From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Holme, 27 March 1759
To Thomas Holme
Draft: Historical Society of Pennsylvania
London, March 27. 1759
Reverend Sir
I received your Favour of the 17th. Instant,7 with the Accounts, which are clear and satisfactory. And as you are so kind as to offer any farther Service in this Affair, may I take the Freedom to request you would make and send me a Draft of such a Discharge for me to sign, as will be proper and satisfactory to Mr. Fisher? If the Money could be paid by an Order or Bill on some Person here in London, it would be most convenient to me. Mrs. Morris was with me on Saturday, and desires, as she cannot go down to Wellingborough, her Share may be paid to me with the others, and She will receive it here of me. I am, with great Esteem, Reverend Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant,
B F
[On the back:]8
| 34. | 5. | 31. | 2. | 2 | ||
| 11. | 0. | 6 | 45. | 13. | 4 | |
| 23. | 4. | 6 | 23. | 4. | 6 | |
| 11. | 7. | 3 | 100. | 0. | 0 |
7. See above, pp. 221–5, 288–9, for the persons mentioned and the matters treated in this letter.
8. The left-hand column is obviously BF’s attempt to determine how much Anne Farrow and Eleanor Morris should each receive in cash from Mary Fisher’s estate. Their two one-seventh shares of the total estate after the payment of funeral expenses, plus his own share that he was dividing between them, totaled £34 5s. (3 times £11 8s. 4d.). Deducting £11 0s. 6d., the value of the clothing already given them as part of their inheritance, he found they should together receive £23 4s. 6d. in cash. He divided this amount by two and got a figure of £11 7s. 3d., but here he slipped, for the result should have been £11 12s. 3d., as the cash distribution to each woman. His right-hand column shows the disposition of the £100 cash in the estate: the funeral expenses, the shares of the four cousins in America, and the amount to be divided between the two women in England.