Benjamin Franklin Papers
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William Franklin to Elizabeth Graeme, 2 June 1757

William Franklin to Elizabeth Graeme

ALS: New York Public Library

New York, June 2, 1757

My dearest Betsy

By one Accident or other we are still in N. York. But I know not how to complain of my Detention; for has it not afforded me the Pleasure of another Letter from my Betsy. A Letter for which I cannot be enough thankful. I must answer it in short; the Time of our Departure being now positively fix’d to this Afternoon.9 The Name of our Pacquet is, The General Wall, Capt. Lutwych, Commander.1 My Lord says she shall not be taken to Halifax, but accompany the Fleet for 3 or 4 Days only, in order to take on board Duplicates of his Dispatches sent by the Earl of Leicester, which is to sail directly for England. Capt. Bonnel, in the Harriot Pacquet is to go with the Fleet to Halifax, there to wait till they proceed upon the Expedition. I believe but few, if any, Letters sent by the Pacquet are opened. If you direct for me to the Care of Peter Colinson, Esqr. F.R.S. in London, I make no Doubt of your Letters coming safe.

My Lord, and Sir Charles, go in a 50 Gun Ship to Halifax;2 and Genl. Abercrombie3 in the Nightingale a 20 Gun Ship, Capt. Campbell, Commander. The whole of this Grand Armament seems at length destined for Louisbourg only!

Once more adieu. Adieu, my dearest Betsy. I need not repeat (for you must know) how much I am Your most affectionate

W. Franklin

P.S. I have not seen Mrs. Abercrombie4 for this Week past; she having gone down to the Hook with her Husband, and intends to remain on board with him till the Sailing of the Fleet.

To Miss Graeme

Addressed: To / Miss Eliza Graeme / In / Philadelphia

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

9Actually the two Franklins did not embark until the 5th.

1In his “Account of Expences,” BF records having paid “Capt. Lutwydge, Passage Money including Sea Stores &c. £55” sterling. Later in this account book is the following signed receipt: “Recd. May 5. 1758 of Benjamin Franklin Four Pounds Sixteen Shillings and Six pence, which with Cash and Stores recd. before, make Fifty Guineas, being in full for his and Son’s Passage with their Servants, per me W. Lutwidge.” “Account of Expences,” pp. 2, 16; PMHB, LV (1931), 102, 110. Lutwidge died in action against the French, 1761. Pa. Gaz., May 21, 1761.

2The Earl of Loudoun and Rear Admiral Sir Charles Hardy sailed on the Sutherland.

3Maj. Gen. James Abercromby (1706–1781), second in command under Loudoun; see above, VI, 459 n.

4Margaret, wife of Capt. James Abercromby (or Abercrombie) of Philadelphia, commander of the ship Peggy, which probably was in Loudoun’s convoy about to sail for Halifax and Louisbourg. They were friends of the Graeme and Stedman families of Philadelphia, and after the captain was lost at sea in 1760, Mrs. Abercromby married Charles Stedman, whose first wife had been a sister of Elizabeth Graeme. Pa. Gaz., Sept. 22, Oct. 13, 1757; PMHB, XXXIX (1915), 267 n. The mariner is not to be confused with Maj. Gen. James Abercromby or either of two other officers of that name then in New York, or with James Abercromby, colonial agent of Virginia in London.

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