183421Report on the Swamp, [24 February 1748] (Franklin Papers)
MS Minutes of the Common Council: Free Library of Philadelphia By 1740 the banks of Dock Creek and the low, swampy ground lying between it and Society Hill to the west had become a public nuisance. Six tanyards threw their refuse into the creek, fouling the water and filling the bed so that the tide water moved only sluggishly, exposing mud and filth and creating offensive pools of stagnant,...
183422To Benjamin Franklin from James Logan, 19 February 1748 (Franklin Papers)
Letterbook abstract: Historical Society of Pennsylvania My Friend B.F. I wrote to him about the Title page of Euclid and the Lottery now fully drawn and desired his direction concluding his Affectionate friend. See above, p. 219.
183423From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 4 February 1748 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Huntington Library Enclos’d is a second Bill for £19 7 s. 1½ d. Sterling. The first I sent you some time since. Mr. Hall will write, tho’ neither of us have much Time, the Vessel hurrying away for fear of the Ice. I shall soon send you more Bills. With my best Respects to Mrs. Strahan, in which my Dame joins, and hearty Wishes for the Welfare of you and yours, I am, Dear Sir, Your...
183424From Benjamin Franklin to James Logan, 30 January 1748 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from Sparks, Works , VII , 33. I send you herewith the book, and enclosed is the policy. Here is no news but what is bad, namely, the taking of Mesnard, an account of which we have by way of Lisbon. He was carried into St. Malo. And just now we have advice from New York, that an express was arrived there from New England to inform the government that two prisoners, who...
183425From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwallader Colden, 27 January 1748 (Franklin Papers)
AL : New-York Historical Society I received your Favour relating to the Cannon. We have petitioned our Proprietors for some, and have besides wrote absolutely to London for a Quantity, in case the Application to the Proprietors should not succeed; so that, Accidents excepted, we are sure of being supply’d some time next Summer. But as we are extreamly desirous of having some mounted early in...
183426From Benjamin Franklin to James Logan, 27 January 1748 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from Sparks, Works , VII , 31–3. I have not yet found the book, but suppose I shall to-morrow. The post goes out to-day, which allows me no time to look for it. We have a particular account from Boston of the guns there. They are in all thirty-nine, Spanish make and new; fifteen of them are twenty-eight pounders, and twenty-four are fourteen pounders. We offer by this...
183427Articles of Agreement with David Hall, 1 January 1748 (Franklin Papers)
DS : Haverford College Library; also copy: Department of Records, Recorder of Deeds, Philadelphia Strahan sent David Hall to Franklin in 1744, where, as journeyman, he proved to be so skillful, so industrious, discreet, and honest, that Franklin arranged to set him up in the West Indies. This project was abandoned, however, and Hall became Franklin’s foreman instead. By the summer of 1747...
183428Ledger D, 1739–47 (Franklin Papers)
MS Account Book: American Philosophical Society Ledger D, like Ledger A & B (see above, I , 172), throws a fitful light on Franklin’s income, especially from his printing business, and contains incidental information, usually trivial but sometimes significant, on the purchases of some 900 of his customers. A tall, narrow book of 400 pages, bound in parchment, Ledger D contains accounts of...
183429Poor Richard, 1747 (Franklin Papers)
Poor Richard, 1747. An Almanack For the Year of Christ 1747 , … By Richard Saunders, Philom. Philadelphia: Printed and sold by B. Franklin. (Yale University Library) This is the 15th Time I have entertain’d thee with my annual Productions; I hope to thy Profit as well as mine. For besides the astronomical Calculations, and other Things usually contain’d in Almanacks, which have their daily Use...
183430Extracts from the Gazette, 1747 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Pennsylvania Gazette , January 6 to December 29, 1747. Extracts from The Pennsylvania Gazette have been printed for each of the years that Franklin personally conducted his printing office (see above, I, 164). With the establishment of the partnership of Franklin and Hall on January 1, 1748, however, the latter took over the daily oversight of the office, though Franklin, of...
183431The Manner of Drawing a Public Lottery, 22 December 1747 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Pennsylvania Gazette , December 22, 1747. This explanation is an integral part of the proposals for a lottery (see above, p. 220). Franklin very likely composed it, though there is no proof that he did. An Account of the Manner of Drawing a Publick Lottery . Suppose a Lottery to consist of Ten Thousand Tickets; as the present Philadelphia Lottery does. Before the Tickets are...
183432Proclamation for a General Fast, 9 December 1747 (Franklin Papers)
Broadside: Yale University Library The minutes of the Governor’s Council of December 8, 1747, record that that body, “taking into Consideration the State of the War in general, the Sickness that lately rag’d over this City and the Province, the probability of our Enemies making a Descent on the City, and the Calamitous Situation of our Frontiers,” in order to awaken the inhabitants to “a just...
183433From Benjamin Franklin to James Logan, 7 December 1747 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from Sparks, Works , VII , 28. I am heartily glad you approve of our proceedings. We shall have arms for the poor in the spring, and a number of battering cannon. The place for the batteries is not yet fixed; but it is generally thought that near Red Bank will be most suitable, as the enemy must there have natural difficulties to struggle with, besides the channel being...
183434Address to the Associators, 7 December 1747 (Franklin Papers)
MS (fragment): American Philosophical Society The Associators—almost 600 in number—assembled with their arms at the court house on December 7 for their first meeting. Secretary Richard Peters, at the order of the President and Council, informed them that their “Proceedings are not disapprov’d by the Government,” and assured them that commissions would be “readily granted” to the officers...
183435Scheme of the First Philadelphia Lottery, 5 December 1747 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Pennsylvania Gazette , December 12, 1747. The most urgent problem for the Association was not armed men, but money. Volunteering for military service, especially when there was no likelihood of being called to duty unless one’s own city was actually threatened, was one thing; it was another to make a free gift of money to buy supplies. Franklin’s solution was a lottery. Managers...
183436To Benjamin Franklin from James Logan, 3 December 1747 (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from Sparks, Works , VII , 24–7. I have expected to see thee here for several weeks, according to my son’s information, with Euclid’s title-page printed, and my Mattaire’s Lives of the Stephenses; but it is probable thy thoughts of thy new excellent project have in some measure diverted thee, to which I most heartily wish all possible success; of which, notwithstanding, I have some...
183437Richard Peters to the Proprietaries, 29 November 1747 (Franklin Papers)
Letterbook copy: Historical Society of Pennsylvania Abundance of Stories have been told by Sailors and others who have been taken by French Privateers and carried into Martinico and Guardalupe that the French know our Bay and River as well as we do, that they are sure the Quakers will not consent to the raising Fortifications, that there are no Men of War upon the Coast and that vast Wealth...
183438From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 28 November 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I received your Favour of June 11. per Capt. Tiffin, with the Books, &c. all in good Order. Mr. Parks, who drew the Bill on Guidart & Sons, is surpriz’d at their Protesting it, they having, as he says, large Effects of his in their Hands: He will speedily renew that Bill. Enclos’d I send you a Bill on Xr. Kilby Esqr, for £19.7.1½ Sterling, which I hope will...
183439From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwallader Colden, 27 November 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : New-York Historical Society The violent Party Spirit that appears in all the Votes &c. of your Assembly, seems to me extreamly unseasonable as well as unjust, and to threaten Mischief not only to your selves but to your Neighbours. It begins to be plain, that the French may reap great Advantages from your Divisions: God grant they may be as blind to their own Interest, and as negligent...
183440Form of Association, 24 November 1747 (Franklin Papers)
Broadside: Historical Society of Pennsylvania; also printed (with “Remarks”) in The Pennsylvania Gazette , December 3, 1747. Franklin had promised in Plain Truth to present a plan of voluntary association for defense. He did so within a week. “Having settled the Draft of it with a few Friends,” he wrote in his memoirs, “I appointed a Meeting of the Citizens” at Walton’s schoolhouse on November...
183441Plain Truth, 17 November 1747 (Franklin Papers)
Plain Truth: or, Serious Considerations On the Present State of the City of Philadelphia, and Province of Pennsylvania. By a Tradesman of Philadelphia. Printed in the Year MDCCXLVII . (Yale University Library) During the late spring and early summer of 1747 the activity of French and Spanish privateers had been increasing off the Delaware capes, and each week’s newspapers reported some new...
183442From Benjamin Franklin to Abiah Franklin, 16 October 1747 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from Duane, Works , VI , 8. This has been a busy day with your daughter and she is gone to bed much fatigued and cannot write. I send you inclosed, one of our new almanacks; we print them early, because we send them to many places far distant. I send you also, a moidore inclosed, which please to accept towards chaise hire, that you may ride warm to meetings this winter....
183443From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwallader Colden, 1 October 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : New-York Historical Society I send you herewith the History of the Five Nations. You will perceive that Osborne, to puff up the Book, has inserted the Charters &c. of this Province, all under the Title of History of the Five Nations , which I think was not fair, but ’tis a common Trick of Booksellers. Mr. James Read, to whom Mr. Osborne has sent a Parcel of Books by Recommendation of Mr....
183444Receipt to Hector Gambold, 28 September 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ADS : Princeton University Library Receiv’d Sept. 28. 1747 of Mr. Gambold Twenty three Pounds Ten Shillings, being in full for Fourteen hundred German Spelling Books; also One Pound Ten Shillings and three Pence for 50 lb. Pasteboard. £23. 10. 0 1. 10. 3 £25: 0: 3 Endorsed: 1747 Sepr: 28. Franklin’s Rect: £25.—.3. Hector Ernest Gambold (1719–1788), born in Wales, became a Moravian at Oxford,...
183445To Benjamin Franklin from Daniel Cheston, 28 September 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I am sorry to Acquaint you that with Assiduity Equal to the Want of the Gentleman In whose favour the order was Drawn I have not Been able to procure anything But Promises. I would Advise (if It meet with yours and the Gentlemans Approbation) a threatning Line or two to Mr. Edward Scott who has made Such an Assumption in favour of Mr. Osborn As may [torn]...
183446To Benjamin Franklin from Cadwallader Colden, 28 September 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I am obliged by your favour of the 24th and the Information you give. I have not heard that any of the Indian History are in this place and am very desirous to see one of them assoon at least as any other in this place may because I really do not know of what papers it consists. I sent Mr. Collinson accounts or relations on that subject at several times and...
183447From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwallader Colden, 24 September 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : New-York Historical Society I have one of your Histories come in among some Books sent me per Mr. Strahan: But Osborne I understand has sent 50 to Mr. Read per Recommendation of Mr. Collinson. I should sell them more readily than he can, I imagine; and he talks of putting them into my hands. Are any of them arriv’d in N York? Enclos’d are two Letters for you. No others are yet come to...
183448Accounts with William Bradford, Jr., 1741–55 (Franklin Papers)
MS : American Philosophical Society; MS Account Book: Historical Society of Pennsylvania Franklin’s business relations with other printers are suggested by a bill he submitted to the younger William Bradford and by Bradford’s account with him. Franklin’s bill covers the period from October 27, 1741, when he lent Bradford £1 10 s. , to September 22, 1747, when the bill he submitted amounted to...
183449To Benjamin Franklin from James Parker, 21 September 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society Last Week I accidently met Mr. DeLancey in the Streets: I ask’d him, if he had heard any Thing about the Affair, and he said No. I ask’d him, if he were willing to take the Money? He said Yes. I ask’d him how much it was? and he said £37 principal: which is more than what you mention. However, I will pay it, let it be what it may; On which I told him, I had...
183450To Benjamin Franklin from James Parker, 7 September 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society Mr. Whiting came and [paid the] whole last Saturday Evening in Jersey Money, except 5 s. in York, of the Pay[ment] for the Postage. I don’t know any Body has any of the Spanish Paper to sell cheap. I believe 5 or 6 s. will be the lowest. I know several ask 8 s. I can yet gladly spare you 4 or 5 Bales of that I have, having got about 10 Bales yet entire. If...