1From Thomas Jefferson to William Franklin, 9 February 1788 (Jefferson Papers)
I am honoured with your favor of January the 18th. the delay of which needed no apology at all, the proposal it conveyed being the result of an excess of delicacy in your son. The office he was so kind as to undertake for me, that of purchasing sundry articles for me in England, was a friendly and not a commercial one. He was to receive no profit on it, he should therefore be liable to no...
2From Benjamin Franklin to William Franklin, 16 August 1784 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : British Library When Benjamin Franklin decided to reestablish communication with his estranged Loyalist son, with whom he had had no contact since 1775, he did so by planting a hint in the ear of a Connecticut merchant who, being about to leave Paris for London, was sure to see William. The message, duly communicated, was that Franklin did not understand why his son had not “made any...
3From George Washington to William Franklin, 29 July 1777 (Washington Papers)
Agreeable to what I wrote you a few days ago I transmitted your letter to me to Congress. Inclosed you have their answer by a Resolve of the 28th with Copy of the Certificate which was granted by you to Robert Betts while upon your parole. It appears that this Act has laid Congress under the necessity of refusing your Request. I am &ca. Df , in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW ; Varick...
4George Washington to William Franklin, 25 July 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
Ramapo [ New Jersey ] July 25, 1777. Expresses sympathy with Franklin’s request to see sick wife. Regrets that commanding general cannot supersede a congressional resolution, but has forwarded Franklin’s letter to Congress. Df , in writing of H, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress. Franklin, the last Loyalist governor of New Jersey, was at this time imprisoned in Connecticut because...
5From George Washington to William Franklin, 25 July 1777 (Washington Papers)
I have this moment received your letter of the 22d instant by express. I heartily sympathise with you in your distressing situation; but however strong my inclination to comply with your request, it is by no means in my power to supersede a positive resolution of Congress, under which your present confinement took place. I have enclosed your letter to them, and shall be happy it may be found...
6From Benjamin Franklin to William Franklin: Journal of Negotiations in London, 22 March 1775 (Franklin Papers)
AD and copy: Library of Congress When Franklin at long last set sail for home, memories of the past months were churning inside him. He spent much of the voyage recounting, in the guise of a letter to his son, the events that had crowded upon him since the previous summer and particularly since early December. He had with him a mass of papers with which he documented his journal; the bulk of...
7From Benjamin Franklin to William Franklin, 7 May [1774?]: extract (Franklin Papers)
Extract: British Museum Both Bigelow and Smyth accept the date that appears on the copy, but we suggest that the copyist was wrong by a year. The point is of some importance because, if the letter was written in 1775, even this small fragment bears on the relationship between father and son when the former returned from England. Although the language is open to various interpretations, the...
8From Benjamin Franklin to [William Franklin, 12 October 1774] (Franklin Papers)
AL (incomplete letterbook draft): American Philosophical Society [ Page or pages missing ] on their Virtue, Wisdom and Magnanimity: Lord C——n says he would give half his Worth in the World to be present at the Debates of such an uncorrupted Body on so important an Occasion; and I often regret that I did not leave this Country in time to have been there myself. Your Omission of Remittances to...
9From Benjamin Franklin to William Franklin, 7 September 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : British Museum; letterbook draft: American Philosophical Society I received yours of July 3. from New York, with the Bill of Exchange for Forty Pounds, Cobham on Bond & Ryland, which is carried to the Credit of your Account. I have spoken in Mr. Antill’s Favour, but there seems to have been a previous Disposition of those Places. At the Time of making up the Mail for the August Packet, I...
10From Benjamin Franklin to William Franklin, 1 August 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : British Museum I have been here with Lord Le Despencer about a Week, for a little Country Air and Exercise. I wrote to you per Capt. Falconer, and have nothing to add; but to let you know that I continue very well and hearty. Methinks ’tis time to think of a Profession for Temple, (who is now upwards of 14 ) that the remainder of his Education may have some Relation to it. I have thought...