a striking resemblance to some kind of twisted horror film, then the shenanigans of her family could have been lifted from a soap opera desperate for ratings, introducing one outlandish plotline after another.
 Money, sex and scandal, three primary adjectives- associated with one of San Francisco’s oldest families- purposely overlooked and cast aside in favor of the more heroic tales of James Athern Folger I, striking it rich in the gold fields of California.
 Let's dig a little deeper into the family that molded our heroine.

Home Invasion 

June 20th, 1923. It was still dark at 4:00 in the morning and a wisp of fog was resting on the acres of field surrounding Hazelwood Hills. The fog would later roll away leaving the radiant clarity of a beautiful sunny day in it's wake, as nearby residents woke up to the events of what occurred over the next few minutes. Peter Folger, 18, Abigail's father, was fast asleep when he was woken by the sound of a gun shot. Not one, but two. Rushing from his room into the pathway of his mother, Clara, the Folger matriarch, the two found themselves at the top of the staircase looking down on Peter's brother, James, who had just emptied his gun on would-be thief, William Lee. A petty crook, who eventually met his demise in the bushes on the grounds of the Folger estate. Mortally wounded, he fled from the house and was dead before the police arrived. He died with a loaded gun in one pocket and $15,000 dollars’ worth of jewellery in the other, which he had stolen from the Folger mansion. $15,000 dollars was pennies to the family but the sacred comfort zone of their home was priceless. As far as James Folger was concerned, he was simply protecting his family and his home, and anyone who violated either was deserving of a bullet or two. 46 years later, James' niece, who he outlived by just three years when he died in 1972, would become an unwitting victim during one of the most prolific home invasions in history. And by a cruel twist of fate, there was a gun on the grounds of Cielo Drive that night, to protect the residents from potential intruders.

Love Hurts 

October, 1948. The daughter of James A Folger III, Clair Dean Folger, (Abigail's first cousin) found herself on the receiving end of physical violence when a former boyfriend took her rejection harder than she expected. Just 17, Clair had briefly dated a young man by the name of James Gallagher and quickly moved on to a new suitor, Paul Andrew, two years her senior. Believing Clair to have mixed feelings about the courtship and breakup, James decided to do the only thing which made sense to him at the time and proposed. The proposal was met with a resounding no. This rejection led James taking matters into his own hands, and when we say hands, we mean literally. He blackened the eyes of the new suitor and slapped Clair round the face, resulting in his arrest, conviction and sentencing to community service, where he was ordered by a judge to pack lettuces in a garbage dump for ten days. His arrest was demanded by Clair's father, who 25 years earlier, had been lauded by society for killing a petty thief in the grounds of the family estate.

The Young Bride

Love never runs smoothly for many folk, which brings us to the last chapter in a series of scandals which had potential to damage the good Folger name; The one where Big Daddy Folger brought home a 23-year-old

tennis enthusiast and introduced her to his teenage children as his bride to be. She was just seven years older than his daughter. Beverly Mater wasn’t a name one would find in the social registers of San Francisco. She had no place in high society and her only connections to its members was when they sat on the sidelines of center court, ogling her as she ran back and forth during a volley. It was what led her to Peter Folger, who ended up employing her as his personal secretary. Despite an ocean sized age gap of 30 years, Beverly Mater very quickly became the second Mrs. Folger and the lady of the house at Hazelwood Hills in Woodside. Little known at the time of the private wedding was that the new Mrs. F was already knocked up with a little Folger baby of her own. Which is how Abigail Folger came to have a sister seventeen years younger than her. More on this little gem to follow...