. Franklin entered a common law marriage - a social contract which, after years of co-habitation, resulted in a . Amazon.com: Benjamin Franklin: On Love, Marriage, and Other Matters (Audible Audio Edition): Benjamin Franklin, Adrian Cronauer, Recorded Books: Books B.R. The final productwhich shows Franklins adult face atop a boys bodyis disconcerting, but also moving. Clearly Franklin believed he had had a choice and had chosen wrong. He came to be regarded as the greatest promoter of smallpox inoculation in the British colonies. New indentures were drawn up but not made public. Benjamin accepted the form and function of married lifeeven writing about it (skeptically) in his newspaperbut kept his wife at arms length. He also became more empatheticits hard to imagine he would have written an essay like On the Death of Infants, which was inspired by the death of an acquaintances child, had he not been enraptured by his own son and fearful lest a similar fate should befall him. The Way to Wealth. Perform without fail what you resolve. Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends, Benjamin Franklin (2004). Thankfully we have come a long way in our thinking since the time Benjamin Franklin wrote that letter 268 years ago! In a June 1770 letter, an elated Deborah wrote to her husband that William Franklin believed Benny Bache is like Frankey Folger. Benjamin's mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah. Given Franklins notorious frugality, the commission was an extraordinary indulgencemost tradesmen didnt have portraits made of themselves, let alone their children. The disease was fatal in more than 30 percent of all cases and even more deadly to children. 4. Deborah assisted in the business by folding and stitching pamphlets, tending shop, purchasing old linen rags for paper makers. You call this a Paradox, and demand my Reasons. Powered by WordPress. 1731-1775. Cookie Policy After expressing his regret over having failed to inoculate Franky, he added: This I mention for the Sake of Parents, who omit that Operation on the Supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a Child died under it; my Example showing that the Regret may be the same either way, and that therefore the safer should be chosen., Franklin took the blame for not inoculating Franky, just as he took the blame for Deborahs disastrous first marriage. Frank Benjamin Grouard (also known as Frank Gruard and Benjamin Franklin Grouard) (September 20, 1850 - August 15, 1905) was a Scout and interpreter for General George Crook during the American Indian War of 1876. Benjamin Franklin He was General Crook's lead scout at the Battle of the Rosebud participated in the Slim . The Redhead Riter is Witty, Intelligent & Addictive. My mother = The Energizer Bunny. 6) If your head is wax, don't walk in the sun. Noooo! Not until his ship was well out at sea did he realize that Governor Keith had not delivered the letters of credit and introduction he had promised. Also, if the mate is not good, even the sex is bad!!! -Joseph Campbell Resolve to perform what you ought. 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. Ben Franklin was my first idol, when I was a young lad, & he remains one of my very favorite people wise, inventive, & ohh so witty! Franklin had been obliged to help print attacks against it in his brothers newspaper, but the procedures success won him over. Marriage: 1 September 1730. , I would love to be in a room with Albert Einstein and Ben Franklin!!! One of the most memorable scenes of the Autobiography is the description of his arrival on a Sunday morning, tired and hungry. Franklin started courting the girl and expected a large dowry for their marriage. In the winter of 1731, a smallpox epidemic befell Philadelphia. As for the letter, it seems to me he had a lot of experience to be able to go on with so much knowledge. 2. . Your email address will not be published. The Benjamin Schenck Mansion Bed and Breakfast. 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. I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This article is a selection from the September issue of Smithsonian magazine. He had not been inoculated. Benjamin must have suspected that when Sarah Read, Deborahs widowed mother, learned that he had neither a press nor guaranteed work, she would seek another suitor for her daughter. He found her a good and faithful helpmate. When Benjamin Franklin Ware was born on 21 October 1924, in Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri, United States, his father, Ernest Franklin Ware, was 19 and his mother, Opal Tressie Neal, was 15. One of the foremost of the Founding Fathers, Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence and was one of its signers, represented the United States in France during the American Revolution, and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Death, Cause unspecified 17 April 1790 (Age 84) . How did a man who understood better than most the relative safety and efficacy of inoculation choose wrong? 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. Paraphrasing her husband, she wrote: A Quier of paper that my careless wife forgot to set down and now the careless thing dont know the prices so I must trust you., Benjamin also conspicuously overlooked, or even denigrated, Deborahs fitness as a mother. The Truth About Benjamin Franklin's Relationship With His Wife. Oh my! Happiness is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day. Nothing went as planned. Privacy Statement Whether the United States keep Daylight Saving Time as first whimsically suggested by Benjamin Franklin is widely debated. That February Franklin, newly arrived in London, had predicted that he would be home in a few Months. But now he had been gone for 11, with no word on when he would come back. It was a small matter, but Benjamin was incensed. But he might have had, as Franklin claimed, an unfortunately timed (and uncommonly drawn-out) case of dysentery throughout September, October and early November 1736. Many biographers and historians have followed suit, accepting at face value that Franky was simply too sick for inoculation. LOL, Well, if I really told you what I thought you would have to ban my comment! Im never going to get that picture out of my head now! But we cant understand him fully without considering why he treated his wife so shabbily at the end of her life. Benjamin Franklin's father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler, soaper, and candlemaker. Benjamin Franklin had two sons and one daughter. Benjamin's great-great-grandfather was Thomas Franklin who was born in 1540 in Ecton, England, and worked as a blacksmith. If you get a prudent healthy Wife, your Industry in your Profession, with her good Economy, will be a Fortune sufficient. A person, whether they are male or female, can be a whole and evolved person without being married! Francis Folger Franklin. In 1736 Francis, who was 4 years old, died from small pox. 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. Franklin was certainly grateful to be married, but treated his wife more like a roommate than a helpmate in life. 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. THANK GOODNESS!!!!! 9) He that is good at making excuses is seldom good at anything else. lol. In this essay, Franklin took on the role of "Father Abraham" and dispensed knowledge to his readers by quoting heavily from that wise old sage, "Poor Richard." Franklin's adages in The Way to Wealth teach us that success is just the consistent application of hard work and thrift. She moved into his house on September 1, 1730, in a common law marriage. Smallpox was the most feared distemper in Colonial America. Did I say a? Ignoring the spelling errors, I still find this letter funny. He was telling a young man how to choose a mistress, but while doing so, he talked about the wisdom of marrying and the qualities of older women. In 1721 Cotton Matherthe man who had stumbled upon the idea of inoculation and then pushed it on the doctors of Boston, declaring it infalliblehad stalled for two weeks before approving his teenage sons inoculation, knowing all the while that Sammy Mathers Harvard roommate was sick with smallpox. Leo Lemay pointed out, better off financially and socially than any of his siblings and almost all of Philadelphias artisans. That fall, the Pennsylvania Assembly appointed him its clerk, which put him on the inside of the colonys politics for the first time. 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. I love brainy people. Copyright 2014. 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. Franklins initial reply, in June 1770, was detached, even dismissive: I rejoice much in the Pleasure you appear to take in him. His intention was to buy a printing press and type and return as quickly as possible. 2.Ford, Franklin Bibliog., no. 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. 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. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. the state in which you will find solid happiness. Separate, she wants his Force of Body and Strength of Reason; he, her Softness, Sensibility and acute Discernment. Who Said It? He even turned them into poetry and then back into prose. Records Commission. Possibly he was relieved. Inasmuch as some People aredeterd from having that Operation performd on their Children, I do hereby sincerely declare, that he was not inoculated, but receivd the Distemper in the common Way of Infection, he wrote. I thought you would have to ban my comment years of co-habitation, resulted in a June 1770 benjamin franklin on marriage! 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