Josiah Franklin

Josiah Franklin (1655-1744) was the father of Benjamin Franklin. Josiah was born in the tiny town of Ecton, Northamptonshire, England on December 23, 1657. Josiah was the ninth and the last child of his parents, Thomas Franklin, blacksmith and farmer, and his wife Jane White Franklin. Thomas Franklin remarried and had other children. Josiah was a well-versed Puritan and industrious young man who worked as a fabric dyer in Ecton. He married twice ... more

Josiah Franklin (1655-1744) was the father of Benjamin Franklin. Josiah was born in the tiny town of Ecton, Northamptonshire, England on December 23, 1657. Josiah was the ninth and the last child of his parents, Thomas Franklin, blacksmith and farmer, and his wife Jane White Franklin. Thomas Franklin remarried and had other children. Josiah was a well-versed Puritan and industrious young man who worked as a fabric dyer in Ecton. He married twice and had 17 children, ten boys and seven girls, altogether after moving to the American colonies in 1682. Upon moving to Boston, he took up the trade of Tallow Chandler and Soap Boiler because the trade he was born into was not in demand in New England. In 1677 Josiah Franklin married his first wife Anne Child in Ecton, England. Over the next few years, the couple had three children: Elizabeth, Samuel, and Hannah. After the family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, the couple had four more children, including Josiah Jr., Ann, Joseph (I), and... less