Benjamin Franklin's Favorite Sister Benjamin Franklin, the tenth of Josiah Franklin's sons, was six years old when Jane, the seventh daughter, was born on March 27, 1712. I was always interested in books about finances, which caused me to discover Ben's "The Way to Wealth.". A bachelor in his twenties was frowned upon and Franklin at age 24 was set to find a wife. Stephen Coss is the author of the book The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic that Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics. John and Abigail Adams had a storybook union that spanned half a century. Silence Dogood. A few weeks later he was rooming at the Reads and employed as a printer. Weel, a but one. Because the Compunction is less. The couple's marriage was a mixed bag. Benjamin Franklin (2007). Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. As every reader of Franklins Autobiography knows, Deborah Read first laid eyes on Benjamin Franklin the day he arrived in Philadelphia, in October 1723, after running away from a printers apprenticeship with his brother in Boston. by Benjamin Franklin, Carl Japikse. In 1721 James Franklin founded a weekly newspaper, the New-England Courant, to which readers were invited to contribute. What do you think about Benjamin Franklins wisdom about marriage, sex and the older woman? 2. In London Franklin quickly found employment in his trade and was able to lend money to Ralph, who was trying to establish himself as a writer. Over 35 years of marriage, Benjamin Franklin had indirectly praised Deborah's work ethic and common sense through "wife" characters in his Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard's Almanac. Franklin was not the gushy, romantic type, but, prior to his marriage, he had an affair with the wife of a friend and ended up getting her pregnant. * Why I Got PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) Since I'm Not In The Military, * Top 41 Lessons Blogging Teaches About Life, * What Is Empty Nest Syndrome And The Words She Said As Comfort. Benjamin Franklin was bedridden during the final year of his life, escaping severe pain only by the use of opium, and he died on April 17, 1790, at age 84. Way University Professor and Professor of History, Brown University. LOL! Since he was also an investor, he had a lot to share about achieving wealth and prosperity. Where there's marriage without love, there will be love without marriage. He flat out denied such rumors, claiming he was an honest husband, even if he was not a loving one. He ignored her appeals until July 1771, when he wrote her: I purpose it [his return] firmly after one Winter more here. The following summer he canceled again. Marriage is the proper Remedy. Marriage is the proper Remedy. One problem, though the couple's only son was not inoculated, contracted smallpox, and ultimately died. It is the most natural State of Man, and therefore the State in which you are most likely to find solid Happiness. That way, if Rodgers returned, Deborah couldn't be charged with bigamy (which brought a life sentence). Franklin family members worked in the smith trade for nearly 300 years. The couple had two children. The disease was fatal in more than 30 percent of all cases and even more deadly to children. Returned to Philadelphia, the painting took on a nearly magical significance a decade later, when family members noticed an uncanny resemblance between Sarah Franklins 1-year-old son, Benjamin Franklin Bache, and the Franky of the portrait. Benjamin, now 16, read and perhaps set in type these contributions and decided that he could do as well himself. What followed was nearly 40 years of what Franklin referred to as perpetual blame., Itsurfaced in various forms. God made it this way, in his words he said woman is not without the man or man with out the woman. As for the letter, it seems to me he had a lot of experience to be able to go on with so much knowledge. Known to historians as Benjamin Franklin's favorite sister, Jane was eleven when her restless brother ran away from Boston to begin his career in Philadelphia. In the Autobiography he wrote that he should have beenashamd at seeing Miss Read, had not her Friendspersuaded her to marry another. If he wasnt ashamed, what was he? Most likely, it was a disagreement with Deborah over inoculation. Franklin entered a common law marriage - a social contract which, after years of co-habitation, resulted in a . LOL I hope you have a great day! If you get a prudent healthy Wife, your Industry in your Profession, with her good Economy, will be a Fortune sufficient. And as in the dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement. But there are plenty of real-life anecdotes as well. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (Simon & Shuster, New . Keiths motives may have been more political than paternal, but with that, the couple interchangd some Promises, in Franklins telling, and he set out for London. 976. By 1726 Franklin was tiring of London. 6) If your head is wax, don't walk in the sun. 1743: Proposes a plan for an Academy, which is adopted 1749 and develops into the University of Pennsylvania. Prose writing became, as he recalled in his Autobiography, of great Use to me in the Course of my Life, and was a principal Means of my Advancement.. He found her a good and faithful helpmate. Benjamin's great-great-grandfather was Thomas Franklin who was born in 1540 in Ecton, England, and worked as a blacksmith. He, meanwhile, became more eligible by the year. Jednm z jeho najvch diplomatickch spechov v Pari bolo v roku 1783 dosiahnutie mierovej zmluvy s Vekou Britniou, m bola v podstate ukonen vojna o nezvislos USA. Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in colonial Boston. His intention was to buy a printing press and type and return as quickly as possible. His exact birthday is unknown, as is the identity of his mother, but he was born sometime around 1730, and . This was the flux that Franklins editors note referred to. preserve, publish, and encourage the use of documentary sources, relating to the history of The budding friendship between the two young people soon developed into mutual attraction. She and Ben were never legally married. A doctor used a scalpel and a quill to take fluid from smallpox vesicles on the skin of a person in the throes of the disease. In April and July he assured her he would sail shortly. 5) Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterward. Add to Favorite List. Follow your bliss. Just weeks into Deborahs marriage, word reached Philadelphia that Rogers had another wife in England. At some point in the year after Franky died, Benjamin commissioned a portrait of the boy. Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings. B.R. Growdon, Esq, had been inoculated without incident. Older women rock. In March and April 1773 he wrote vaguely of coming home, and then in October he trotted out what had become his stock excuse, that winter passage was too dangerous. The argument that Franky was sickly is based primarily on one fact: Nearly a year passed between his birth and his baptism. . Because in every Animal that walks upright, the Deficiency of the Fluids that fill the Muscles appears first in the highest Part: The Face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the Neck; then the Breast and Arms; the lower Parts continuing to the last as plump as ever: So that covering all above with a Basket, and regarding only what is below the Girdle, it is impossible of two Women to know an old from a young one. Soft is good in most things, but not that. the state in which you will find solid happiness. For more on the Daylight Saving debate, visit ProCon.org. Inoculation had proven successful after the 1721 outbreak in Boston when 5,889 Bostonians had smallpox, and 844 died of it. Your Reasons against entering into it at present, appear to me not well-founded. Franky was still Deborahs only child (the Franklins daughter, Sarah, would not be born for seven more years) and the legitimizing force in her common-law marriage. 6. Benjamin Franklin NICK NAMES Ben BIRTHDAY January 17, 1706 BORN ON DAY Sunday BIRTHPLACE Boston, Massachusetts Bay, British America. So Franky probably wasnt a particularly sickly child. Without industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them everything. Benjamin Franklin Schenck found in Indiana, Select Marriages Index, 1748-1993 Benjamin Franklin Schenck found in 1860 United States Federal Census Benjamin Franklin Schenck found in 1870 United States Federal Census Benjamin Franklin Schenck found in 1850 United States Federal Census Potential photos and documents Benjamin Franklin Schenck When smallpox returned to Philadelphia in September 1736, he couldnt resist lampooning the logic of the English minister Edmund Massey, who had famously declared inoculation the Devils work, citing Job 2:7: So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of the foot unto his crown. Near the front of the new Poor Richards Almanac, which he was preparing to print, Franklin countered: Thus (tho tis lifes greatpreservation), Significantly, this verse was Franklins only comment on smallpox or inoculation through the first four months of the new outbreak. The wife of Thomas Godfrey, a mathematician who lived in part of Franklins house with his family and Junto member, tried to make a match between Franklin and a relatives daughter. Ignoring the spelling errors, I still find this letter funny. And yet she remained legally married to him; a woman could self-divorce, as Deborah had done in returning to her mothers home, but she could not remarry with church sanction. All, who have seen my Grandson, agree with you in their accounts of his being an uncommonly fine Boy, he wrote, which brings often afresh to my Mind the Idea of my son Franky, tho now dead 36 Years, whom I have seldom seen equald in every thing, and whom to this Day I cannot think of without a Sigh.. How Many of the Signers of the U.S. Constitution Were Enslavers? 8) Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. In 1758, near the start of Franklins first extended stay in London, she sent the portrait or a copy of it to him, perhaps hoping it would bind him to her in the same way she imagined its subject once had. The happy State of Matrimony is, undoubtedly, the surest and most lasting Foundation of Comfort and Love . Im sure it has nothing to do with my mother or daughter. A recurring theme was Benjamins belief that Deborah was irresponsible. Recall Benjamin Franklin said, "Good wives usually make good husbands" and "The likeliest Way, either to obtain a good Husband, or to keep one so, is to be Good yourself". But he emerged as one of the most outspoken inoculation advocates in the Colonies. And though he clearly doubted essential doctrines of Christianity, such as Christ's divinity, he maintained vital relationships with evangelical friends and relatives including Whitefield and his sister Jane Mecom, his closest sibling. She moved into his house on September 1, 1730, in a common law marriage. Possibly he just lost his nerve. January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts; son of Josiah Franklin (tallow chandler and soap boiler who immigrated from England in 1683 to escape religious persecution) and . And when, in February 1731, Philadelphians began coming down with smallpox, Franklins backing became even more urgent. Well today I am going to share something a little different. The Practice of Inoculation for the Small-Pox, begins to grow among us, he wrote the next month, adding that the first Patient of Note, a man named J. I had a very food filled life. Franklin was a great manscientist, publisher, political theorist, diplomat. . How Many People Signed the U.S. Constitution? He learned to read very early and had one year ingrammar schooland another under a private teacher, but his formal education ended at age 10. How I long to see you, she wrote to him in 1770, after 40 years of marriage and five years into his second trip to London. Benjamin Franklin Franklin had been obliged to help print attacks against it in his brothers newspaper, but the procedures success won him over. Benjamin had a common-law marriage with Deborah Read, until her death. Thankfully we have come a long way in our thinking since the time Benjamin Franklin wrote that letter 268 years ago! But he had survived, and at age 30 was, as his biographer J.A. Many biographers and historians have followed suit, accepting at face value that Franky was simply too sick for inoculation. But if you will not take this Counsel, and persist in thinking a Commerce with the Sex inevitable, then I repeat my former Advice, that in all your Amours you should prefer old Women to young ones. Franklin had ten siblings and seven step-siblings. In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklins amazing life, showing how he helped to forge the American national identity and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century. You can not pluck roses without fear of thorns, Nor enjoy a fair wife without danger of horns. He had three children, including William Franklin, who was Colonial Governor of New Jersey, from 1763 to 1776. "Marriage is the most natural state of man, and . Happiness Marriage Anniversary Man. Benjamin Franklin's father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler, soaper, and candlemaker. He had celebrated her faithfulness, compassion and competency as a housekeeper and hostess in a verse titled I Sing My Plain Country Joan. But he seems never to have written her an unabashed expression of romantic love. Well your mama saw no misspelled words and I have not gone back to see, lol. If God expected me to stay married just so that I could say I was married, then he would not be the God of love that I know Him to be. Thus, as Franklin later wrote, the former couples mutual Affection was revived, and they were joined in a common-law marriage on September 1, 1730. The way to wealth is as plain as the way to market. . On September 1, 1730, he began a common-law marriage with Deborah Read, a carpenter's daughter. And hence there is hardly such a thing to be found as an old Woman who is not a good Woman. Yes, we do rock!!! Josiah Franklin was born at Ecton, Northamptonshire, England, on December 23, 1657, the son of Thomas Franklin, a blacksmith and farmer, and his wife, Jane White. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. Benjamin Franklin's The Art of Virtue: His Formula for Successful Living. As far as older woman and sex go, we never change. A Quick Biography of. At only 16 years of age, Benjamin Franklin submitted columns to the newspaper about fashion, religion, women's rights, marriage, etc., under the faade of a widow named Mrs. A Note to our Readers Clearly Franklin believed he had had a choice and had chosen wrong. If Deborah was the model for this fictional wife, as she seems to have been, its worth noting the authors rationale for preferring her type. Perhaps out of compassion, few of Franklins contemporaries questioned his explanation for not inoculating Franky or asked why he had gone so quiet on the procedure in the months before his son died. He. His father thought him too young for such a venture, so Keith offered to foot the bill himself and arranged Franklins passage to England so that he could choose his type and make connections with London stationers and booksellers. He is an incomplete Animal. Franklin finally left London for home three months after Deborah died. . Omissions? But its likely that Deborah exaggerated the letters romantic aspects because she wanted to believe her husband loved her and would return to her. , LOL!!! Moist Banana Bread Recipe The Best Banana Bread Ever, 14 Reasons That You Should Read This Post, Wearing A Mask In The Midst Of PTSD Ignorance, in all your Amours you should prefer old Women to young ones, Because as they have more Knowledge of the World, frequently superior, every Knack being by Practice. Created by Meks. It was a small matter, but Benjamin was incensed. That scenarioparents unable to agree on inoculation for their childwas precisely the one Ben Franklin fixed on two decades after his sons death, when he wrote about impediments to the procedures public acceptance. In a January 1772 letter to his sister Jane, he shared the emotions the boy stirred in himemotions he had hidden from his wife. Perhaps it was. Though Deborah and Ben would enter into a common-law marriage that lasted over 40 years, they never officially wed. Those four decades held plenty of upset. I have been so happy as to receive several of your dear letters within these few days, she began, adding that she had read one letter over and over. I call it a husbands Love letter, she wrote, thrilled as though it were her first experience with anything of the kind. Deborahs shocked indignation is apparent in the entry she subsequently made in the shop book, in the place where she should have entered the details about the paper stock. Theoretically, the customer could claim to have purchased a lesser grade and underpay what he owed. They did consummate their marriage and have a child. One popular image is that he was a free and easy libertineour founding playboy. My mother = The Energizer Bunny. Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) 1706, Jan. 17 Born, Boston, Massachusetts 1718-1723 Apprenticed as a printer to his brother James Franklin 1723 Moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1724-1726 Worked in London, England, as a journeyman printer 1727 Founded the Junto, a debating club, in Philadelphia 1729 Purchased the Pennsylvania Gazette 1730, Sept. 1 Husband of Deborah (Read) Franklin married 1 Sep 1730 [location unknown] Descendants Father of William Franklin , Francis Folger Franklin and Sarah (Franklin) Bache Died 17 Apr 1790 at age 84 in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States of America Benjamin's mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah. Death, Cause unspecified 17 April 1790 (Age 84) . Marriage and Children Deborah Read and Benjamin Franklin entered a common law agreement on September 1, 1730. The inoculation issue was over, but Franklin let his anger boil over in other ways, and this is one example. Your Privacy Rights In 1722 he wrote a series of 14 essays signed Silence Dogood in which he lampooned everything from funeral eulogies to the students of Harvard College. Did he envy it? Benjamin Franklin, perhaps the most recognized American polymath, also participated in the music domain during his lifetime and, in addition to the knowledge of several instruments and commentaries on music theory, left a legacy as an instrument maker and a composer. His father, Josiah, was a soap and candle maker from England who immigrated to Boston. My brain is forever warped! Together they are more likely to succeed in the World. This time Franklin would be gone for ten years, teasing his imminent return almost every spring or summer and then canceling at nearly the last minute and without explanation. Francis Folger Franklin. Sherry Riter a.k.a. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality: that is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Archives. 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