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...