From Benjamin Franklin to James Hunter, 10 February 1773
To James Hunter1
ALS (letterbook draft): Library of Congress
London, Feb. 10. 1773
Sir
I duly received your Letter of Nov. 16. and in Answer acquaint you, that you may draw on me for Eighty-seven Pounds ten Shillings Sterling at 30 Days Sight, and the Bill shall be punctually paid. I am glad your Daughter is arrived at an Age when the Money may be of Use to her, and I wish her and you good Luck with it. When you draw send me a Letter of Advice with a Receipt expressing that the Payment of the Bill will be in full for the Principal of the Legacy, £50 and the Interest for 15 Years, at 5 per Cent and of all Demands. I am Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin
Mr James Hunter
1. A Philadelphian about whom we know nothing, except that he spoke of his “low sphere of life” in his reply below, April 24. He had married Mary Wheatley, the niece of an English clergyman whose will, in 1756, left a £100 legacy to her two sons, one by an earlier marriage and the other her eldest by Hunter. BF was named trustee, with discretion to pay the money in equal shares to them or for their use. Public Record Office, Prob. 11/823/ 155. He arranged to apprentice the older boy and take care of the other’s schooling. But this younger son apparently died before anything was spent on him, and his £50 share devolved upon his surviving sister as his heir. Above, VII, 99, 378–9. Hunter must have told BF, in a letter since lost, that the girl was now old enough to use the money.