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"Ben Franklin"
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography: Page 3
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in 1758. His eldest son Thomas lived in the house at Ecton, and left it with the
land to his only child, a daughter, who, with her husband, one Fisher, of
Wellingborough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of the manor there. My
grandfather had four sons that grew up, viz.: Thomas, John, Benjamin and Josiah.
I will give you what account I can of them, at this distance from my papers, and
if these are not lost in my absence, you will among them find many more
particulars.
Thomas was bred a smith under his father; but, being ingenious, and encouraged
in learning (as all my brothers were) by an Esquire Palmer, then the principal
gentleman in that parish, he qualified himself for the business of scrivener;
became a considerable man in the county; was a chief mover of all
public-spirited undertakings for the county or town of Northampton, and his own
village, of which many instances were related of him; and much taken notice of
and patronized by the then Lord Halifax. He died in 17O2, January 6, old style,
just four years to a day before I was born. The account we received of his life
and character from some old people at Ecton, I remember, struck you as something
extraordinary, from its similarity to what you knew of mine.
"Had he died on the same day," you said, "one might have supposed a
transmigration."
John was bred a dyer, I believe of woolens. Benjamin was bred a silk dyer,
serving an apprenticeship at London. He was an ingenious man. I remember him
well, for when I was a boy he came over to my father in Boston, and lived in the
house with us some years. He lived to a great age. His grandson, Samuel
Franklin, now lives in Boston. He left behind him two quarto volumes, MS., of
his own poetry, consisting of little occasional pieces addressed to his friends
and relations, of which the following, sent to me, is a specimen.(2) He had
formed a short-hand of his own, which he taught me, but, never practising it, I
have now forgot it. I was named after this uncle, there being a particular
affection between him and my father. He was very pious, a great attender of
sermons of the best preachers, which he took down in his short-hand, and had
with him many volumes of them. He was also much of a politician; too much,
perhaps, for his station. There fell lately into my hands, in London, a
collection he had made of all the principal pamphlets, relating to public
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