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Family of
Richard Folker and Elizabeth Benstead
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William Foker was born in Snettisham on 13 July 1837 and baptised in the Parish Church on 19 August. He lived with his parents and step-brother John in Heacham and was employed as an Agricultural Labourer. He emigrated to Canada where he married Maria Almira Parker on 27 December 1857. They had six children, born between 1859 and 1879, some of them at sea as Maria accompanied William on some voyages.
A booklet titled Hantsport on Avon tells that during the period of the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865, William was running the blockade. He was Master of the Herald on a voyage from Beaufort in South Carolina with a cargo of naval stores when he was captured by the US naval frigate S L Lawrence. He taken to Hampton Roads in Virginia where he was imprisoned until the end of the war.
The booklet records that in 1868, William was the Master of barque J R Hea and on a voyage to England, came across the French fishing brig Nautownier in distress. William sent his lifeboat to the stricken ship three times thus rescued 33 men. The French Government presented William with a gold medal, engraved binoculars and a Certificate of Bravery signed by Emperor Napoleon. William made a tableaux of the event and kept it in a glass case.
The 1871 Directory of Nova Scotia lists William as living in Falmouth Township and, on 22 Janaury 1878, the crew list of the ship Stormbird of Halifax sailing from Melbourne to Sydney, Australia, shows him as being Ship's Master. The 1896 directory shows William in King's County. The census of 1911 shows William and Maria with sons Thomas, George and Frederick still living at home. By 1921 only George remained with them. William died of a Cerebral Haemorrhage in Hantsport, Nova Scotia on 15 June 1921. He had been a Master Mariner for a total of 33 years and had owned seven ships at one time or another. Maria died at Hantsport on 3 August 1924.
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