Benjamin Franklin [823] ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

A printer, journalist, diplomat, American statesman and philosopher. One of the authors of the Declaration of Independence.

"I believe in one God, the creator of the universe. That He governs it by His providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to Him is doing good to His other children. That the soul of man is immortal and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion."

  Noted events in his life were:

• He was baptized Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts.

• He was buried at the Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1790. The monument actual grave simply reads "Benjamin and Deborah Franklin."[
In 1728, aged 22, Franklin wrote his own epitaph:
The Body
of
Benjamin Franklin, Printer
(Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents torn out,
And stripped of its lettering and gilding,)
Lies here food for worms.
Yet the work itself shall not be lost,
For it will (as he believes) appear once
more
In a new
And more beautiful Edition
Corrected and Amended
By
The Author.

Benjamin married Deborah Read [3670] [MRIN: 1369], daughter of John Read [5904] and Sarah Read nee Unknown [5905], on 1 Sep 1730 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Deborah Read [3670] was born in 1708 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, died on 19 Dec 1774 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was buried in 1774 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.) The cause of her death was stroke.

Benjamin next married.