Franklin, Benjamin
Franklin, Benjamin ( 1706 – 90 ),born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of a tallow chandler, largely self-educated. He was apprenticed at the age of 12 to his half-brother, a printer, to whose New England Courant he contributed, but they later quarrelled and he went off to seek independence in Philadelphia. In 1724 he travelled to England, hoping to buy equipment for his own printing press, and worked in a London printing house for some months, returning to Philadelphia in 1726 . Four years later he set up his own press, from which he issued the Pennsylvania Gazette, and, by thrift and hard work, became prosperous. He acquired a wide reputation by his occasional writings, especially Poor Richard's Almanack ( 1733 – 58 ), the best known of American almanacs , which followed the British pattern of mixing practical information with satiric prognostications, aphorisms, proverbs, etc. He was active as...
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