Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790)

Name:

Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790)

Title:

Royal Society's Copley Medal, 1753
Justice of the Peace, 1749
President of the Academy and College of Philidelphia,
(11/13/1749)
Honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale (1753)
Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from University of St Andrews (1759)
Honorary degree from Oxford University, 1762.
Grand Master of the Lodge Les Neuf S�urs, 1779-1781.
Franklin College named in his honor, 1787.

Other Names:

Doctor Franklin (post 1762)

Born:

01/17/1706

Birthplace:

Boston, MA

Died:

04/17/1790

Death Location:

Philidelphia, PA

Residence:

Boston, MA
Philidelphia, PA
London, England
Paris, France

Nationality:

English American

Occupation:

Author, printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, diplomat.

Father:

Franklin Josiah (12/23/1657 - 1745)

Mother:

Folger, Abiah (08/15/1667 - ????)

Spouse:

Read, Deborah

Children:

Franklin, William (1730 - 12/13/1813)
Franklin, Francis Folger (10/??/1732 - 1736)
Franklin, Sarah (09/11/1743 - 10/05/1808)

Notes:

Founded the Junto group in 1727.
Chartered the Library Company of Philidelphia, 1731.
Common-law marriage with Deborah Read, 09/01/1730.
Published Poor Richard's Almanac, 1733 - 1758.
Established Union Fire Company, 1736.
Printed anti-counterfeiting currency for NJ, 1736.
Invented lightning rod (1752), glass harmonica, Franklin stove, bifocal glasses. Never patented any of them.
Charted the Gulf Stream while Deputy Postmaster.
Founded American Philosophical Society, 1743.
Retired from printing in 1748.
Selected as a councilman, Oct, 1748.
Research into electricity, 1748-52.
Published kite experiment hypothesis in 1750.
Helped charter Pennsylvania Hospital, 1751.
Elected to the Pennsylvania assembly, 1751.
Supposedly conducted said experiment 06/15/1752, although unlikely to have done so in popular manner.
Elected joint-Deputy Postmaster General of North America, 08/10/1753.
Headed PA Delegation to Albany Congress, 1754.
Joined Soceity for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures Commerce, 1756.
Sent to England to protest against Penn family, 1757.
Published Father Abraham's Sermon, 1758.
Conducted experiments with evaporation in England, 1758.
Instrumental in dispersing "Paxton Boys" mob, 1763.
Elected Speaker of PA House, 1764.
Worked against the Stamp Act in 1765.
Representative to the Crown for PA, MA, GA, NJ.
Introduced to King Louis XV, 1767.
Created an alphabet, 1768.
Published "Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One" and "An Edict by the King of Prussia," 1773.
Made public the Hutchinson letters, 1773.
PA delegate to 2nd Continental Congress, 1775.
Helped draft the Declaration of Independence, June, 1776.
Ambassador to France, 1776-1785.
Secured Franco-American alliance of 1778.
Negotiated Treaty of Paris, 1783.
6th President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania (11/18/1785 - 11/05/1788)
President of Pennsylvania Abolition Society.
Delegate to Philidelphia Convention, 1787.
Wrote "An Address to the Public," 1789.
Wrote "A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks," 1789.
Wrote "Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim on the Slave Trade," 1790.