Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was a famous printer, author, inventor, scientist, public servant and diplomat. He was commonly called ?the first civilized American.? Franklin was born on the seventeenth day of January in 1706, on Milk Street in Boston Mass., he was his parents fifteenth child. Benjamin obviously respected his father, who probably taught him to read, so early that he could not remember learning it. While he was a young boy, A private teacher, George Brownell took Benjamin on. ?Under him I acquired fair Writhing pretty soon, but I fail?d in the Arithmetic & made no Progress in it.? (Franklin?s Memoirs, ed. by Max Farrand, p. 20, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1949.) At 10-years-old he was taken home to assist his father in his business. Benjamin did not like what his father did though, so him and his father took a walk one day around Boston, observing the craftsmen at work and looking for a congenial trade. One of his cousins was a cutler, and that occupation was seriously considered. Franklin?s fondness for books, he decided to sign indentures with his elder brother James, who in 1717 had
franklin, benjamin, father, philadelphia, years, while, might, made, boston, after, about, william, two, soon, printing, power, out, one, new, home, first, farrand, died, business, back, young, work, women, until, trade, took, time, three, take, stove, son, shop, refused, read, press, president, pennsylvania, others, months, ma, looking, last, king, keimer?s, hypothesis