Benjamin Franklin Papers
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From Benjamin Franklin to Jehu Curtis, 15 March 1753

To Jehu Curtis4

ALS: Yale University Library

Philada. March 15. 1753

Sir,

We send herewith all the Bills in a Trunk, containing as follows5

1s. 1s. 6d. 2s. 2s. 6d. 5s. 10s.
1st Sort 40 Quire, containing 4000 4000 4000 4000 — —
2d Sort 11 Quire containing 1100 — — 1100 1100 1100
3d Sort 9 Quire containing 900 900 — 900 900 —
4th Sort 4 Quire of half Sheets   —   200   —   200   400   —
6000 5100 4000 6200 2400 1100

In the above, it is to be observed, that there are 100 of the 1s. 6d. Bills, more than there should be, which must be cut off, and put among the Overplus.

The Overplus is as follows

1st Sort 38 Sheets, which is one Short of our Memorandum
2d Sort 13 Sheets which is one over
3d Sort 13 Sheets which is three over
4th Sort 7 half Sheets, which is right.

So that I either made some small Mistake in our first Counting, or in this, I cannot tell which, for the Boat is just going, and we have not time to count again.

We send also, 49 Law Books.6

I am glad to hear you are getting the better of your Fit of the Gout. I have at this Instant a violent Pain in my Head, that half distracts me. I wish it were in my Foot, I think I could bear it better. Our Compliments to Mrs. Curtis, I am, Sir, Your obliged humble Servant

B Franklin

You will receive the Key of the Trunk per Post.

[For a letter from Aaron Burr, March 20, 1753, see below, p. 514.]

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

4. Jehu Curtis (1692?–1753), speaker of the Assembly, judge of the Supreme Court, and treasurer and trustee of the Loan Office of the Lower Counties (Delaware). It was he who notified the Pennsylvania Council of the Spanish raid on Bombay Hook, July 12, 1747 (see above, III, 180). According to J. Thomas Scharf the tradition is that BF composed the epitaph on his tombstone in Immanuel churchyard, New Castle, Del. History of Delaware, 1609–1888 (Phila., 1888), I, 536.

5. To replace torn and ragged bills of the 1746 emission, £3000 of Delaware currency was printed in 1753. Richard S. Rodney, Colonial Finances in Delaware (Wilmington, Del., 1928), p. 27.

6. Probably copies of the Laws of the Government of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex, printed by Franklin and Hall, 1752.

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    Franklin Papers
    Title
    From Benjamin Franklin to Jehu Curtis, 15 March 1753
    Author
    Franklin, Benjamin
    Recipient
    Curtis, Jehu
    Date
    15 March 1753

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From Benjamin Franklin to Jehu Curtis, 15 March 1753,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-04-02-0162. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 4, July 1, 1750, through June 30, 1753, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1961, pp. 456–457.]