Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
1706-1790
On January 17, 1706, Benjamin Franklin was born in a small house his parents had
leased on Milk Street in Boston Massachusetts. He had sixteen siblings, that left the house
as he grew older, but he could recollect sitting at a dinner table with at least a dozen of
them, as an earliest memory.1 The period of education and apprenticeship had begun. At
the early age of ten, before which he was attending school, Benjamin began working with
his father in the family business, as a soap and candle maker. But that wasn?t an attractive
career for the young Benjamin. The main source of the raw resource for the business were
from the carcasses of animals. He tried his way into a cutlery apprenticeship.
Unfortunately that didn?t go through, and he went on to be an apprentice to his half
brother James, as a printer.2 James Franklin, nine years older than Ben, set up a shop only
three blocks away from Ben?s father, Josiah?s house.3 Benjamin helped print the New
England Courant, and published James? newspaper. At the age of 17, Benjamin left
Boston and went to Philadelphia, were he found employment at a local print shop there. In
1724, Benjamin was sent to England to buy printing equipment, and after
franklin, benjamin, france, years, britain, french, england, treaty, time, sent, plan, pennsylvania, first, colonies, america, almanac, adams, yet, signed, received, published, new, made, letters, involved, congress, because, became, albany, after, very, postmaster, post, philadelphia, own
