Benjamin Franklin Papers

From Benjamin Franklin to Mary Stevenson, 31 December 1765

To Mary Stevenson

ALS: American Philosophical Society

Tuesday Dec. 31. [1765]7

Dear Polly

Thanks to you for the Garters,8 and for the Lines that accompany them; the Knitting of the latter is as even and as pretty as that of the former, and the Work much more durable, for with me it will never wear out. Your Mama is pretty well, and gone abroad. We purpose to be at Kensington tomorrow and hope to have the Pleasure of finding you all well. I am Your truly affectionate Friend and humble Servant

B Franklin

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

7. The only years during which BF was in England on which December 31 fell on Tuesday were 1765 and 1771. This letter must have been written in the earlier year because by 1771 Polly was married and no longer living at Kensington, where her aunts had moved in 1763. See above, X, 298, 334.

8. For Polly’s knitting garters for BF on earlier occasions, see above, VII, 369, 381–2; VIII, 455.

Index Entries

    You Are Looking At

    Source Project
    Franklin Papers
    Title
    From Benjamin Franklin to Mary Stevenson, 31 December 1765
    Author
    Franklin, Benjamin
    Recipient
    Hewson, Mary (Polly) Stevenson
    Date
    31 December 1765

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From Benjamin Franklin to Mary Stevenson, 31 December 1765,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-12-02-0207. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 12, January 1, through December 31, 1765, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1967, p. 422.]

    More between these correspondents