-
Born
Born in Boston, the youngest son of Josiah and Abiah Franklin. -
1715
Final formal year of schooling.
Heard Increase Mather preach. -
1717
Begins reading Plutarch, Defoe, and Cotton Mather
Invents a pair of swim fins for his hands
Briefly indentured as a cutler -
1718
Apprenticed to his brother James, a printer.
Blackbeard the Pirate is captured; Franklin writes a ballad on the occasion -
1720
Moved away from home into a boarding house
Stopped attending church so he could use Sunday to study
At a Boston town meeting, Ben's father Josiah is chosen as a town scavenger for 1721 -
1721
Brother James Franklin starts publishing The New England Courant
Smallpox epidemic in Boston and controversy over vaccination
Becomes "a thorough Deist" -
1722
Becomes a vegetarian (in part he is motivated by a distaste for flesh, but also because he can save money and buy more books) -
1723
Takes over the publishing of the Courant after brother James is jailed due to "contempt" charges.
(Sept.) Runs away from apprenticeship, goes to New York and then to Philadelphia, where he gains employment as a printer.
Takes lodging with John Read whose daughter Deborah will become Franklin's wife in 1730 -
1724
Returns home to Boston to try to borrow money from his father to start print shop. Is denied.
Returns to Philadelphia and courts Deborah Read.
Under encouragement from PA Governor William Keith travels to London in order buy printing equipment. Keith's letters of credit for him never materialized and Franklin is stranded in London. Remains in London working as a printer working for Samuel Palmer. -
1725
Publishes his first pamphlet: "A Dissertation upon Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain"
Leaves Palmer the printer for the larger shop of John Watts.
Attends theater, reads voraciously, and hangs out at coffee houses
Back in Pennsylvania, Deborah Read marries John Rogers in August -
1726
In July, returns to Philadelphia and works for Thomas Denham, a merchant who had loaned him the money to return home. Franklin works as a bookkeeper and shopkeeper in a store which sells imported clothes and hardware. -
1727
Suffers first pleurisy attack
Leaves job with Denham
Is rehired by printer Keimer
It is in 1727 or 1728 that Franklin has an affair with a woman that results in the birth of his illegitimate son William in 1728 or 1729
In England, George I dies and is succeeded by George II -
1728
In June, establishes a Philadelphia printing partnership with Hugh Meredith; rents a building that serves as home and printshop
Composes "Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion"
Deborah Read's husband John Rogers steals a slave and absconds from Philadelphia -
1729
Writes a pamphlet entitled "The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency"
Purchases The Pennsylvania Gazette from Samuel Keimer -
1730
Elected the official printer for Pennsylvania
Takes a common law wife Deborah Read Rogers on 9/1
Franklin buys out his printing partner Hugh Meredith
Fire destroys the southern part of Philadelphia and Franklin starts agitating for fire protection programs -
1731
Joins the St. Johns Freemasons Lodge
Drew up the Library Company's articles of association on July 1st. The Library Company is the first lending library in the country, though it is still private.
Sponsored his journeyman Thomas Whitmarsh as his printing partner in South Carolina, Franklin buys the printing press and types in return for 1/3 of the profits over a six-year term — in effect becoming a printing franchiser. -
1732
Birth of his son Francis Folger.
In May, Franklin started printing America's first German-language newspaper, Philadelphische Zeitung, which soon failed.
Publishes the first edition of "Poor Richard's Almanack" on December 28