Francis Folger Franklin, Ben's son.
(Posthumous painting. Artist and date unknown)
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, He was the tenth son of soap maker, Josiah Franklin. Benjamin's mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah. In all, Josiah would father 17 children.
Josiah intended for Benjamin to enter into the clergy. However, Josiah could only afford to send his son to school for one year and clergymen needed years of schooling. But, as young Benjamin loved to read he had him apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer. After helping James compose pamphlets and set type which was grueling work, year-old Benjamin would sell their products in the streets.
Apprentice Printer
When Benjamin was 15 his brother started The New England Courant the first "newspaper" in Boston. Though there were two papers in the city before James's Courant, they only reprinted news from abroad. James's paper carried a
•
Benjamin Franklin’s th Birthday: January 17
Penn has been celebrating Benjamin Franklin’s birthday for nearly a century; at Penn his birthday has always been January 17, but he was born under a different calendar system, on January 6. That system changed in resulting in a change of 11 days in the month of January. For those who quibble, that’s explanation enough for January
He is universally accepted as the founder of the University of Pennsylvania. It is fitting to take a look at his connection with Penn, America’s oldest university, as we celebrate the th anniversary of Franklin’s birth this month.
Franklin was a runaway who came to Philadelphia from Boston in early the s to establish himself in a trade. He quickly became a printer and by was thought to be Philadelphia’s best printer. He quickly established himself not only as a master printer, but he figured out a way to distribute his printed products. He expanded his printing trade into a