121From Benjamin Franklin to Jonathan Williams, 7 June 1756 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Chicago Historical Society I send you per Capt. Morton 20 Reams whited Brown Paper, and 10 of blue. Please to acquaint Mr. Langdon of it; I think that is the Gentleman’s Name who wrote to me for some of both Sorts, but I have mislaid his Letter. He wanted it for Packing Sperma-Ceti Candles. The Price of the brown you know; the blue is 1¼ Dollar per Ream. Credit my Account with the Money...
122Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 3 December 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), p. 52. The Assembly had requested information about an alleged Shawnee complaint, made at the Carlisle conference of 1753, of being cheated in land purchases; and Governor Morris, on November 19, had asked Council members Robert Strettell, Joseph Turner, and Thomas Cadwalader to investigate. Their...
123To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Collinson, [5 October 1755] (Franklin Papers)
Transcript of fragment: Rosenbach Foundation Speaker Isaac Norris entered a long note on an interleaved sheet in a copy of Poor Richard improved , 1755, following the calendar for December. He first copied an advertisement from the Antigua Gazette or Public Advertiser , Aug. 12, 1755, in which George Thomas, former governor of Pennsylvania and now governor of the Leeward Islands, defended...
124To Benjamin Franklin from John Read: Power of Attorney, 8 October 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Printed form, with MS insertions in blanks: American Philosophical Society Know all Men by these Presents, That I John Read of the County of York in Pensilvania, one of the Waggon Masters in the late Expedition under General Braddock Have constituted, made and appointed, and by these Presents do constitute, make and appoint, my trusty and loving Friend Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia...
125College of Philadelphia: Additional Charter, 14 May 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Additional Charter of the College, Academy, and Charity-School of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania . Philadelphia: Printed by B. Franklin and D. Hall, 1755. (Historical Society of Pennsylvania) The first charter of the Academy of Philadelphia was granted on July. 13, 1753. A few months later Provost William Smith and Vice-provost Francis Alison suggested that the trustees get an amendment...
126From Benjamin Franklin to Robert Hunter Morris, [18 May? 1755] (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from Pennsylvania Archives , series I , II , 297. On May 10 General Braddock sent his assistant quartermaster general Matthew Leslie into Pennsylvania to buy oats, corn, and other forage, and wrote Governor Morris asking him to assist, especially with money. Leslie delivered the letter personally on May 16; the governor advanced £500 and sent Secretary Peters to...
127From Benjamin Franklin to Deborah Franklin, 30 January 1756 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from Duane, Works , VI , 10. Every other day, since we have been here, it has rained more or less, to our no small hindrance. It rained yesterday, and now again to day, which prevented our marching: so I will sit down half an hour to confer a little with you. All the things you sent me, from time to time, are safely come to hand, and our living grows every day more...
128To Benjamin Franklin from ——: The Dispute over Commissions for the Militia, [January 1756] (Franklin Papers)
Draft (incomplete): American Philosophical Society The author of this document, which survives among Franklin’s papers, might have been any one of several well-informed members of the anti-proprietary party who was in Philadelphia at the end of December 1755. The handwriting has not been identified. The manuscript consists of three pages, the first two of which are numbered 5 and 6, and the...
129To Benjamin Franklin from William Ferguson, [15 July? 1755] (Franklin Papers)
Extract: Historical Society of Pennsylvania General Edward Braddock and advance units of his army reached a point about nine miles from Fort Duquesne, July 9, when they ran into a force of French and Indians commanded by Capt. Daniel Liénard de Beaujeau. In the three-hour engagement that followed the British were utterly defeated. Braddock was mortally wounded (he died on the 13th) and more...
130Pennsylvania Assembly Committee: Report on the Governor’s Instructions, 23 September 1756 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1755–1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), pp. 154–60. Though the chief executive officer in colonial Pennsylvania was commonly called governor and is so designated in these volumes, he was in fact a deputy of the Proprietors in England who were themselves legally the governors of the province. He was obliged by law and by personal bond...
131From Benjamin Franklin to William Parsons, 10 June 1756 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society It is now a long time since I had the Pleasure of a Line from you; I am now return’d from Virginia, where I was near too Months. I should be glad to learn from you the present State of the Forces in your County, and of the People. If in any Thing I can serve you, command freely your old Friend and most obedient humble Servant Governor Pownall is daily...
132From Benjamin Franklin to William Parsons, 5 December 1755 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I receiv’d your Favour of Nov. 25. and take this first Opportunity of acquainting you, that an Act is past granting £60,000 chiefly for the Defence of the Province, and is to be dispos’d of for that purpose by 7 Persons, viz. I. Norris, Ja. Hamilton, J. Mifflin, Jos. Fox, Evan Morgan, Jno. Hughes, and your old Friend. We meet every Day, Sundays not...
133Provincial Commissioners to George Croghan, [17 December 1755] (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from Pennsylvania Archives , 1st series, II (Philadelphia, 1852), 536. You are desired to proceed to Cumberland County and fix on proper Places for erecting three Stockadoes, vizt., One back of Patterson’s, One upon Kishecoquillas, and one Near Sideling Hill; Each of them Fifty feet Square, with a Block-house on two of the Corners, and a Barrack within, capable of...
134From Benjamin Franklin to John Hunter, [16 October 1755] (Franklin Papers)
Draft: American Philosophical Society I could not avoid meeting the Assembly, who are now Sitting, but must rise in two or three Days, when I purposed to proceed for Virginia; But your Letter to Mr. Nelson mentioning your Intention of being here in ten Days, and being very desirous of seeing you in order to settle our Money Account and concert Measures relating to a farther Supply of Cash to...
135Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 15 May 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1754–1755 (Philadelphia, 1755), pp. 91–2. Conditions on the ships bringing German immigrants to Pennsylvania were often nothing short of frightful. Eager to come to America, lured by baseless promises of mercenary “soul-sellers,” the redemptioners poured down the Rhine Valley into Rotterdam, where profit-hungry captains packed...
136Pennsylvania Assembly Committee to Robert Hunter Morris, 19 May 1755 (Franklin Papers)
LS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania The money put into the hands of the Committee of Assembly (to whom the Governor is pleas’d to direct his letter) for the purchase of Provisions and other necessaries for the service of the Kings Troops, is all laid out, and expended agreeable to the Trust reposed in them. And we have no Power over any other Publick money, nor can procure any, as the...
137From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 15 June 1756 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : University of Pennsylvania Library I can now only acknowledge the Receipt of your Favours of Feb. 12, 21, 24, 29, and April 1. together with two Boxes, containing Parcels for the Library and John Bartram, all safe and deliver’d. Enclos’d is a 2d Bill for £20 Sterling; the first went in March. When receiv’d please to credit my private Account with it. I send also two other Bills of £50...
138Provincial Commissioners: Orders for Payment, [9 February 1756–18 March 1756] (Franklin Papers)
DS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania Charles Norris, brother of the speaker, was a trustee of the General Loan Office and the officer responsible for making payments from the funds raised by the various acts for issuing paper currency. Among his papers are nine volumes containing over 2000 receipted orders for payment signed by commissioners in charge of war-time expenditures, 1755–65....
139To Benjamin Franklin from Jonathan Belcher, 21 July 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Letterbook copy: Massachusetts Historical Society I have your obliging Favour of the 14: Instant: and thank you for your intended Civility to my Son if he shoud pass in his way from Halifax thro’ your City—but by a Letter I received from him yesterday of the 1: of this Month, the Motions and Commotions at Halifax are so great that he seems uncertain when and whither he shall make his Rout. The...
140Pennsylvania Trustees of the German Society to the Society, 24 September 1756 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from William S. Perry, ed., Papers Relating to the History of the Church in Pennsylvania, A.D. 1680–1778 (Privately printed, 1871), pp. 560–2. To the Right Honourable and worthy Members of the Society for promoting religious Knowledge and the English Language among the German Emigrants in Pennsylvania, &c. Most Worthy Lords and Gentlemen We have been duly honoured with...
141From Benjamin Franklin to Daniel Fisher, 28 July 1755 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , XVII (1893), 275–6. Till our new building is finished, which I hope will be in two or three weeks, I have no room to accommodate a clerk. But it is my intention to have one, though my business is so small that I cannot afford to give more than I have always given, Viz.: Diet at my own Table, with Lodging and...
142From Benjamin Franklin to William Parsons, 15 December 1755 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society We receiv’d yours of the 13th. You will before this time have receiv’d the Arms and Ammunition, Blankets, &c. sent up for an intended Ranging Party; They may be made Use of for the Defence of your Town till we arrive. Capt. Trump, from Upper-Dublin, marches the Day after to-morrow with 50 Men to your Assistance. The Provisions for their Use go with them; so...
143[Benjamin Franklin?] to ——, 25 December 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Extract printed in The Pennsylvania Gazette , January 1, 1756. Governor Morris and the commissioners appointed in the £60,000 money act worked diligently to organize more effective measures against the continuing Indian attacks. By December 4 they had decided to rely chiefly upon a fort to be erected at Shamokin (at the forks of the Susquehanna; now Sunbury) from which ranging parties would be...
144From Benjamin Franklin to Catharine Ray, 16 October 1755 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society Your Favour of the 28th of June came to hand but the 28th of September, just 3 Months after it was written. I had, two Weeks before, wrote you a long Chat, and sent it to the Care of your Brother Ward. I hear you are now in Boston, gay and lovely as usual. Let me give you some fatherly Advice. Kill no more Pigeons than you can eat. Be a good Girl, and don’t...
145To Benjamin Franklin from William Shirley, Junior, 20 May 1755 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; extract printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives , 1754–1755 (Philadelphia, 1755), p. 175. May 20, 1755 A sentence from this unlocated letter is printed in the Pennsylvania Assembly’s reply, Sept. 29, 1755, to Governor Morris’ charge, September 24, that the Assembly had done little to support Braddock’s expedition (see below, p. 208).
146To Benjamin Franklin from John Hunter, 17 June 1756 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Yale University Library I have the pleasure of Advising you of the Safe Arrivall of Genl. Abercrombie, with the Transports, Except Two, who they parted with in a very Dark Night, Not a Man Sick among those that are Arrivd. The Tents &c. being all on Board the ships not Arrivd it is Said the Troops are to be Landed this Day. The German Officers Came in the Last Pacquett, and are all...
147From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Mecom, 12 February 1756 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from Jared Sparks, ed., A Collection of the Familiar Letters and Miscellaneous Papers of Benjamin Franklin (Boston, 1833), p. 38. I condole with you on the loss of our dear brother. As our number grows less, let us love one another proportionably more. I am just returned from my military expedition, and now my time is taken up in the Assembly. Providence seems to...
148From Benjamin Franklin to Elizabeth Hubbart, 22 February 1756 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from The Massachusetts Magazine, or Monthly Museum of Knowledge and Rational Entertainment , I (1789), 100. I condole with you, we have lost a most dear and valuable relation, but it is the will of God and Nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside, when the soul is to enter into real life; ’tis rather an embrio state, a preparation for living; a man is not...
149To Benjamin Franklin from Jonathan Belcher, 23 July 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Letterbook copy: Massachusetts Historical Society Altho’ I wrote you 21: Current yet I am to ask your Pardon for the Trouble of this which is to pray you to forward by the first Opportunity to my Son at Halifax my Letter now lying in your hands together with the inclosed which will oblige, Sir, Your ready Friend and Servant. See above, p. 110. The one referred to in Belcher’s letter, July 9...
150Isaac Norris to Samuel Preston Moore: Order for Money Payment, with Franklin’s Receipt, 24 September 1756 (Franklin Papers)
DS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania Pay to Benjamin Franklin, or Order, the Sum of Two hundred and Ten Pounds, Thirteen Shillings and Ninepence Halfpenny; being the Ballance of his Account for Expences paid by him for Establishing a Post between Winchester and Philadelphia in Pursuance of a Resolve of the House; and for Postage of Letters to the Army under the late General Braddock. £210 13...