To Benjamin Franklin from John Pownall, 4 March 1767
From John Pownall9
AL: American Philosophical Society
March. 4. 1767
Mr. Pownall presents his respectfull Compliments to Dr. Franklyn and shall be greatly obliged to him if he can give him any Information as to the person and [illegible] mentioned below.
One -- Dimsdale1 died in the Province of Pensylvania in 1764 or 1765. possessed of a Plantation there, which he left by will in general Terms to his relations in the North of England.
Q. Mr. Dimsdales Christend name and the Value of his Plantation?
Addressed: To / Dr. Franklyn / J Pownall2
Endorsed in an unknown hand: Gosset in Berwick street Soho facing the Chapell3
9. John Pownall (1720–1795), brother of Governor Thomas Pownall, was secretary of the Board of Trade.
1. Not identified.
2. Apparently added to the address as a frank.
3. Isaac Gossett (1713–1799), the wax modeller, who had apparently done a profile of BF in 1766, which Josiah Wedgwood used as the basis for a medallion. DF apparently had seen one by December 1766; above, XIII, frontispiece and 523 n. Charles C. Sellers, Benjamin Franklin in Portraiture (New Haven, 1962), pp. 69–73, 293–5; Soho was a good deal of an artists’ center.