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Ben Franklin

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ancestors Benjamin (Ben) Franklin descendants
Born January 6, 1706 in England [is this right?]
Son of Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger
[brothers or sisters?]
Husband of Deborah Read (Married in [location?] [marriage date?])
Father of Sally Bache, William Franklin and Francis Franklin [add child]
Died April 6, 1790 in Philadelphia, PA

Profile manager: Admin WikiTree | Last profile change on 6 August 2010 This page has been accessed 13,718 times.
Categories: American Founding Fathers | Printing History | Pennsylvania Inventors | Scientists

About Ben Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was born in England. (Is this right? Some sources have his birth in Boston, Mass., on January 17, 1706.)

He lived in Philadelphia, PA, for most of his life.

He was one of America's greatest scientific minds. He was always looking for ways to make things work better and improve the daily existence of mankind.

His idea of two different eye glass lenses in 1784, with the top half for distance seeing and the bottom half for reading, came to be called bifocals. This may have been one of his greatest ideas and still in use over 200 years later.

Other new concepts developed by Franklin include:

  • A flexible urinary catheter.
  • The lightening rod for buildings and ships to help prevent direct lightening strikes.
  • The odometer he developed to figure distance traveled in a carriage. He used this while he was in charge of postal routes.
  • A long handled pole with a grasping claw to assist him and others who had difficulty reaching items high up.

With all his creative inventions, he did not patent them, in turn not making a fortune from them.

He is buried at the Christ Church cemetery in Philadelphia.

See also: Franklin Family History.

Note that Benjamin Franklin did not have a middle name.


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Photos with Ben

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Sophisticated, Erudite Ben
Sophisticated, Erudite Ben
Ben Franklin, Franklin Family History, Where: [location?], When: [date?], Comments: 0. Popularity: 1.

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Signing the Constitution
Signing the Constitution
Ben Franklin, Constitutional Convention, Where: Philadelphia, PA, When: September 17, 1787, Comments: 2. Popularity: 1.

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Franklin's design for ‘bifocals’
Franklin's design for ‘bifocals’
Ben Franklin, Franklin Family History, Where: USA, When: [date?], Comments: 1. Popularity: 1.

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Franklin's Lightening Rod
Franklin's Lightening Rod
Ben Franklin, Franklin Family History, Where: USA, When: [date?], Comments: 0. Popularity: 2.

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Franklin's Odometer
Franklin's Odometer
Ben Franklin, Franklin Family History, Where: USA, When: [date?], Comments: 0. Popularity: 1.

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Benjamin Franklin by Norman Rockwell
Benjamin Franklin by Norman Rockwell
Ben Franklin, Norman Rockwell, Patriotic E-Cards, Where: Philadelphia, PA, Comments: 0. Popularity: 7.

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Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull
Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull
Ben Franklin, George Washington, Patriotic E-Cards, John Trumbull, Where: US Capitol, Washington, DC, When: 1819, Comments: 1. Popularity: 9.

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On February 18, An anonymous user at 206.195.19.51 wrote:

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, MA - not England!




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