Benjamin Franklin

Franklin married his childhood friend, Deborah Reed, in 1730 and they had two children. The couple also brought up William, Franklin’s illegitimate son as part of the family.

His love for humanity led to his involvement in community affairs and politics, and fighting for the improvement of people’s life became his motto.

He finally succumbed to age and health issues, at the age of 84. He took his last breath in Philadelphia and his remains were buried at Christ Church Burial Ground.

Born in Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin was baptized at Old South Meeting House. His father, Josiah Franklin, wanted him to become a clergyman but due to monetary constraints, he was able to attend school for only two years.

He was fond of reading, therefore he pretty much self-educated himself by extensive reading. By the age of 12, under the guidance of his brother James, who was a printer, he began to learn tricks of the trade.

At the age of 17, he ran away from home to start off his new life in Philadelphia.

In Philadelphia, Franklin worked in several print shops but did not find much success, thus moved to London, where he worked as a typesetter.

In 1726, he returned to Philadelphia as an employee of Thomas Denham and began to take care of his business.

At the age of 21, in 1727 he established a group named the Junto, which included like-minded people who wanted to bring a change in the society and express their creativity.

The group (Junto) loved to read but the availability of books was scarce at that time, thus, they began to collect books on various genres and this led to the formation of first subscription library in America.

In 1731, he wrote charter for the Library Company of Philadelphia and thus came in existence first American library.

One of his earliest successful literary endeavors was Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732 to 1758), which was a pamphlet published and in it Franklin wrote under the pseudonym “Poor Richard”.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, which he wrote between 1771 and 1790 (Published posthumously) is revered as a classic in the genre, even today.

He published several path breaking works, which included ‘The Way to Wealth’ (1758), which was an ingenious guide for managing personal finances and developing entrepreneurial skills.