Personal: The major event of BF's childhood was his studying at the South Grammar School under Nathaniel Williams and Edward Wigglesworth beginning in the fall of 1714, age 8.

Political Background: In Massachusetts, an adversarial relation between the court-appointed Royal Governor and the elected House of Representatives existed, similar to the antagonistic relationship between those bodies in other colonies. The Massachusetts House of Representatives was generally "Old Charter" in outlook, defending the "rights and liberties" of the people from what the legislators thought of as the authoritarian attempt of the crown-appointed Royal governor and his followers to exercise power and prerogative.

Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) was in progress when Franklin was born, with frequent fighting on the frontiers, and skirmishes as close as fifteen miles from Boston. After the Boston News Letter (hereafter BNL)started in 1704, numerous issues during the spring, summer, and fall reported Indian attacks. In New England, Pope's Day, 5 November (Guy Fawke's Day in England), annually occasioned anti-French and anti-Catholic demonstrations, concluding with burning an image of the Pope. As an adolescent, BF probably took part in the annual riots. Perhaps even more hated than the symbolic Pope was the actual King of France, Louis XIV, infamous not only as the head of England's traditional enemy, France, but also for systematically persecuting the Huguenots following the revocation (1685) of the Edict of Nantes, which had guaranteed French Protestants freedom of worship. In 1714 (1 Aug) Queen Anne died and George I acceded to the English throne.

1706 Calendar 3

6 Jan, 1705/6, Sunday. Benjamin Franklin born. Record of birth: City Registrar, Boston. Facsimile in PCSM 10: facing p. 228, from the original in Boston Births, 5:113, office of City Registrar, Boston. RRC 24:46. P 1:lxii (D); 8:455. Franklin was born in the house that Josiah rented from Lt. Nathaniel Reynolds, on the south corner of Milk and High streets. Since Milk Street ended at High Street, there were only two corners at Milk and High. The Old South Church was just across the street, at the other corner, on the north side of Milk and High. The Franklins lived on Milk Street for the first six years of Franklin's life, until 25 Jan 1712. A drawing of the house appears in P 1:4.

6 Jan (b). Record of BF's baptism by Samuel Willard: Old South Church, Boston. Printed in facsimile in PCSM 10: facing p. 228, from original ms. "Baptismal Records of the Clerk of Old South Church in Boston." Note: 6/17 Jan (old style [i.e., Julian Calendar] Sunday, Jan 6, 1705; new style [i. e., Gregorian Calendar] Thursday, Jan 17, 1706). See also Tourtellot 3; Hill, History 1:330.

Franklin was the youngest son and the fifteenth child born to his father Josiah, and the seventh child born to his mother Abiah. Eleven brothers and sisters were living when he was born: five of Josiah Franklin's seven children by his first wife (Elizabeth, b. 1678; Samuel, b. 1681; Hannah, b. 1683; Josiah, b. 1685; and Anne, b. 1678); and six of the seven so far born to his second wife, Abiah (Folger) Franklin, who came from a family of Nantucket Puritans (John, b. 1690; Peter, b. 1692; Mary, b. 1694; James, b. 1697; Sarah, b. 1699; and Thomas, b. 1703). Two sisters, Lydia (b. 1708) and Jane (b. 1712) followed. P 1:lvi­lxii; and charts, lxxii­lxxv.

7 March 1705/6, Thursday. Josiah Franklin to Madam Shrimpton: Bill for Candles. 1 p. Rosenbach Co., The History of America in Documents, Part I (1949):30.

10 June, BNL: Editorial in favor of importing white indentured servants rather than black slaves. Discussed by Charles E. Clark, Public Prints 93-94, who concluded that "the executive leadership of the province enlisted the News Letter in what proved eventually to be a successful legislative campaign."

14 July, Sunday. Josiah Franklin to Peter Folger, Jr. Printed: NEHGR 14:363. Josiah was experimenting with rushes from Nantucket (where Folger lived) to use as rush candles and told Folger to keep a Book of Atheisme (no doubt a religious work against atheism) in partial payment for the rushes.

17 Aug, Wednesday. BF's older brother Thomas (b. 7 Dec 1703) died. P 1:lvi (C.14); 8:455.

14 Aug, Wednesday, Massachusetts legislature passed an act paying £L50 for any male enemy Indian capable of bearing arms killed or taken. Bounty raised on 16 Aug 1722 to £100; Acts, Ma. 2:258-59.

14 Oct, Monday. BNL: News of French and Spanish invasion of Charleston, SC.

5 Dec, Thursday, Rev. John Williams, recently returned from captivity, preached in the North Church on Luke 8:39 to a "great Auditory." John Williams, The Redeemed Captive (Boston: B. Green, 1707). Evans 1340.

c. 1706, Josiah Franklin was ingenious. BF told Peter Kalm that his father introduced herring into a river where they had never propagated before (Kalm 1:154; P 4:56). BF evidently told the Rev. Joseph Morgan about it, who repeated it in an essay on fish ladders and other ways of making fish more plentiful in rivers and streams. Pennsylvania Gazette, 8 June 1732. Morgan wrote: "There is a Pond and Brook from it, nigh Plymouth in N.E. (as I am informed) where never Herring had been seen, while other Brooks were full; but a certain Man carried a Tub full of Water with a Number of them newly taken, and emptied 'em into that Pond; and ever after they went up that Brook."

1707 Calendar 4

6 Jan, Monday, BF's first birthday.

8 Jan, Wednesday. Elizabeth Franklin (half-sister of BF), married Joseph Berry, Shipmaster. P 1:lvii.

23 June, Monday. BNL: Dateline Piscataqua, June 20 [Friday]. "The Indians are Sculking every where on our Frontiers; and on Monday last 7 of them came to Spruce Creek in Kitters, and kill'd Philip Carpenter, his Wife & two Children, but had not time to pillage the House. A Party of our Forces went in pursuit of the Enemy."

19 July, Saturday. Micajah and Sarah Torrey sold to Thomas Creese of Boston the property "Given and bequeathed unto the said Sarah ... by the Last Will and Testament [dated 8 July, 1678] of her Father the said Paul Batt part whereof is in the present Tenure and Occupation of Josiah Franklyn and the other part thereof in the present Tenure and Occupation of Charles Roberts, and is bounded Measuring and Described as followeth ... Measuring in breadth at the Front [Washington Street] from the middle of the Gutter standing between the Land of the said [Thomas] Creese [north] and the Land hereby Sold along by the Shop in the Occupation of the said Franklyn unto the said [William] Turner's Land [south] fourteen feet, more or less; 18 feet and 10 inches wide in the rear; with a depth of 112 feet and 7 inches on the northerly line; the southerly boundary being on an indented line about twenty-six feet north of Ordway Place." Thomas Minns in PCSM 10 (1906):244, citing Suffolk Deeds, xxiii:147.  Minns speculated that Josiah rented the Washington Street property in 1685 when he rented the Milk Street house in 1685.  Josiah Franklin's shop was at the site of 339-41 Washington Street. When he moved to the much larger Union Street house on 25 Jan 1711/2, he probably gave up the shop. We know from an advertisement of 21 Dec 1719 that the blue ball then hung on his Union Street house.

12 Sept, Friday. "On Fryday the 12th. Instant Dyed here in the 68 year of his Age, the very Worthy and Reverend Mr. SAMUEL WILLARD, Pastor of the South Church, and Vice President of Harvard College in Cambridge, unto the Just Grief, not only of the Church and Town, but of all New-England." 15 Sept BNL. Willard had baptised BF. His exposition of New England theology, A Compleat Body of Divinity (Boston: Green and Kneeland, 1726), a folio of 927 pages, was the largest book printed in colonial America. Josiah Franklin subscribed for two copies, and James Franklin, Printer, for a copy.

27 Oct, Monday. BNL "Just now Published, a Funeral Sermon of the Death of ... Samuel Willard. ... By the Rev. Mr. Ebenezer Pemberton. ... To which is annexed a Poem on the same sorrowful Occasion: By the Reverend Mr. Benjamin Colman." Evans 1329. Josiah Franklin and his family no doubt attended the funeral and heard the service.

1708 Calendar 12

6 Jan, Tuesday, BF became 2.

8 Aug, Sunday. Lydia, daughter of Abiah and Josiah Franklin, born in Boston. RRC 24:55. D. 1758; m. 1731, Robert Scott, a sea captain. P 1:lxi (C.16).

29 Aug, Sunday. Just before daybreak, the French and Indians under Hertel de Rouville attacked Haverhill, MA., killing fifteen persons and taking many prisoners.

8 Sept, Wednesday. Samuel Sewall: "I was mov'd last night at Mr. Josiah Franklin's at our Meeting, where I read the Eleventh Sermon on the Barren Fig-Tree."--9 Sept, Thursday. Diary 1:603. Since Sewall first mentions Josiah Franklin here, it seems likely that Franklin joined Sewall's private prayer group not long before. The group met alternatively at different members' houses. For the members of the group, most of whom must have been among Josiah Franklin's friends and well-known to BF, see 22 Jan 1717/8. Sewall last mentioned Josiah Franklin on 1 March 1720/1. Josiah Franklin and Samuel Sewall belonged to the same prayer group for at least fourteen years, attended the same church, and must have known each other well.

In 1708, two years after Franklin was born, Nathaniel Reynolds died and left his property to his three sons. Josiah continued renting the Milk Street house from the Reynolds family until the beginning of 1712, when Franklin was six. Shurtleff 618.

1708 Deborah Read (future wife of BF), daughter of John and Sarah Read, born in Philadelphia.

1709 Calendar 7

6 Jan, Thursday, BF became 3.

1710 Calendar 1

6 Jan, Friday, BF became 4.

22 June, Thursday, The widowed Hannah (Franklin) Eddy (BF's half-sister) married Thomas Cole. P 1:lvii.

7 July, Sunday, Uncle BF wrote verses to BF about young BF's desire to be a soldier. P 1:4­5.

15 July, Monday. Uncle BF wrote an acrostic poem on BF, urging him to be virtuous and religious. P 1:4-5.

3 Dec, Sunday. Sewall: "Mr. Pemberton order'd the 5 first verses of the 58th Psalm to be sung. I think if I had been in his place and had been kindly and tenderly affectioned, I should not have done it at this time. Another Psalm might have suited his Subject as well as the 5th verse of this. 'Tis certain, one may make Libels of David's Psalms; and if a person be abused, there is no Remedy: I desire to leave it to GOD who can and will Judge Righteously." Diary 2:648-49. Pemberton was angry with Sewall because the judge sided with the Mathers against Gov. Dudley (Shipton 4:109-10). The verses attacked judges. Since Sewall would have stood up and lined out the verses for the congregation, it was an especially humiliating and ironic position. Cf. 12 Dec 1710, and young BF's similar satire of Sewall, 21 Jan 1723.

12 Dec, Tuesday. Sewall: "I went to Mr. Pemberton and Expostulated about his Treatment of me." Diary 2:649.

1711 Calendar 2

6 January Saturday, BF became 5. Jane (Franklin) Mecom told Ezra Stiles that BF could read the Bible "at five years old." Stiles, Literary Diary 2:375.

1 February, Sewall: "Mr. Secretary reads a paper given him by Col. [Samuel] Vetch, Certifying that the Government of Annapolis Royal had not Traded with the Indians as they were aspers'd, but withall in a vile manner loading New-Engld with Calumnies; a spirit of Witchcraft, and now 7 fold a Spirit of Lying, haters of Monarchy, regretting Her Majesties success in Taking Port-Royal. ... I was for the Certificat so far as it vindicated their innocency; but was against the Reflections on New-England, they would be dishonorable to Nova Scotia, and New England. I was against printing it with them. Col. Vetch said, if it could not be printed here, he would have it printed elsewhere." Diary 2:652-53. Cf. Nathaniel Gardner in the New England Courant on religious hypocrites, 14 Jan 1722/3.

12 June, Tuesday. Sewall: "This day the Proclamation for the War is pass'd. I carried it to the Printer at Noon." Diary 2:663. W. C. Ford, Mass. Broadsides no. 342. Joseph Dudley's proclamation offered inducements to enlist against the French and Indians.

2 October, Tuesday. Sewall: "About 7 or 8 aclock of the night ... a Dreadful Fire happens in Boston. ... Old Meeting House and Town-House burnt. Old Meeting House had stood near 70. years." Diary 2:669. To stop the course of the fire, a number of houses were deliberately blown up. Diary 2:673.

Uncle Benjamin Franklin wrote a poem thanking God that Josiah's home on Milk Street was spared. The poem is an acrostic: the first word of each stanza begins with a letter that, in fourteen stanzas, spelled JOSIAH FRANKLIN. Printed in Parton 1:35-37; ms., AAS.

Anecdotes of circa 1711:

When a boy, BF saw a moose in Boston. Peter Kalm, ed. Benson 1:156; P 4:57.

"The Whistle" (a bagatelle written on 10 Nov 1779) tells of BF's delight in playing a whistle and his subsequent shame at his foolishness in paying four times its worth. Cabanis recorded the anecdote as a moral lesson from BF's mother. Franklin was not more than 5 or 6 years old at the time. Cabanis, Oeuvres 5:222-23. Note: Claude-Anne Lopez gave a redaction of the Cabanis version in the Franklin Gazette, v. 3, no. 3 (summer, 1992).

1712 Calendar 10

6 January, Sunday, BF became 6.

25 January 1711/2, the Franklins moved from their rented home on Milk Street and bought a house from Peter Sargeant at the south-west corner of Union and Hanover streets for £320 (Thwing Index at MHi, citing Suffolk Deeds 26:109), taking out a mortgage of £250 from Simeon Stoddard (see below, 8 Feb). The lot was over 3,500 square feet, about five times as large as the Milk Street lot (approximately 600 square feet). Although the location was almost equi-distant between the Old North and the Old South churches, and although the Brattle Street church was the closest, Josiah and Abiah remained members of the Old South Church. On 28 Jan 1722/3, Josiah paid off  the old mortgage with Stoddard and took out a new one for £220 with Hannah Clarke (Thwing Index at MHi, citing Suffolk Deeds 36:191; Shurtleff 630-31). Perhaps Josiah in 1722/3 loaned James Franklin money for the purchase of an additional printing press.

Franklin lived here with his parents (except for a brief stay with his cousin Samuel in 1717, age 11) until about 1720, when he moved to the family with whom his brother James lived.

The house and lot "at the front or Eastward end by Union street so called, measuring there in breadth thirty-eight feet or thereabout; on the Northward side by Hanover street so called, measuring there in length ninety-three feet or thereabout; on the rear or Westward end by land formerly of Josiah Cobham, dec[ease]d, in the present tenure & occupation of Joseph Smith, saddler, where it measureth in breadth twenty-three feet five inches or thereabout; and on the Southward side by land formerly the said Cobham's, and the house of and land formerly appertaining to John Cotta, now wholly on this side the inheritance of the heirs of Thomas Bridge, late of Boston, aforesaid, marriner, dece[ase]d, where it measureth in length about eight-seven feet or thereabout." Shurtleff 631.

The property contained four structures. A Boston Evening Post advertisement of 23 July 1753 described them: "To be sold by publick Vendue, On Tuesday the 21st of August next, Four Lots of Ground, with the Buildings thereon, fronting on Hanover and Union-Street, at the Blue Ball, viz. one Lot (No. 1) of Seventeen Feet four Inches Front on Hanover-Street, and twenty-five Feet deep. One Ditto (No. 2) Twenty-one and an half Feet Front on said Street, and Twenty-five and an half Feet deep. (No. 3.) Twenty-seven Feet Front on said Street, and Thirty Feet deep. (No. 4.) a Corner Lot, Twenty-eight Feet Front on Hanover Street, and Thirty-eight Feet front on Union Street, very well situated for Tradesmen or Shopkeepers, being in the Heart of the Town, and the Buildings conveniently divided as above, having originally been different Tenements. The Title is indisputable, the Sale to begin at four o'Clock in the Afternoon, on the Premises, one quarter Part of the Money, to be paid at the signing of the Deeds. Twelve Months Credit will be given, if required, on Security and paying Interest for the Remainder, by John Franklin and William Homes."

Josiah and Abiah probably lived in the corner house, renting out the other structures. When Josiah made his will, 20 October 1744, he gave "to my loving wife Abiah Franklin all the income or rents of my whole estate and goods, and the use of the two rooms we now live in, allowing the lodgers to be in as it is used, she allowing out of it the interest that will be due to my creditors while she lives." Josiah died on 16 January 1744/5, and the will was proved 7 August 1750, five years later. Two years after the decease of his wife Abiah (1752), an inventory of his estate was taken. His house and land in Union Street were appraised at £253.6s.8d. Shurtleff, 632.

The lots were advertised on 6 November 1752 and 23 July 1753 by John Franklin and William Homes. John Franklin sold his portion on 15 April 1754, to William Homes, for £188 13s. 4d. On June 2, 1757, Homes sold the property to Jonathan Dakin for £266 13s. 4d. Shurtleff, 633.

When Jane (Franklin) Mecom wrote Franklin on 16 August 1787, she recalled their childhood home: "It was Indeed a Lowly Dwelling we were brought up in but we were fed Plentifully, made comfortable with Fire and cloathing, had seldom any contention among us, but all was Harmony: Especially between the Heads--and they were Universally Respected, & the most of the Family in good Reputation, this is still happier living than multitudes Enjoy." Despite her nostalgic recollection of the concord between the parents and happiness of the children, she added, "Blessed be God that you & I by your means have the Addition of more Pleasing appearance in our Dwellings." Van Doren, Letters of BF & Jane Mecom 296.

8 Feb, Friday. Josiah Franklin mortgaged the house and land (above, 25 Jan) to Simeon Stoddard. (Thwing Index at MHi, citing Suffolk Deeds, 26:109.) The mortgage was cancelled on 28 Jan 1722/3, when Josiah refinanced the house.

12 Feb, Tuesday. Uncle BF (A.2.7) to Mary (Franklin) Fisher (A.5.2.1.1) Dartmouth, thanking her for medicines sent in his sickness. "I have now thoughts of laying down my business tho I know not what to turn to not being able to doe as when I was young for I run in debt and see no likelyhood of recovering it and I beleeve must give up all into my Creditors hands and what will be the Issue God only knows, but I hope I shall not be much concern'd at that If I can but keep a good Conscience as the Apostle speekes. verse 16." Another part of this letter is quoted above, 1683, on emigration.

27 March, Thursday, Jane Franklin (youngest sister of BF) born. D. 8? May 1794; m. 27 July 1727, Edward Mecom. P 1:lxi (C.17); 8: 455. Since her funeral was on 10 May 1794 (Van Doren, Jane Mecom 238), she probably died on 8 May 1794.

10 July, Thursday, Ann(e) Franklin (half-sister of BF) married William Harris of Ipswich, MA. P 1:lvii (C.5).

27 Oct, Monday: "Her Majesties Proclamation for a Suspension of Arms between Her Majesties Subjects, and those of the Most Christian King both by Sea & Land, was Published here, with all the Demonstrations of Joy: The Regiment of this Town being under Arms, attending His Excellency the Governour, the Gentlemen of Her Majesties Council, and the General Assembly being present." BNL 2 Nov 1712. In England, the proclamation was issued 18 August. The news arrived in Boston on 24 October, was read in Council and in the House, and sent to press. Sewall, Diary 2:699. Thus Queen's Anne's War officially ended.

1713 Calendar 5

6 Jan, Tuesday, BF became 7.

2 March, Monday BNL: "At the House of Mr. George Brownell in Wings-Lane Boston, is Taught, Writing, Cyphering, Dancing, Treble Violin, Flute Spinnet &c. Also English and French Quilting, Imbroidery, Florishing, Plain Work, marking in several sorts of Stiches, and several other works, where Scholars may board." Brownell became BF's teacher in the fall of 1715. The basic sources on Brownell are printed in Lambert 954-69.

29 April, Wednesday. Sewall: "I go to the Meeting at Mr. Franklin's. Pray, read Mr. Doolittle's Morning Lecture about Leading of the Spirit." Diary 2:712.

22 June, Monday. BNL: "Three able Negro men and three Negro women to be Sold by Messeurs Henry Dewick and William Aslin, and to be seen at the house of Mr. Josiah Franklin at the Blue Ball in Union Street near the Star Tavern, Boston." Cf. 5 April 1708; 3 August 1713.

3 Aug, Monday. BNL: "Three Negro men and two Negro women to be sold and seen at the house of Mr. Josiah Franklin at the Blue Ball in Union Street Boston." Cf. 22 June.

16 Sept, Wednesday. Joseph Sewall, son of Samuel, ordained and installed as pastor with Ebenezer Pemberton at the Old South Church. Samuel Sewall: "Began a little after Ten. Dr. Cotton Mather begun with Prayer, Excellently, concluded about the Bell ringing for Eleven. My son preached from 1 Cor. 3.7. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, nor he that Watereth; but God that gives the Increase. Was a very great Assembly; were Elders and Messengers from 9 Churches ... Mr. Pemberton made an August Speech, Shewing the Validity and Antiquity of New English Ordinations. Then having made his way, went on, ask'd as Customary, if any had to say against the ordaining the person. ... Dr. Increase Mather, Dr. Cotton Mather, Mr. Benjamin Wadsworth, Mr. Ebenezer Pemberton and Mr. Benjamin Colman laid on Hands. Then Mr. Pemberton Pray'd, Ordain'd, and gave the Charge Excellently. Then Dr. Increase Mather made a notable Speech, gave the Right Hand of Fellowship, and pray'd. Mr. Pemberton directed the three and Twentieth Psalm to be sung. The chief Entertainment was at Mr. Pemberton's; but was considerable elsewhere." Diary 2:726. See also H. A. Hill, History 1: 354-67. Josiah Franklin and his family no doubt attended the ordination ceremony.

Circa 1713:

Uncle Benjamin Franklin wrote BF a poem praising his early writing. P 1:5­6.

Anecdote of blowing bubbles with soap suds and a tobacco pipe. P 4:473.

Anecdote of keeping pigeons when a boy. P 4:42.

Parsons, 1793, from the Patriote François of M. Brissot de Warville, 195: "As his father was accustomed to precede all his meals with long prayers, and even to say grace over every particular dish, he [BF] was desirous to correct this folly by means of the following sally of wit: Old Frankllin, one day, at the beginning of winter, being busied in salting provisions; 'Father,' says his son, 'you ought to ask a blessing, once for all, upon the whole cask of provisions, as it would be a wonderful saving of time!" William Temple Franklin evidently adopted this anecdote: "Dr. Franklin, when a child, found the long graces used by his father before and after meals very tedious. One day after the winter's provisions had been salted,--'I think, Father,' said Benjamin, 'if you were to say Grace over the whole cask--once for all--it would be a vast saving of time.'" (WTF, Memoirs 1:447). Zall, BF Laughing no. 151.

Taught himself geography when a boy, while his father was saying prayers, by looking over four large maps that hung in his father's parlour.--See Benjamin Rush's notes, 12 June 1789. PMHB 29 (1905):27. Zall, BF Laughing no. 126.

1714 Calendar 6

6 Jan, Wednesday, BF became 8.

1 Aug, Sunday. Queen Anne died. George I proclaimed King. Sewall learned the news on 17 September. Diary 2:769. BNL published it Monday, 27 September. George I was proclaimed King in Massachusetts on Wednesday, 22 September. He was succeeded by George II in 1727.

2 Sept, Thursday. Peter Franklin (brother of BF) married Mary Harman. P 1:lix.

September 1714 to May 1715

Franklin's formal education began in 1714, age eight: "My elder Brothers were all put Apprentices to different Trades. I was put to the Grammar School at Eight Years of Age, my Father intending to devote me as the Tithe of his Sons to the Service of the Church" (A6). Thus, beginning in the fall of 1714, Franklin studied at the South Grammar School (now the Boston Latin) under Nathaniel Williams (1675-1738), master, and Edward Wigglesworth (c. 1693-1765; Shipton 5:546-55), usher. Williams, who became a full member of the Old South Church in the same year as Josiah and Abiah Franklin (Shipton 4:182-86; Hill, Historical Catalogue 302), was well-known to Josiah. Edward Wigglesworth was at this time also attending the Old South, and he became a full church member on 14 September 1718 (Hill, Historical Catalogue 28). For the grammar school building, see RRC, Eleventh Report, 39-40, 41; and for the curriculum, see Seybolt, Public Schools 70-71; and PCSM 27:21-29.

Franklin explained his father's decision: "My early Readiness in learning to read (which must have been very early, as I do not remember when I could not read) and the Opinion of all his Friends that I should certainly make a good Scholar, encourag'd him in this Purpose of his." Franklin added, "My Uncle Benjamin too approv'd of it, and propos'd to give me all his Shorthand Volumes of Sermons, I supposed as a Stock to set up with, if I would learn his Character" (A6). Shorthand was a common accomplishment in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Numerous devout parishioners, like uncle Benjamin, recorded the outline and many details of their ministers' sermons in shorthand. If Uncle Benjamin Franklin was consulted about Franklin's grammar school training, it must have been by mail, for he did not come to Boston until the fall of 1715.

Franklin did well. "I continu'd however at the Grammar School not quite one Year, tho' in that time I had risen gradually from the Middle of the Class of that Year to be the Head of it, and farther was remov'd into the next Class above it, in order to go with that into the third at the End of the Year" (A6-7).

The classmates he so easily outstripped are unknown. Two persons who almost certainly attended the South Grammar School with BF were Edmund Quincy (1703-88) and Ebenezer Pemberton (1705-1777). Quincy graduated from Harvard in 1722 (Shipton 7:106) and later, in correspondence with BF, called him his old school mate (P 9:399-401). And Ebenezer Pemberton, the son of BF's minister of the same name, no doubt also attended the South Grammar School. Pemberton graduated from Harvard in 1721 (Shipton 4:535-46), became the minister of the Presbyterian Church in New York, and served as a member of the Presbyterian Synod of Philadelphia. Franklin defended the Rev. Samuel Hemphill in 1735 against Pemberton and the Presbyterian Synod.

Because their parents attended the Old South Church and thus probably lived near the South Grammar School, Daniel Oliver (1704-27; Hill, Historical Catalogue 291) and John Smith (1704-68), who both graduated from Harvard along with Quincy, surely knew Franklin and may have attended school with him (Shipton 7:103-05, 121-24.) Two Harvard graduates of 1723 were also associated with the Old South Church: Samuel Hirst (1705-27), the grandson of Samuel Sewall, and Habijah Savage (1704-43). (Shipton 7: 190-92, 252-53.)

When Franklin received an honorary M.A. in 1753, his name was inserted in the catalogue with the class of 1724, thus indicating that the college authorities then believed that he would have graduated with that class if he had gone to college (Shipton 7:290). No Harvard graduates of 1724 appear to have attended the Old South Church. A Boston boy whom he surely knew was Nicholas Bowes (1706-55), who, like BF, was baptized by Samuel Willard and who, also like BF, lived on Union Street. Bowes graduated from Harvard in 1725, along with Jeremiah Gridley (1702-67), another Old South member (Shipton 7:455-57, and 7:518-30). BF probably knew the slightly younger Dr. William Clark (1709-60), who, like Quincy, later corresponded with BF. Clark was an Old South Church member who graduated from Harvard in 1726 (Shipton 8:12-19. P 5:250-52.)

Franklin also must have known the unfortunate Simeon Stoddard (1707-76), who was baptized at the Old South on November 23, 1707, and who was declared non compos in 1751. His father Anthony Stoddard belonged to the same private prayer group as Josiah Franklin (Sewall, Diary 577).

According to a Catalogue of the Masters and Scholars Who have belonged to the Boston Latin School (1878; which, in some cases, reflects family traditions rather than facts) Benjamin Gibson, Mather Byles, Samuel Freeman, and Jeremiah Gridley attended the South Latin School with Franklin. Gibson (1700-1723), who graduated from Harvard in 1719 (Shipton 6: 310-11), should have been several years ahead of Franklin. Byles (1707-88) and Freeman (1707-28) both graduated from Harvard in 1725 (Shipton 7:464-93, 514-15), along with Bowes and Gridley. The businessman and poet Joseph Green (born the same month, January, 1705/6, as Franklin), was also probably a member of that South Latin School class (Catalogue lists him in the class of 1715; Shipton 8:42; John Rowe, Letters and Diary [1903], 169) At any rate, Franklin knew Byles well and corresponded both with him and with Samuel Mather (who presumably attended the North Grammar School) later in life. Both grandsons (Byles and Mather) of Increase Mather were involved in 1721 and 1722 with the New England Courant's wars, though Samuel Mather had the more active role. The Catalogue 7-8 guesses that Andrew Belcher (1706-71), John Martyn (1706-67) and Andrew Oliver (1706-74) were in the class of 1713. All attended Harvard and graduated in 1724 (Shipton 7: 305-11, 376-81, 383-413). But since Martyn's parents attended the Old North (Shipton 7: 376), it seems more probable that he went to the North Latin School.

BF attended school with most, and perhaps all, of these sixteen boys except Martyn; he must have known them all during his youth.

20 Oct, Wednesday. The Rev. John Webb was ordained pastor of the New North Church. Sewall, Diary 772. It had been started by a group of fourteen tradesmen who resented the only liberal church being controlled by gentlemen. Accordingly, "without the assistance of the more wealthy part of the community, excepting what they derived from their prayers and good wishes" (Bridenbaugh, Cities in the Wilderness 259), they sounded out the Rev. John Barnard and found him interested in their project. But Barnard reported what happened when the church structure was nearly finished: "The aged Dr. I. Mather sent for the aforesaid fourteen menbers, one by one, closeted them, appeared against their settling a manifesto man, as he styled me because of the great friendship Mr. Colman showed to me, and extorted from as many as he could, a promise that they would not vote for me. By the direction of the Mathers, the said fourteen men got into a private room, and combined into a church. Soon after they proceeded to the choice of a minister; five of them gave their votes for Mr. Webb, and four for me; the other five would not vote at all, because they had been made to promise they would not vote for me." Shipton 5:464-65. So the religiously conservative Webb was installed. Cf. 15 Nov 1722. BF recalled the building of the New North and the New South (14 July 1716) in a letter of 23 Aug 1750. P 4:42.

23 Dec, Thursday. Sewall: "Dr. C. Mather preaches excellently from Ps. 37. Trust in the Lord &c. only spake of the Sun being in the centre of our System. I think it inconvenient to assert such Problems." Diary 2:779. Sewall's reservation is surprising, for as M. Halsey Thomas noted, the Copernican system had been taught at Harvard before Sewall matriculated.