To Benjamin Franklin from James Grubb, 13 July 1784
From James Grubb6
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Nantes, 13th. July 1784
Sir,
Being on the point of forming a matrimonial Union, with a young Lady of this City, some obstacles arise relative to the difference of Religion which with the Clergy of this Country are insurmountable, unless a Man will undertake to renounce the Tenets he was brought up in, which Circumstance is repugnant to the principles of a Man of Honor; but, as these difficulties may be removed, by means of a Permission from His Majesty for said Mariage, which will prevent any trouble to the Children about inheriting, after the decease of their Parents, who were different persuations, as some Merchants of this City & other parts of the Kingdom have, under similar Circumstances, obtaind (by means of their Friends at Court) a like permission from Mr De Vergennes, and as Our Union may be a means of individually adding Links to the great Chain you have form’d between America & this Country, I flatter myself you will honor me with your protection to obtain Our Request, and the Offspring of our Union shall be taught to revere your name with as much admiration as does Your Excellency’s most obedient & very humble Servant7
J: Grubb
His Excellency, Benjamin Franklin Esqr.
Addressed: His Excellency / Benjamin Franklin Esqr.
Notation: Grubb 13 July 1784—
6. Grubb wrote to WTF on the same date as the present letter reminding him that when they had met in Paris the previous winter, he had confided his intention to wed. Explaining to WTF the problems he here outlines to BF, he further stated that unless he received a permission from Vergennes, he would have to go either to Paris or out of the country to get married. He enclosed a petition for Vergennes, asking WTF to review and deliver it. Because Vergennes had already granted similar requests from other merchants in Nantes, and because WTF had such “weight” at court, Grubb expected his application to be successful. The present letter was shorter, he wrote, out of consideration for the many demands on BF’s time: Grubb to WTF, July 13, 1784 (APS).
7. Though BF’s role in the matter is not known, WTF did apply to Vergennes, as he reported to Grubb in a now-missing letter of July 23. Grubb replied on July 29: even though Vergennes had judged that the government could not “engage” the curate of Grubb’s parish to marry them, if WTF could procure “one of those permissions that are in general granted for Protestants to marry with Catholicks,” Grubb would himself undertake to persuade the curate to cooperate. APS. However it was managed, on Aug. 16, after the first publication of the banns, the couple received a dispensation from the bishop of Nantes to forgo the publication of the second and third proclamations usually required, and the following day the twenty-nine-year-old Grubb married Anne Videment: register of the parish of Saint-Nicolas for 1784, Archives municipales de Nantes.