3. The two young men enjoyed the theatre and the other pleasures of the city, including women. Franklin agreed to take custody of the babya gesture as admirable as it was uncommonbut that decision made his need for a wife urgent and finding one problematic. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. The matter of whether or not he had been inoculated may have created lasting marital discord, says Smithsonian Magazine. Noooo! It involves their only son, a lethal disease and a disagreement over inoculation. Deborah Read, who he had courted before going to England, had married Roger Potter during his absence. Benjamin Franklin, Walter Isaacson (2003). 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, Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $12, The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic that Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics, Dried Lake Reveals New Statue on Easter Island. Its more likely, though, that Benjamin and Deborah disagreed over inoculation for their son. Where there's marriage without love, there will be love without marriage. It's long been alleged that, in private, he labeled blame upon Deborah. I think it is just the opposite Oh yeah!!! Benjamin Franklin was born in a small house on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts on January 6, 1706, the son of Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger. Benjamin Franklin is widely known as a paragon of reason and restraint, epitomized by the proverbs in the Poor Richard's Almanacks of 1733-1754 and its abbreviated version, The Way to Wealth of. Benjamin Franklin's The Art of Virtue: His Formula for Successful Living. What do you think about Benjamin Franklins wisdom about marriage, sex and the older woman? 57; Van Doren, Franklin, pp. No one yet understood that it spread when people inhaled an invisible virus. Did I say a? the state in which you will find solid happiness. On one occasion, a customer bought some paper from the Franklins' business and Deborah forgot to mark down which kind of paper, meaning the customer could have gotten away with buying a high-quality paper for less than it was really worth. Deborah left him and moved back in with her mother. But staying away for a decade, dissembling year after year about his return, and then refusing to come home even when he knew his wife was declining and might soon die, suggests something beyond bored indifference. Leonard W. Labaree. Whether Franklin himself was inoculatedor survived a case of naturally acquired smallpox at some point is unknowntheres no evidence on record. Omissions? 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. Franklin returned to Philadelphia in October 1726. But one of the most eloquentand least expectedcommentators on the subject is Benjamin Franklin. Stephen Coss is the author of the book The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic that Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. A bachelor in his twenties was frowned upon and Franklin at age 24 was set to find a wife. Some say the longer daylight hours promote safety and help the economy. Benjamin Franklin pioneered the spirit of self-help in America. lol. A year later he bought the towns second newspaper operation, renamed and reworked it, and began making a success of the Pennsylvania Gazette. What was Benjamin Franklins early life like? "Fart Proudly" is just another great example of that tradition, that universal reference point that we all share. 8) Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. Her husband was thrilled. But a few weeks later, the stranger became a boarder in the Read home. 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 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? I certainly agree with you about misused or misspelled words. Smithsonian magazine participates in affiliate link advertising programs. Benjamin Franklin (1819). Franklin started courting the girl and expected a large dowry for their marriage. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. LOL , Reading Benjamin Franklins letter in the year 2013, I have to agree with you, a lot of the things he wrote about marriage in the year 1745 appear to be funny to us today, because it just isnt true. Sarah . Amazon.com: Benjamin Franklin: On Love, Marriage, and Other Matters (Audible Audio Edition): Benjamin Franklin, Adrian Cronauer, Recorded Books: Books Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston on a Sunday, which for the Puritans was reason enough for him to be morally weak; they believed that any child born on the Sabbath was conceived on the. My brain is forever warped! The argument that Franky was sickly is based primarily on one fact: Nearly a year passed between his birth and his baptism. He considered becoming an itinerant teacher of swimming, but, when Thomas Denham, a Quaker merchant, offered him a clerkship in his store in Philadelphia with a prospect of fat commissions in the West Indian trade, he decided to return home. And when, in February 1731, Philadelphians began coming down with smallpox, Franklins backing became even more urgent. Benjamin's mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah. Advertising Notice He read these Spectator papers over and over, copied and recopied them, and then tried to recall them from memory. Deborah appears to have embraced it without qualmand over time seems to have accepted it as a surrogate for her son. * 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. Im glad you seemed to enjoy it as much as me! How Many of the Signers of the U.S. Constitution Were Enslavers? Over 35 years of marriage, Benjamin Franklin had indirectly praised Deborahs work ethic and common sense through wife characters in his Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richards Almanac. Franklin had been obliged to help print attacks against it in his brothers newspaper, but the procedures success won him over. By the time the Philadelphia epidemic ended that July, 288 people were dead, but that total included only one of the approximately 50 people who had been inoculated. Benjamin loved the child and his new role as a dad, but that did not mean he opened up to be more of a loving husband to Deborah. However, Benjamin Franklin was right and wrong about older women! Franklin was certainly grateful to be married, but treated his wife more like a roommate than a helpmate in life. Along the way, Franklin came to see marriage as more of an act of business (via Smithsonian Magazine). From the outset, his father hinted otherwise. On another occasion, Franklin wrote of her many good qualities but conspicuously left out any mention of her being a good mother, a slap in the face at the time. It is the man who should feel grateful that an older woman might deem him interesting enough, stimulating enough and attractive enough that she would choose to spend whatever precious time she has left on the earth with him! Did I say a? How did a man who understood better than most the relative safety and efficacy of inoculation choose wrong? . Much has been made of Franklin being a womanizer, especially in Europe. Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends, Benjamin Franklin (2004). While Franklin was away from Deborah for over a decade, she sent him romantic letters but he only responded in terse replies. 2. Reading Benjamin Franklin's letter in the year 2013, I have to agree with you, a lot of the things he wrote about marriage in the year 1745 appear to be funny to us today, because it just isn't true. Method and Success of Inoculating the Small-Pox in New England, 1722. 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 - Benjamin Franklin | One Day Quotes. Others say the time change is bad for health and productivity. 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. Your Privacy Rights Happiness is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day. Notes: 1974-1975 TV miniseries "The Lives of Benjamin Franklin" Events. Ha, ha..I think lots of older women are not so good in this day & age..bah humbug to waiting on a man & confounding ones self to be pleasing to him.. 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. In 1721 James Franklin founded a weekly newspaper, the New-England Courant, to which readers were invited to contribute. 2.Ford, Franklin Bibliog., no. Most likely, it was a disagreement with Deborah over inoculation. Francis Folger Franklin, Ben's son. Deborah simply moved into Franklins home and printing house at what is now 139 Market Street. Possibly he just lost his nerve. Franklin's mother, Abiah Folger, was actually Josiah's second wife. Benjamin Franklin has written many quotes about Marriage. 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. V rokoch 1779 - 1785 psobil ako prv americk vyslanec vo Franczsku (nahradil ho Thomas Jefferson ). Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards. Benjamin Franklin Quotes. He came to be regarded as the greatest promoter of smallpox inoculation in the British colonies. American author, scientist, and statesman. By that logic, risking her son to inoculation was unacceptable. At some point she was told that Rogers had died in the West Indies, but proving his deathwhich would have freed Deborah to remarry formallywas impractically expensive and a long shot besides. Because the Sin is less. * Are All My Recipes Grain Free? Some months later, after a bitter quarrel, Benjamin secretly left home, sure that James would not go to law and reveal the subterfuge he had devised. Those things are trueup to a point. Im sure it has nothing to do with my mother or daughter. Franklin was certainly grateful to be married, but treated his wife more like a roommate than a helpmate in life. THANK GOODNESS!!!!! The National Historical Publications and I thought so too. Everyone, she wrote, thinks as much as though it had been drawn for him. For the better part of the next two years Deborahs letters to Benjamin focused on the health, charm and virtues of the grandson who resembled her dead son. Other men had. (Who that woman was and why he couldnt or wouldnt marry her remain mysteries to this day.) We can not be whole without a mate for this enables us to practice everything together and have no sin involved. Mrs. Read did precisely that, later admitting to Franklin, as he wrote, that she had persuaded the other Match in my Absence. She had been quick about it, too; Franklins letter reached Deborah in late spring 1725, and she was married by late summer. Two weeks after that report, the Gazette reprinted a detailed description of the procedure from the authoritative Chamberss Cyclopaedia. Then he had his own romantic calamity: He learned that a young woman of his acquaintance was pregnant with his child. the Cause of all good Order in the World, and what alone preserves it from the utmost Confusion. If he still had feelings for her, he also knew that her dowry was gone and she was, technically, unmarriageable. He had never been much interested in children, but after the birth of Francis Folger Franklin, on October 20, 1732, he wrote that they were the most delightful Cares in the World. The boy, whom he and Deborah nicknamed Franky, gave rise to a more ebullient version of Franklin than he had allowed the world to see. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Either intentionally or accidentally, as a side effect of her stroke, she sometimes confused the two, referring to Franklins grandson as your son and our child.. public. the state in which you will find solid happiness. 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 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. Families were not quick to give dowries to men with an illegitimate child, but Deborah Read's family was. To keep the paper going, he discharged his younger brother from his original apprenticeship and made him the papers nominal publisher. Soon she took in the infant son her new husband had fathered with another woman and began running a small stationery store on the first floor. But it seems likely, given his understanding that Deborah and her mother had quickly thrown him over, that he felt at least a tinge of resentment. Sometimes being married is actually BAD for a person and I dont think being single means less happiness. The second, Sarah Franklin born in 1743. . 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. New indentures were drawn up but not made public. 24 likes All Members Who Liked This Quote Swaruop 1 book view quotes Poor Richard's Almanack, p.17, Barnes & Noble Publishing. But there are plenty of real-life anecdotes as well. Your email address will not be published. The debauching a Virgin may be her Ruin, and make her for Life unhappy. And when Franklin sailed for London in 1757 he made no secret of his ambivalence about leaving his 14-year-old daughter with Deborah. They had a son, Francis, who died four years later from smallpox, and a . Benjamin Franklin was born the 10th son of the 17 children of a man who made soap and candles, one of the lowliest of the artisan crafts. That didn't end well, as Potter absconded to the West Indies to escape paying some debts. | READ MORE. Smallpox was the most feared distemper in Colonial America. Benjamin Franklin Marriage Letter From an Original Letter to John Alleyne, Esquire, As it Appears in the Pennsylvania Packet, October 30, 1789 Long before Dear Abby and Ann Landers, Benjamin Franklin was offering advice to the lovelorn. Weel, a but one. by Benjamin Franklin, Carl Japikse. 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. 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. In a June 1770 letter, an elated Deborah wrote to her husband that William Franklin believed Benny Bache is like Frankey Folger. Records Commission. This would mean that, contrary to what some biographers and historians have assumed, Frankys inoculation was not out of the question. 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