From Benjamin Franklin to Deborah Franklin, 18 May 1766
To Deborah Franklin
ALS: American Philosophical Society
London, May 18. 1766.
My dear Child
I wrote to you pretty fully per the Packet,9 and shall write again by some of our Ships: But Capt. Cruikshanks1 kindly offering to carry a Letter to you, I write just to let you know I am well, as I hope you any [and] my dear Sally and all our Relations and Friends continue to be. Mrs. Stevenson is getting something to send you,2 and presents her Compliments. Capt. Robinson is arriv’d.3 I am, Your affectionate Husband
B Franklin
Addressed: To Mrs / Fran[klin] / [Philadelphia] / per favour of / Capt. Cruikshanks
9. Not found; probably dated about May 9 or 10.
1. Possibly Charles Cruikshank, a Scottish gentleman who had served in the British Army and had settled in Pennsylvania, buying the estate called “Clifton Hall” (later “The Grange”) in what is now Delaware Co. He returned to Scotland in 1783. PMHB, vi (1882), 109; xxiii (1899), 77, 80.
2. Her bill of lading for “One Case,” July 10, 1766, is in APS.
3. The ship Prince George, commanded by BF’s friend James Robinson, had cleared Philadelphia for Lisbon near the end of February. Pa. Gaz., Feb. 27, 1766. Presumably it had gone from Lisbon to England, but mention of its arrival there has not been found in London Chron.