Happy 300th Birthday, Benjamin!

[Annie]

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He was the tenth son of soap maker, Josiah Franklin. Benjamin's mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah. In all, Josiah would father 17 children.

Josiah intended for Benjamin to enter into the clergy. However, Josiah could only afford to send his son to school for one year and clergymen needed years of schooling. But, as young Benjamin loved to read he had him apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer. After helping James compose pamphlets and set type which was grueling work, 12-year-old Benjamin would sell their products in the streets.

 

[KarlMarx]

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He was the tenth son of soap maker, Josiah Franklin. Benjamin's mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah. In all, Josiah would father 17 children.

Josiah intended for Benjamin to enter into the clergy. However, Josiah could only afford to send his son to school for one year and clergymen needed years of schooling. But, as young Benjamin loved to read he had him apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer. After helping James compose pamphlets and set type which was grueling work, 12-year-old Benjamin would sell their products in the streets.

A bit of trivia. Ben Franklin was actually born on January 6th .... however, that was before the colonies switched over from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar sometime in the 1750s. When the switch occured, the calendar was advanced by 11 days (there are actually 11 days in history that never happened because of this). To reflect the change in calendar, people advanced their birthdays by 11 days. Another one of the founding fathers also changed his birthday... George Washington. George was born on February 11th, but because of the change in calendars, we now recognize his birthday as being the 22nd.

 

[Annie]

A bit of trivia. Ben Franklin was actually born on January 6th .... however, that was before the colonies switched over from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar sometime in the 1750s. When the switch occured, the calendar was advanced by 11 days (there are actually 11 days in history that never happened because of this). To reflect the change in calendar, people advanced their birthdays by 11 days. Another one of the founding fathers also changed his birthday... George Washington. George was born on February 11th, but because of the change in calendars, we now recognize his birthday as being the 22nd.

Thank you for that! I do learn something new every day. In this case, it was before 7am!