From Benjamin Franklin to Deborah Franklin, 2 June 1773
To Deborah Franklin
ALS: Yale University Library
London, June 2. 1773.
My dear Child,
I received yours per Capt. All.4 This is just to let you know I am well, as all our other Friends here are: I have been so hindred to day, that I can only add my Love to our Children, and that I am ever, Dear Debby, Your affectionate Husband
B Franklin
4. The letter was DF’s of April 28, now lost, which BF mentioned in writing her on July 15. Capt. All in the Richard Penn cleared from Philadelphia in early May: Pa. Gaz., May 5, 1773. He did not reach London, however, until mid-June: Lloyd’s Evening Post, June 14–16, 1773. BF’s acknowledging on June 2 a letter sent by a ship that arrived almost two weeks later is an obvious impossibility; either he dropped a digit from the date, or the Richard Penn put the mail ashore at a Channel port and then made slow progress to London.