From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 8 August 1754
To William Strahan
ALS: Yale University Library
Philada. Augt. 8. 1754
Dear Sir
The above is Copy of my last.5 Not receiving the Printing House as expected last Spring, has been a considerable Disappointment;6 but I am more concern’d to hear that you and yours have had so much Sickness.7 I hope before this time you are all perfectly recover’d. I inclose a Bill for £20 Sterling, drawn by Mrs. Mary Steevens on Alexr. Grant Esqr; which when paid you will pass to my Credit. With sincere Respect and Affection, I am, Dear Sir Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
Addressed: To Mr. William Strahan Printer London Per the London Capt. Shirley
5. BF’s letter of April 28 (see above, p. 267), except for the postscript, copied in another hand.
6. BF had ordered, Oct. 27, 1753 (see above, p. 82), equipment for a printing office in New Haven, where he intended to set up his nephew James Franklin (C.11.4). On May 9, 1754, Strahan asked David Hall to inform BF that both the pressmaker and Caslon had disappointed him, but that the goods were now in Strahan’s possession and ready for the first vessel. MS, APS. They were sent off in July, reached New York in the late summer, and were sent at once to New Haven. See below, p. 440.
7. Since February Strahan had been “greatly indisposed with a most severe Cold,” which confined him for six weeks; and Mrs. Strahan, who was pregnant, suffered similarly. By May 9, when he wrote Hall, he was “quite recovered,” and his wife was recuperating in the country; and on October 11 he announced she was “ready to publish.” The child, born October 20, was named David after Strahan’s former journeyman and BF’s partner. Strahan to Hall, Oct. 11, Nov. 9, 1754, MSS, APS.