9781422277591

Growing Up in Massachusetts Josiah Franklin was very well educated, and taught Benjamin to read at an early age. He hoped that his son would one day become a minister in the Church of England. But when Benjamin had been at grammar school for a year, Josiah took him away from the school, perhaps because he could no longer afford it. Benjamin was sent to a man called Mr. Brownell, who taught him writing and arithmetic. Writing gave Benjamin few problems, but, as he said years later, “I failed in the arithmetic, and made no progress in it.” Soon Josiah needed help in running his business, so it made sense to him to halt Benjamin’s education and to employ him as an assistant. Benjamin very soon

made it quite clear that making soap and candles was not to his liking. Josiah was anxious to find Benjamin a job, so he took his restless young son on visits to various craftsmen around the town, to try and interest him in one of these trades. None of the crafts took Benjamin’s fancy. His ambition was to become a sailor. One of his brothers had already run away to sea, but his father was determined that Benjamin should not do the same. So, perhaps as a last resort, twelve-year-old Benjamin was apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer. James was eight years older than Benjamin, and had learned the printing

Franklin would have used a hornbook like this one while studying at school in Boston. His for- mal education was limited to just one year.

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