Some Interesting Genealogy Facts about Benjamin Franklin
• Franklin’s father was Josiah Franklin. Josiah had 17 children with his two wives, including ten children with Franklin’s mother (who was his second wife).
• Franklin’s mother Abiah Folger came from a large family in Nantucket, Massachusetts. One of the descendants of the Folger family moved to California and founded Folgers Coffee in the 1800’s.
• Both of Franklin’s parents were Puritans who preached the importance of self and the belief that personal worth was measured through hard work. Puritans also believed in active resistance to unjust authority, a belief that Franklin carried with him for his entire life.
• Franklin first proposed to his future wife Deborah Read when he was 17 and she was 15. Read’s mother refused the request and Franklin, who was bound for England at the time, ended up sailing for London without a wife.
• When Franklin returned from London he found that Deborah Read had married but her husband (who was deep in debt) had fled to Barbados with her dowry. Franklin meanwhile had an illegitimate son named William whose mother remains unknown. Franklin and Deborah Read entered into a common law marriage and had two additional children: Francis (who died young of smallpox) and Sarah. Sarah grew to adulthood and eventually had seven children of her own.
• William accompanied Franklin on several trips to England. William eventually returned to England when he was older to study law.
• William grew up to become a dedicated Loyalist who strongly supported the British government in America. He was the last Loyalist Governor of New Jersey.
• William was imprisoned for two years in America for his beliefs before he eventually escaped and sailed back to England with some of the last British troops to leave America. He never returned to the New World.
• William tried to make amends with his father but Franklin never forgave William for his Loyalist tendencies. When Franklin died, he left William almost nothing stating that if the British had won the war then Franklin would have had no wealth to leave his son anyway.
1 | 2
