INDEPENDENCE
Franklin's House
Historic Stuctures Report
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NOTES

Chapter 1

1. Carl Van Doren, Benjamin Franklin (New York, 1938), p. 238. [Hereafter cited as Van Doren, Franklin.]

2. Ibid., pp. 271-72, 276-77.

3. Ibid., p. 300.

4. Ibid., p. 301.

5. " . . . provided we can persuade the good Woman to cross the Seas. That will be a great Difficulty: but you can help me a little in removing it." Ibid., p. 303. Leonard W. Labaree, ed., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, X, 169. [Heareafter cited as Labaree, Papers.]

6. Charles Henry Hart, ed., "Letters from William Franklin to William Strahan," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXV, (1911), 426. [Hereafter cited as PMHB.]

7. "On Dec. 7, 1761, Sarah White Read ". . . 'in a fit fell in the fire' and was burned to death. She was buried the next day." Isaac Norris, Jr. Diary, Rosenbach Foundation, quoted in Labaree, Papers, X, 69 n. Mrs. Read had lived with the Franklins for 31 years. She was about 86 years old.

8. Franklin to Madame Brillon, April 19, 1788, Albert Henry Smyth, ed., The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Collected and Edited with a Life and Introduction (New York, 1906), IX, 643. [Hereafter cited as Smyth, Writings.]

9. William Temple Franklin to Le Veillard, September 15, 1785, Franklin Papers, MSS Pierpont Morgan Library.

10. Quoted from the diary of Robert Hunter in Louis B. Wright, Quebec to Carolina in 1785 (San Marino, California, 1943), p. 171. On November 4 Hunter ran into Franklin "walking to the state house, . . . much broke in his looks since I last saw him at Passy near Paris." Ibid., p. 173.

11. Franklin to Jane Mecom, September 19, 1785, Benjamin Franklin Papers, Library of Congress.

12. Quoted in Van Doren, Franklin, p. 732. All Europe watched to see how Franklin would be received: "The English papers so incessantly repeating their lies about the tumults, the anarchy, the bankruptcies and distresses of America, these ideas prevail very generally in Europe . . . The reception of the Doctor is the object of very general attention, and will weigh in Europe as an evidence of the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of America with their revolution." Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, August 28, 1785, Julian F. Boyd, ed., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (Princeton, 1950), VIII, 445-46.

13. Between April and November 1763, he inspected post offices from Virginia to Boston, accompanied part of the way by Sally Franklin. The Paxton rioters occupied his attention during the winter of 1763-64. While the danger to Philadelphia and the Moravian Indians sheltered there was at its greatest, Franklin and Governor John Penn concerted their efforts to restore law and order. With that episode behind them they took opposite sides on the issues of frontier defense and taxation. At length the Assembly passed a body of resolutions, by the last of which they recessed to canvass their constituents on "whether an humble address should be drawn up and transmitted to his Majesty, praying that he would be graciously pleased to take the people of this province under his immediate protection and government." Quoted in Van Doren, Franklin, p. 313.

14. Ibid., p. 335.

15. Ibid., p. 353. The coffee houses of Philadelphia gave presents to the crew of the ship that brought the news.

16. Ibid., p. 359. The bridegroom, a Yorkshireman named Richard Bache, had been reported by William Franklin to be a fortune hunter. Sally was in love and Deborah Franklin took the initiative in arranging the wedding while Franklin ignored Bache. Breaking silence while yet apprehensive over his own means, Franklin wrote on August 13, 1768, "I could not . . ., but be dissatisfied . . . and displeased with you, whom I look'd upon as an instrument of bringing future unhappiness on my child by involving her in the difficulty and distress that seemed connected with your circumstances, you having not merely nothing beforehand, but being beside greatly in debt." In time they became firmly reconciled. Quoted in Mrs. E. D. Gillespie, A Book of Remembrance (Philadelphia, 1901), p. 20.

17. In the words again of Carl Van Doren, Franklin, p. 372.

18. Following repeal of the stamp tax, Parliament, under the Townshend ministry, enacted the measures bearing his name to support crown officials in America and thus make them independent of the assemblies. They also were intended to tighten administration of trade. Franklin pointed out those arbitrary features that were pushing the colonials beyond the limits of endurance: "Americans could not import wine, oil, and fruit direct from Portugal, but must ship it by way of England in order that a few British merchants trading with Portugal might have their commissions. On the complaint of a few British merchants trading with Virginia nine colonies had been restrained from issuing paper money. A few British manufacturers of hats, nails, and steel had been able to prevent the manufacture of those articles in America." [Paraphrase by Van Doren, ibid., p. 385.] Franklin went on, "Reflecting on these things, the Americans said to one another (their newspapers are full of discourses) these people are not content with making a monopoly of us . . . a new kind of loyalty seems to be required of us, . . . a loyalty that is to extend, it seems, to a surrender of all our properties, whenever a House of Commons, in which there is not a member of our choosing, shall think fit to grant them away without our consent," ibid., pp. 375-76.

19. Townshend died in September 1767, and was succeeded by Lorth North, the king's man in Commons, under whom the war in America was to be prosecuted. For a time Lord Hillsbrough, now in charge of the foreign office, considered establishing Franklin in an under-secretaryship for American affairs; either to use him or to neutralize him. But this scheme fell through. In contemplating the prestige and influence of such a position, Franklin wrote "I am now myself grown so old as to feel much less than formerly the spur of ambition, and if it were not for the flattering expectation that by being fixed here I might more effectually serve my country, I should certainly determine for retirement, without a moment's hesitation." Ibid., p. 380.

20. Ibid., p. 378.

21. "I think one may clearly see, in the system of customs to be exacted in America by act of Parliament, the seeds sown of a total disunion of the two countries, . . . The course and natural progress seems to be, first, the appointment of needy men as officers, for others do not care to leave England; then, their necessities make them rapacious, their office makes them proud and insolent, their insolence and rapaciousness makes them odious, and, being conscious that they are hated, they become malicious; their malice urges them to a continual abuse of the inhabitants in their letters to administration, representing them as disaffected and rebellious, and (to encourage the use of severity) as weak, divided, timid, and cowardly. Government believes all; thinks it necessary to support and countenance its officers; their quarrelling with the people is deemed a mark and consequence of their fidelity; they are therefore more highly rewarded, and this makes their conduct still more insolent and provoking.

"The resentment of the people will, at times and on particular incidents, burst into outrages and violence upon such officers, and this naturally draws down severity and acts of further oppression from hence. The more the people are dissatisfied the more rigour will be thought necessary; severe punishments will be inflicted to terrify; rights and privileges will be abolished; greater force will then be required to secure execution and submission; the expense will become enormous; it will then be thought proper, by fresh exactions, to make the people defray it; thence the British nation and government will become odious, and subjection to it will be deemed no longer tolerable; war ensues, and the bloody struggle will end in absolute slavery to America or ruin to Britain by the loss of her colonies: the latter most probable, from America's growing strength and magnitude . . .

"I do not pretend to the gift of prophecy. History shows that by these steps great empires have crumbled heretofore; and the late transactions we have so much cause to complain of show that we are in the same train, and that without a greater share of prudence and wisdom than we have seen both sides to be possessed of we shall probably come to the same conclusion." Quoted ibid., 387-88.

22. Ibid., p. 400.

23. Ibid., p. 403.

24. From William Franklin, December 24, 1774, William Duane, ed., Letters to Benjamin Franklin from His Family and Friends (New York, 1859), p. 21. [Hereafter cited as Duane, Letters.]

25. Ibid., pp. 59-60.

26. Ibid., p. 60.

27. From Richard Bache, December 24, 1774, Ibid., pp. 57-58.

28. Ibid. Bracketed section of quotation is from William Franklin's letter. He demonstrated his affections in the most positive way: "I came here to attend the funeral of my poor old mother, who died the Monday noon preceding. Mr. Bache sent his clerk express to me . . ., who reached Amboy on Tuesday evening, and set out early the next morning, but the weather being very severe and snowing hard, I was not able to reach here till about 4 o'clock on Thursday afternoon, about half an hour before the corpse was to be moved for interment."

29. Franklin to Joseph Galloway, May 8, 1775, from Anderson Gallery catalog of Charles F. Jenkins sale, November 3, 1927.

30. Van Doren, Franklin, p. 532.

31. Franklin to Jean Holker, July 25, 1785, in Smyth, Writings, IX, 368. Franklin to Jean-Antoine Houdon, November 30, 1785, Franklin Papers, Yale University. "The Bust is retur'd perfectly safe, and continues to be the Admiration of all that see it."

32. Catherine Van Cortlandt Mathews, ed., Arthur Ellicott: His Life & Letters (New York, 1908), pp. 50-51.



Chapter 2

33. Labaree, Papers, X, 188-90.

34. Ibid., pp. 206-07.

35. Franklin Papers, MSS, American Philosophical Society Library.

36. Ibid.

37. Wallace Papers, MS, 5, fol. 30, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

38. Franklin to Jan Ingenhousz, June 27, 1786, Smyth, Writings, IX, 519. Franklin to Madame Brillon, April 19, 1788, ibid., p. 643. While in the house Franklin was constantly reminded by its unusual features of his role in designing it. These references were made before and after remodelling the house while still fresh in mind.

39. Robert Smith answers to the description of what David J. Saposs, while analyzing the early history of labor in America, classified as "master carpenters . . . [who] were not capitalists earning a profit on their investment, but were small contractors whose profits depended on the cost of labour. The real 'employers,' according to the term which they themselves used were the landowners [Franklin in this instance] who financed the building operations." John R. Commons and associates, History of Labor in the United States (New York, 1918, 1946), p. 71.

40. "Owing to the expensiveness of the unit product, namely, the finished building, it is customary even at the present time [1913, not now] for the prospective owner to supply a considerable part of the building material. This seemed to hold true . . . in 1791 . . . the masters, in enumerating the items for which they expected remuneration, included only the managerial work of 'procuring materials, superintending the workmen, and giving directions,' and the operating expense of 'providing tools for the different kinds of work and shops in which it may conveniently be performed.'" Ibid., pp. 70-71.

41. Smith's recorded payments cannot be reconciled with summary amounts given later. His second recorded payment was dated November 26, 1783: "Paid Cash to Mr Smith, Carpenter 80.0.0." Benjamin Franklin Memorandum Book, 1757-1776, MSS, American Philosophical Society, p. 14 (also in Receipt Book, 1742-1764, p. 86 and Domestic Accounts 1757-1776). Next on February 9, 1764, Franklin lent Smith £200, a sum later applied toward his work. B. Franklin's Domestic Accounts, 1757-1776, ibid. On October 26, 1764, Franklin paid Smith £80 on account and £40 more the same date by separate order. Benjamin Franklin Memorandum Book, 1757-1776, ibid., p. 18; B. Franklin's Domestic Accounts, 1757-1776 ibid. On November 13, 1764, Rhoads paid Smith £50 on account, as did Deborah Franklin on July 23, 1765. Samuel Rhoads, Jr., "Franklin Receipt Book 1764-1766," MS in Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The last payment of record, in the amount of £10, was made on April 10, 1767, ibid. This comes to a total of £616.0.0, including the initial payment of £96 at the commencement of work on April 6, 1763.

42. B. Franklin's Domestic Accounts, 1757-1776, MSS, American Philosophical Society.

43. Labaree, Papers, XI, 453n.

44. The possibility that Pratt's bill may have covered work unrelated to the house cannot be entirely ruled out. A joiner, as explained in Dobson's Encyclopaedia, did woodwork involving the joining of "smaller and curious" pieces, where a carpenter did "large and coarse work." It would seem to have been early for the "joinery of the interior" woodwork and those elements of the exterior, excepting perhaps doors and windows. Benjamin Franklin Memorandum Book, 1757-1776, MSS, American Philosophical Society, p. 14.

45. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, June 16, 1763, Franklin Papers, Vol. 46, pt. 2, fol. 27, American Philosophical Society. It would have been advantageous to "send for them" from New York City as fast packet boat service had been instituted by the post office from there to Falmouth in 1755-56. By 1763 four packets were in service. Labaree, Papers, X, 218n.

46. Catalogued as p EB7 SW 289.78 A1, Rare Book Collection, Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania. Also listed in I. Minis Hays, Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society (Phila., 1908), p. 510.

47. Nicholas B. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur in Philadelphia, The House and Furniture of General John Cadwalader (Phila., 1964), pp. 28, 32. [Hereafter cited as Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur.] The Swayne and Clifford listing includes "Backs, Hearths, and Plates of all Kinds" under "Casting."

48. Benjamin Franklin Memorandum Book, 1757-1776, MSS, American Philosophical Society, pp. 14-15:

[1763]
Dec. 3 Paid Benja Humphreys his Bill for Iron Work [£] 4.4.2
[1763]
Dec. 9 Paid John Winter for 6 Loads of Sand for the Pavement [£] -10.0
[1763]
Dec. 9 Paid Beck for 7 Load Sand [£] -17.6

49. Samuel Rhoads, Jr., "Franklin Receipt Book 1764-1766," MS in Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

50. Ibid. He supplied bricks for the home of Phineas Bond and John Cadwalader's stable. Phineas Bond Receipt Book, September 20, 1764, 1759-1810, MSS, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, pp. 13, 33. Thomas Jefferson rented rooms where he drafted the Declaration of Independence in the home of Graff's son at Market and Seventh streets.

51. Palmer was included in the 1774 tax list for Philadelphia's Dock Ward as a bricklayer. Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Proprietary, Supply, and State Tax Lists of the City and County of Philadelphia for the Years 1769, 1774, and 1779 (Harrisburg, 1897), XIV, 235. John Ledru was a charter member of the Bricklayers' Company of Philadelphia, residing at No. 6 Almond Street. Charter of Bricklayers' Corporation, MSS, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, pp. 22-23. He laid the bricks of John Cadwalader's stable. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, pp. 13, 33.

52. This firm also contributed to Cadwalader's house and stable through sale of boards. Ibid., p. 33. Thomas Forster remains unidentified.

53. Benjamin Franklin Memorandum Book, 1757-1776, MSS, American Philosophical Society, p. 18.

54. B. Franklin's Domestic Accounts, 1757-1776, MSS, American Philosophical Society.

55. Council of Safety Records 1775-77, Comptroller General Papers, Public Records Office, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Order to Robert Allison, July 18, 1778, Executive Correspondence 1778, Records of the Supreme Executive Council, ibid.

56. Anderson has not been more definitely identified. Plastering was the next to the last step in building for which payment was made in the contract between Smith and Mary Maddox (see Appendix A). Plastering was done up to the woodwork and made a neat bond. Franklin's Receipt Book, 1742-1764, MSS, American Philosophical Society, p. 88.

57. Franklin to John Canton, March 14, 1764, Labaree, Papers, X, 98. Canton was one of the so-called Club of Honest Whigs meeting in the London Coffeehouse and composed chiefly of writers, dissenting clergymen, and men of scientific interests.

58. Ibid., p. 332.

59. Franklin to William Strahan, May 1, 1764, ibid., p. 189.

60. Franklin to Richard Jackson, June 1, 1764, ibid., p. 219.

61. Benjamin Franklin's Memorandum Book, 1757-1776, MSS, American Philosophical Society, p. 19. An identical entry was made in the Domestic Accounts Book, 1757-1776. The loan to Smith "on his bond" is covered in Footnote 43 as one of Smith's payments, as indeed it was. This departure from the strict letter of the building contract enabled builders of Smith's limited capital to carry on the work and was commonplace. Smith, whose genius for design was evidently not matched by an equal aptitude in business (judging from his frequent pleas for money and the sad state of his affairs after his death), received a loan of £1000 from Mary Maddox and executed a bond in that amount, conditioned on repayment of £500 (the rest to be absorbed in building). This arrangement led to a suit. Wallace Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 5, 31.

62. Franklin to John Smith, August 31, 1787, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 45, pt. 2, item 211. While Franklin was still in France his daughter Sally was approached about money owed to Robert Smith's account, probably by his son, John Smith or Ann Rhoads, the widow of a carpenter to whom Smith had owed wages at the time of his death. Both made representations to Franklin after his return. Thomas Franklin to Sally Bache, January 14, 1785, Franklin Papers, 33, pt. 1, n.p. Ann Rhoads to Benjamin Franklin, December 15, 1786, ibid., 34, pt. 2, item 179. Franklin to Ann Rhoads, December 16, 1786, Franklin Papers, Library of Congress. In his reply to Smith Franklin explained his denial of the claim as follows:

"I received your Letter requesting a Loan of 130 £ to be repaid if not found due to the Estate of your Father. If I could persuade myself that I really owed the Money to that Estate I would pay it immediately. But on the most careful examination of all the Lights I can collect from what remains of my Papers & Accounts, most of which were lost in the late Troubles; & from a Consideration of all Circumstances, I verily believe that Account must have been settled and adjusted in its Time. Some of those Circumstances I shall mention to you.

"The House was begun in 1763. I advanc'd to Mr Smith several sums particularly 200 £ on his Bond; . . . The Sums credited in his Aco't from April 10, 1767 must have been received from Mr. Smith from her [Deborah Franklin], as they are subsequent to Mr Rhoad's Account. Then I have an original Letter of Mr Smith to Mr Rhoads dated March 30, 1767, in which he states that he had then received in all 646 £ but supposes his Account will amount to 780 £, and desires a Payment of Fifty or Sixty Pounds. It appears by his Account that he did soon after receive Sixty Pounds in three Payments, which must have been all from Mrs Franklin, tho' only one of the Receipts given to him remains: but that shows your father was in the Way of receiving Money from her after Mr Rhoads had done paying . . . In May 1775 I returned [from England]. I had not the least Idea that anything could remain due to Mr Smith on Acct of a Building which had been finished so many Years, Mrs Franklin having always had it in her Power to pay. I remain'd here 18 Months, saw Mr Smith very often, and he never once hinted that he had a demand on me or that he thought I owed him anything. If he had, I should immediately have discharged the Debt, having no Want of Money for the Purpose, as appears by my lending the Congress 3000 £. From all which I conclude that either the Account had been settled between him & Mrs. Franklin, or that in a more perfect Estimate than that mentioned in his Letter to Mr Rhoads, he found that he had been fully paid, & so made no further Demand.

"If these Reasons should not be satisfactory to you or the Family, and any can be given me proper to invalidate them, I shall consider them with Attention, being always willing to do Justice, but unwilling to pay twice for the same Object."

63. The first entry following this notation reads:

S R Junr. Receiv'd
   £44 of Danl. Williams in april

Its relationship to the Franklin account, if any, is not clear. Samuel Rhoads, Jr. "Franklin Receipt Book 1764-1766," MS in Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

64. This could have been the foundation of the wall erected in 1765 around the courtyard. Ibid.

65. Ibid. Erwin was probably the same carter whom John Cadwalader paid to deliver red gravel in 1771. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, p. 32.

66. For more on Rose see footnote 94. William Rush, listed as a smith in the 1769 and 1774 tax records for the city's Mulberry Ward, advertised in 1754 as a maker of stock locks, iron rim and chest locks, and hand irons. Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Proprietary, Supply, and State Tax Lists of the City and County of Philadelphia for the Years 1769, 1774, and 1779 (Harrisburg, 1897), XIV, 200, 278. Pennsylvania Gazette, June 20, 1754. In 1760 he advertised the following stock for sale ("In Front Street, above Arch Street, the sign of the Lock and Key"): "CASE brass locks, and brass egg knob ditto, flock, chest and padlocks, jack and thumb-locks, brass knob and thumb-Ratches, H and HL hinges, chest hinges," ibid., June 12, 1760.

67. Bill in Chew family papers, Cliveden, in the care of Samuel Chew.

68. Samuel Rhoads, Jr., "Franklin Receipt Book 1764-1766" MS in Historical Society of Pennsylvania:

No 2 Receiv'd Nov: the 20th: 1764 of Benj: Franklin by the Hands of Saml Rhoads the sum of six Pounds on Accot.
£ 6:0

William Anderson

No. 2 Receiv'd Feb: 8th: 1765 of Samuel Rhoads Six Pounds towards Work done for Benja Franklin at his new House
£6

William Anderson

Receiv'd May the 13th: 1765 of Benjn: Franklin Esqr. by the Hands of Samuel Rhoads twenty Pounds which with several Sums formerly receiv'd Amts to fifty seven Pounds and is in full for Plaistering done for the sd: B: Franklin at his new House in this City and at his Plantation
£ 20: 0: 0

per William Anderson

Pd: [June 1765] James Davis 19 s. 6 d. being one half the Cost of Measuring the Plaistering done by Will. Henderson.

Henderson, who also helped plaster the First floor hallway, tower stair hallway and second floor hallway of Independence Hall may have worked with Anderson while one or the other of them may have done stucco or other special plasterwork. Edmund Woolley's Bill, MS Loan Office Accounts 1759-1766, Norris Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

69. Ibid. Elmslie, as spelled correctly, turned two red cedar columns for the frontispiece of Cadwalader's house and "eight other posts" for a total of £ 5.2.8. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, pp. 14, 32. For the splendid John Dickinson house in 1773 he turned five mahogany newel posts for ten shillings; seven dozen mahogany balusters for £ 2.9.7; three pendants for one shilling; and hewed and turned two red cedar columns for the frontispiece for £ 2. Ibid., p. 92. His shop was at the "Sign of the Screw and Spinning Wheel, near the South End in Strawberry Alley." Elmslie advertised "all sorts of turned work in wood, metal, or ivory," and according to Wainwright was "evidently preeminent in this line." Ibid., p. 16. Turned work of the Powel House, still standing on Third Street, is believed to be his. Ibid.

70. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, February 9, 1765, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 46, pt. 2, fol. 31.

71. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, January 8, 1765, Bache Collection, American Philosophical Society. Deborah Franklin's phonetics reveal pronunciations of the time but require special study as they relate to construction matters. Haydock insured a three story house on Market Street in 1760 and was listed in the 1769 tax records as a resident of the Middle Ward. In 1744 he had advertised "Plumbing, Glazeing, and Painting, is to be performed in the cheapest and best manner, by Eden Haydock late from Old England," Pennsylvania Gazette, October 11, 1744. He laid gutters, applied flashing to the frontispiece, fabricated and erected lead downspouts, installed sash weights, and did soldering during 1770 at John Cadwalader's house—to the amount of £53.4.10. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, p. 17. Around 1765 he laid gutters and fabricated and installed rain-catchers (with the date in relief) and down-spouts worth altogether £60.13.6 at Cliveden, the Chew family homestead still standing in Germantown. Bill in Chew family papers, Cliveden, in the care of Samuel Chew.

72. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, February 10, 1765, Bache Collection, American Philosophical Society.

73. Ibid.

74. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, February 17, 1765, ibid.

75. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, February 14, 1765, ibid. "Hooks are sent to fix the Rails by at Top, so they may be taken down on Occasion."

76. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, April 7, 1765, Franklin Papers, MSS ibid., XLII, 42. To which Franklin replied "I am glad, that tho' the new House was not finish'd you had a Room ready for our Friend Foxcroft." Franklin to Deborah Franklin, June 8, 1765, (postscript to letter of May 11), ibid., 46, pt. 2, fol. 34. Franklin's account with Haydock was not settled finally until 1789. Edward Garrigues to Franklin, February 20, 1787, ibid., 35, pt. 1, item 19. Franklin to Edward Garrigues, March 2, 1789, Franklin Papers, Library of Congress.

77. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, May 11, 1765, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 46, pt. 2, fol. 34.

78. Hugh Roberts to Franklin, May 20, 1765, printed in Labaree, Papers, XII, 136. To which Franklin replied "I thank you for your Friendly Visits to my little Family, which I beg you would continue, and give your Advice about Finishing my Habitation, where I long to be, but cannot yet for sometime." "Selections from the Correspondence between Hugh Roberts and Benjamin Franklin," PMHB, XXXVIII, 296. Mrs. Franklin moved in at an undetermined date in May, having stayed temporarily in a house rented by Foxcroft but not yet occupied by him: "when I first Come into it which was in may that is I stay'd at Mr. Foxcrofte's house till he Come that is we dresed vitels and slep thair and mueved by degrees to our one [own] house." Deborah Franklin to Franklin, August 1-8, 1765, Labaree, Papers, 12, 225.

79. None of these letters are known to exist.

80. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, June 4, 1765, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 46, pt. 2, fol. 35.

81. Ibid. Although house heating had long been a principal preoccupation with Franklin, this interest in kitchen devices was something new. By 1780 Thomas Robinson had patented a kitchen range that included an iron oven in England, but years of development had preceded its appearance. Marjorie and C. H. B. Quennell, A History of Everyday Things in England (London, 1919, 1954), III, 179-80. John Cadwalader's house had a built-in firestone oven, but Franklin's references to installation suggest his was of the first type. The furnace is a mystery. It was not until 1771 that he invented the "New Stove for Burning of Pitcoal, and Consuming All Its Smoke," used in Philadelphia as well as abroad, and he located it in the office on the house's first floor not the kitchen. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, p. 17. Van Doren, Franklin, p. 728. As defined in Dobson's Encyclopaedia, VII, 505, the principal things to be attended to were "1. To confine the heat as much as possible to the matter to be operated upon; 2. To prevent its being dissipated; 3. To produce as much heat with as little fuel as possible; and 4. To have it in our power to regulate the degree of heat according to our pleasure." The article goes on to explain the roles of such components as the ash pit, grate, width and height of the chimney, and the use of a sliding plate to "contract the throat of the chimney occasionally." Several references in this letter and the one of July 13, 1765, below, suggest installation of such components.

82. Ibid.

83. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, July 13, 1765, ibid, 46, pt. 2, fol. 36.

84. Ibid.

85. Franklin to Samuel Rhoads, July 8, 1765, MS in Historical Society of Pennsylvania, printed in Labaree, Papers, XII, 204-05.

86. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, August 1-8, 1765, Bache Collection, American Philosophical Society.

87. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, (Fall of 1765), Duane, Letters, pp. 22-23.

88. Labaree, Papers, XII, 283-84.

89. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, June 8, 1765, [added to a letter of May 11, 1765], Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 46, pt. 2, fol. 34.

90. Franklin to David Hall, June 8, 1765, Labaree, Papers, XII, 170. The deed was not signed until September 26, 1765, and recorded October 31, 1765, after a query from Franklin: "You mention the Payment of the 500 Pounds, but do not say that you have got the Deeds executed. I suppose however that it was done." Franklin to Deborah Franklin, June 4, 1765, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 46, pt. 2, fol. 35. It had not been recorded yet, however, and was not for months: "I have got the Dead don and recorded but not but on the 30 of ocktober for it lay in Mr. Reyleis [John Reily, conveyancer and scrivener] all the time all moste he was ill and he now layes dead but it is dun." Deborah Franklin to Franklin, November 3, 1765, Bache Collection, ibid. Labaree, Papers, XII, 352 n. He still had not received the word when he wrote much later: "Let me ask you once more if you have paid off Mr. Siddons, and got the Deeds recorded? I have several times asked this Question, and received no Answer." Franklin to Deborah Franklin, December 13, 1766, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 46, pt. 2, fol. 48.

91. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, August 1-8, 1765, Bache Collection.

92. Samuel Rhoads, Jr., "Franklin Receipt Book, 1764-1766," MS in Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Despite the earlier reference (p. 42) in Rhoads' accounts to Rose as a "Tyler" (tiler), he was a supplier at this time. This designation may indicate that he had sold the Ledrus paving brick for the cellar floor, areaway, and walks. His occupation is given as "brickmaker" in the 1769 and 1774 tax records. Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Proprietary, Supply, and State Tax Lists of the City and County of Philadelphia for the Years 1769, 1774, and 1779 (Harrisburg, 1897), XIV, 130, 391.

93. Samuel Rhoads, Jr., "Franklin Receipt Book, 1764-1766," MS in Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

94. See Appendix A. Undoubtedly, Franklin's was also a "double," able to meet the demands of both sexes. This was one of two such facilities, the pits to which were located during archeology conducted in 1953 and 1960-61. In all probability it was the one uncovered in July 1955 at a distance of 18.5 feet from the original southeast corner of the house (feature 69). Historic Structures Report, Part I, on Franklin's House, December 1961, Chapter IV, Section 2, 2. Paul J. F. Schumacher, Preliminary Exploration of Franklin Court. Archeological Project No. 4, May-September 1956, p. 16; n. 10b. B. Bruce Powell, The Archeology of Franklin Court, 1962, pp. 17-18.

95. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, June 4, 1765, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 46, pt. 2, fol. 35.

96. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, September 22, 1765, Bache Collection, ibid.

97. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, October 8-13, 1765, ibid.

98. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, (Fall 1765), ibid.

99. Ibid.

100. Labaree, Papers, XII, 167 n.

No. 13 Receiv'd July the 7th 1766 of Benj: Franklin Esqr. by the Hands of Samuel Rhoads two pounds and ten shillings in full for takeing up all the Bricks in his well. Cleaning several large Stones from under the Curb, settling it deeper and finishing the same fit for use and we promise to sink the sd: Well one foot deeper at our own Expence, in Case the Water shall hereafter fail

Witness our Hands

Danl Bearrd     
The true Accot

[cancelled:] Pd: John Guy per S Rhoads Junr: 15 s. for Load sand.

Receiv'd of Saml Rhoads five Pounds

per John Ledru

Samuel Rhoads, Jr., "Franklin Receipt Book 1764-1766," MSS in Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Finally on July 1, 1766, Deborah Franklin reported: "I donte like to be from home as we air Still open to the stabel and a bundans of pepel is going two and frow but we air in a fair way of geting of it dun as the brickes is a holing to day and laste Satter day." Deborah Franklin to Franklin, July 1, 1766, Bache Collection, American Philosophical Society.

101. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, (August 1765), Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 46, pt. 2, fol. 92.

102. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, September 22, 1765, Bache Collection, ibid.

103. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, (August 1775), Franklin Papers, ibid., 46, pt. 2, fol. 92.

104. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, October 6-13, 1765, Bache Collection, ibid. On the subject of the vaults Franklin wrote early in 1766: "Let the Vaults alone till My Return. As you have Wood Yard, perhaps they may not be necessary." That was the last heard of them. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, February 27, 1766, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 46, Pt. 2, fol. 41.

105. In the previous letter Franklin had admonished her about fire ("I need not tell you to take great Care of your Fires"). She replied that she was doing everything in her power to prevent them, to the extent the winter before when workmen lit fires in two of the rooms that she "did littel else but tend them least any acksidente shold hapen." Ibid.

106. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, October 8, 1765, Bache Collection, American Philosophical Society.

107. B. Bruce Powell, The Archeology of Franklin Court, 1962, p. 7. Interim Historic Structures Report on Franklin's House, Part I, November 1960, Chapter III, Section 1, 3 and Illustration No. 5. Historic Structures Report, Part I on Franklin's House, December 1961, Chapter IV, Section 2, 3 and Illustration No. 1.

108. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 46, pt. 2, fol. 76.

109. See discussion in footnote 81.

110. These plain rooms on one side would have shown the roof slope and lacked fireplaces (four flues in the wall provided heat) in addition to being very plain. Such rooms were commonly in use by children of a family and servants.

111. Three-page account headed "July the 1 1765 Laid ought on all a Cashons in house keeping and other necessarees." Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 66, fol. 131.

112. Quoted in Alfred Coxe Prime, The Arts & Crafts in Philadelphia, Maryland and South Carolina 1721-1785 Gleanings from Newspapers (n.p., 1929), p. 163.

113. Deborah Franklin to Franklin (Fall of 1765), Bache Collection, American Philosophical Society.

114. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, January 12, 1766, ibid.

115. Richard Bache's Day Book (1761-1792), MSS in Franklin Institute. The 1769 tax list shows a stonecutter of this name residing in Philadelphia's North Ward. Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Proprietary, Supply, and State Tax Lists of the City and County of Philadelphia for the Years 1769, 1774, and 1779 (Harrisburg, 1897), XIV, 195. John Cadwalader purchased from David and William Chambers six "marble Chimney—Piece[s] & Hearth[s]" and had them installed in his fine house during 1771. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, p. 27.

116. Rhoads had first received £50 from her on July 23, 1765. Samuel Rhoads, Jr., "Franklin Receipt Book, 1764-1766," MS in Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Also entered in account cited in footnote 111. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, (Fall of 1765), Bache Collection, American Philosophical Society. When Smith approached Rhoads for the last time, he writes of such items of expense as "hewen stone," boards, scantling, and other unspecified materials. The stone undoubtedly was for setting steps. Robert Smith to Samuel Rhoads, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 47. fol. 41.

117. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, (Fall of 1765), Bache Collection, American Philosophical Society.

118. This letter was docketed by Franklin "RIOT." Deborah Franklin to Franklin, ibid. She listed fifteen relatives, friends, and neighbors who garrisoned the house that night.

119. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, November 3, 1765, ibid.

120. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, November 9, 1765, ibid.

121. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, p. 97. Examination of the Franklin and Powel insurance surveys reveals some interesting comparisons. The Powel house, built in 1765 and still standing at 244 South Third Street, is often cited as epitomizing eighteenth century Philadelphia town houses. Samuel Powel, the owner, a man of wealth, while Mayor of Philadelphia before and after the Revolution was renowned for an expansive hospitality. Those sections of the 1769 insurance survey (prepared by the same Gunning Bedford who did Franklin's) touching on interior finish read as follows: "2 Rooms & passage in first story The Rooms wainscut pedistal high Chimney brests tabernacle frame pediments over doors and dintal Cornish all Round—passage wainscut pedistal high. pediments over doors, fluted pilasters with an arch dintal Cornish dowel floor—Second Story the same as below except the arch and dowel floor—3d Story finish.d with Chimney Brests Surbase Scerting & Single Cornish—Garet plaster.d plaster.d partitions—two Storys of open Newel Stairs Ramp.d Bracketed and wainscuted one of which Mahogany in the twist" Survey Book 1, B, the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire. Much of the grandness now seen in the drawing room (Wainwright, pp. 97, 99, 101) resulted from a redecorating in 1770 at which time James Clow, a stucco worker (highly ornate plaster worker) did the ceiling and friezes. The frets of surbase and baseboard (Wainwright, p. 101) not noted in the above survey, were doubtless installed at the same time under the supervision of Robert Smith whom Powel paid £268 "By his contracts for finishing a room in my dwelling house" (Wainwright, p. 98). The fluted pilasters of this room, the panelling of the dining room (though a reconstruction based on the room overhead—Wainwright pp. 94-95), the pediments of the drawing room, and elements of the stairs bear a relationship to Franklin's.

122. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, pp. 97, 101, 107.

123. While plain ones abound, there are more than a few carved ones. The former type would seem to fit best the plainness of exterior attributed to the house. See drawing in Martin S. Briggs, Everyman's Concise Encyclopaedia of Architecture (London, 1959), p. 211.

124. Resurvey of October 3, 1800, policies 524 and 525, Loose Surveys, The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire.

125. "a term seldom used today." Martin S. Briggs, Everyman's Concise Encyclopaedia of Architecture, p. 346.

126. Ibid., p. 97.

127. The charge was made on January 7, 1756. Samuel Harding Accounts, General Loan Office Account Books, 1750-1768, MS in Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

128. Carr's explanation for locating the front to face the south wall has possible further meaning: "some time after it was erected, it was discovered that the title to the front of the lot on Chestnut Street was defective; and the Doctor, rather than engage in a litigation, or pay an exorbitant price demanded by the claimant of the lot, abandoned it, and used the Market-street avenue. This fact I heard Mr. B. F. Bache, his grandson, relate to Mr. Volney, the traveller, who enquired why the Doctor had built his house fronting the South, to which he had no outlet." This explanation would be easy to discount in its entirety as a fabrication or a complete garbling of fact and fancy. As far as property considerations go, this may be so. But behind the explanation is the memory of a facade facing to the South. As the house had a through hallway ("an entry through the centre") that had no requirement of housing the staircase, there would have been a doorway in full view and, therefore, well designed. As this doorway would have opened to a flight of stairs leading over the areaway and into the garden of Carr's day, the effect would have been that of having the front on that side.

129. Poulson's American Daily Advertiser, October 9, 1801. Richard Bache's Day Book (1761-1792), MSS in Franklin Institute.

130. Interim Historic Structures Report on Franklin's House, Part I, November 1960, Chapter III, Section 1, pp. 5-6; Illustration No. 16. Historic Structures Report, Part I on Franklin's House, December 1961, Chapter IV, Section 2, pp. 4-5. B. Bruce Powell, The Archeology of Franklin Court, 1962, pp. 16-17; Illustration No. 12.

131. Like Franklin's ice house Morris' was built of stone without mortar, except for the upper courses. His also had no drain. He describes in detail how he packed the ice. Robert Morris to George Washington, June 15, 1784, Robert Morris Papers, Library of Congress.



Chapter 3

132. Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 66.

133. Ibid., 44, pt. 1, fol. 110.

134. The 1760 Cadwalader house insurance survey (done before remodeling) gives no piazza, and as there were three rooms to a floor, the indications are that it too had a corner staircase. Its interiors are described in verbiage very much like Franklin's: "Lower story . . . wainscut pedistal high, - Tabernacle frame on Brest and modillion Cornish Round front parlor, Chimney Brest & plain dubble Cornish in Back parlor,---dintal Cornish in passage . . . second story wainscut pedistal high dubble Cornish in Large front Chamber . . . Chimney Brests &c. in 2 Rooms of 3d Story Surbass & Scerting in the other Room and passage - 3 storys of open Newel Stairs 2 of which Ramp.d Bracketed and wainscutted a twist in Lower Story." Included as illustration on page 7 of Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur.

Samuel Rhoads' insurance survey for his one-story country place presents points of similarity: "3 Rooms and a passage . . . North Room wainscutted pedistal high modillion & frett Cornish . . . Chimney Brest Tabernacle frame Mantle Cornish 3 pediments - the other Rooms has Chimney Brests Surbase & scerting & Single Cornish --passage wainscut pedistal high duble Cornish - One Story of open Newel stairs Ramp.d Bracketed & wainscut." Survey Book No. 1, The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire, p. l6 (January 31, 1770).

Both surveys were made by Gunning Bedford.

135. Franklin to Deborah Franklin (August 1765), Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 41, Pt. 2, fol. 92.

136. The opening section of the last paragraph and the sections in brackets have been transposed from their order of occurrence in the letter to bring them into meaningful sequence. Deborah Franklin to Franklin, October 6-13, 1765, Bache Collection, American Philosophical Society. In composing this the writer has retained Deborah Franklin's sequence of rooms, but has eliminated all furniture except large pieces or tell-tale types in rooms of major importance.

137. Martin I. Yoelson first thought of applying this process of elimination and found it could be comprehended with the second floor plan only at hand. Mr. Yoelson's research on Franklin over the years has prevented extinguishing of the eternal flame that burns somewhere in the courtyard off Market Street.

"I have wrote you ansers to all your dear qustons and lefte it on the tabel in the musick room and shut the dore but it was taken a way so I muste write it over agen I beleve." Deborah Franklin to Franklin, October 9, 1765. Ibid.



Chapter 4

138. Franklin to Deborah Franklin, June 22, 1767, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 46, pt. 2, fol. 53.

139. Ibid., 66, fol. 1482.

140. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, p. 24.

141. Ibid., p. 32. According to Wainwright papier-mâché figures of the sort "were often gilded." Ibid., p. 24.

142. Sarah Bache to Franklin, October 30, 1773, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society, 3, fol. 173.

143. "In Council       Philadelphia Aug.st 27th 1779

The Congress by a Resolve of Yesterday have Recommended to this Council that the Leaden Spouts in Philadelphia be taken down for the Use of the Laboratory, and it appearing to the Council to be a Salutary & necessary measure, therefore
Resolved

That Evan Evans, Robert Allison, & James Worrell be appointed to take down all such Spouts Accordingly and make a proper Valuation thereof ______

Extract from the Minutes
signed Timothy Matlack Secy

An Account of Leaden Spouts taken off the Houses of the following Persons by . . . Virtue of the above order of Council & delivered to Cap.t Joseph Watkins Com.y of Ordnance & Military Stores________

.......
Sept 2
wt lb
......sett[le]d
Doctor Franklin
313 one neat head
......sett[le]d

Records of Supreme Executive Council, Box 1777, Division of Public Records, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

On Acco.t of Spouts (leaden) taken from the Citizens of Philada for Publick Use p Exec. Council — 27 Aug

Sep.t 2 D.r Franklin ——— —— —— 313 One neat head Supreme Executive Council, Miscellaneous Papers, Division of Public Records, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

144. "Neat" today is used to convey an impression of orderliness or tidiness. In the eighteenth century it meant "simple elegance" or "characterized by elegance of form or arrangement, with freedom from all unnecessary additions or embellishments," The Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford, 1933), p. 57. For more on possible appearance of the "neat head" see footnote 71.

145. The notation "sett.d" in the margin of the above listing shows that in time Franklin received payment. Richard Bache to Franklin, November 24, 1781, quoted in Duane, Letters, p. 118.

[Nov. 10, 1781] Benjamin Franklin D.r To Cash p.d W.m Harper for a Wooden Spout, & putting up a Copper one . . .5..5..——
[July 25, 1783] Benjamin Franklin D.r To Cash paid Benjamin Harbeson for a Copper Spout for the house put up in 1781.49..5..6
[June 16, 1784] Benjamin Franklin D.r To Cash paid G. Ludlam for a leaden spout for the North front of the house8..6..4

Richard Bache's Day Book (1761-1792), MSS, Franklin Institute.

146. Duane, Letters, p. 118.

[Dec. 1, 1781] Benjamin Franklin D.r To Cash p.d Inglis and Harper's for shingling the penthouse &c. as p Bill . . .7..1..—

Richard Bache's Day Book (1761-1792), MSS, Franklin Institute.

147. For which he paid an unnamed tradesman £ 1.2.6. Benjamin Franklin's Memorandum Book, 1757-1776, MSS, American Philosophical Society, p. 25.

148.

Oct. 4 [1775]
Paid Jugiez Carver & Gilder
2.16.2

B. Franklin's Domestic Accounts, 1757-1776, MSS, American Philosophical Society. Through Jugiez Franklin may at last have acquired the papier-mache musical figures for the Blue Room. Jugiez had advertised 30 months earlier "just imported" stock including "a great variety of glasses, with mahogany and walnut, plain or gilt frames, and dressing ditto; . . . He likewise makes frames of any kind, . . . also gorondolas, brickets, bases &c. He has paper mache for ceilings, or for bordering rooms, plain or gilt." Pennsylvania Gazette, March 10, 1773. As a member of the firm of Bernard and Jugiez he advertised much earlier, "Any gentlemen and ladies that want paper machie cielings may be supplied at a reasonable rate." Ibid., January 10, 1765. Jugiez did £ 28.10.7 1/2 worth of carving for John Cadwalader in 1770. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, pp. 29, 32. He also worked at Cliveden and Powel's house. Ibid., pp. 20, 25 n.

149. Richard Bache's Day Book (1761-1792), MSS, Franklin Institute.

150. William Temple Franklin, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin (London, 1818), III, 391-92. "Letter from dr. Franklin to mr. Landriani, on the utility of electric conductors," American Museum, VII, May 1790, 264-65.

151. B. Franklin's Domestic Accounts, 1757-1776, MSS, American Philosophical Society.

152. Pennsylvania Packet, January 11, 1773. Pennsylvania Gazette, December 16, 1772.

153. Wainwright, Colonial Grandeur, p. 18.

154. Sarah Bache to Franklin, February 23, 1777, Duane, Letters, p. 74.

155. Sarah Bache to Franklin, February 23, 1777, Duane, Letters, p. 74.

156. According to one story retold in the Deborah Norris Logan Memorandum, when the British were about to leave, "M. du Simitiere, a well known Italian [Swiss] gentleman attached to science and the fine arts, and well acquainted with André, waited upon him to take leave and solicit his interest in their prevention if any irregularities should ensue upon their leaving the City. He found the Major in the library busily employed in packing up some books and placing them among his own baggage, particularly a very scarce and valuable work in French, a present, . . . from Louis XVI, King of France, to the Philosophical Society, of many volumes in 12 quarto. It was the Jesuits' Account of China, and their translations of Chinese literature published after their expulsion from China and return to France. DuSimitiere said he was shocked at the procedure, and told him, in order that he might make the inference, of the strictly just and honorable conduct of the Hessian General Knyphausen with respect to General Cadwalader's house and property which had been in his possession. He [Gen. K.] had sent for the agent of General Cadwalader, and giving him an inventory which he had caused his steward to make out upon their obtaining possession desired him to observe that all was left as they had found it, even to some wine in the cellar, every bottle of which was left, and he also paid the agent rent for the time he had been in the house. But the recital of the German General's honesty made no impression on the Major as he carried off the books." PNHB, VIII, 430.

Although André stands charged with taking the portrait, it turned up Howick House, the Northumbrian home of the Grey family. In 1906 as a goodwill gesture, Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey and Governor General of Canada, returned the portrait to President Roosevelt, hoping it would "find a final resting place in the White House," where it can be found today. Its arrival was timed to coincide with the Franklin bi-centennial observances in Philadelphia. Ibid., XXX, 409-16.

In time Madame Lavoisier's portrait of Franklin replaced Wilson's. Expressing his gratitude for the gift, Franklin wrote to her on October 23, 1788: "Our English enemies when they were in possession of this city and my house, made a prisoner of my portrait and carried it off with them, leaving that of its companion, my wife, by itself, a kind of widow. You have replaced the husband and the lady seems to smile as well pleased." Ibid., p. 242.

Franklin did not share fully Bache's sense of relief when he found such invaluable articles gone as the set of books "sur les Arts & Metiers" (Bache did confess their disappearance a great loss to the public"), two trunks of manuscripts "impossible to be replac'd," music, a printing press and "Universal Mould" printing matrices, and a trunk of books and instruments. Ledger — December 10, 1764 — July 8, 1775, MSS, Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society.

157. Not in sterling, but inflated Pennsylvania pounds. Richard Bache's Day Book (1761-1792), MSS, Franklin Institute.

158. As defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, XII, 167, it is a "closet or small room fitted up to serve as a privy, and furnished with water-supply to flush the pan and discharge its contents into a water-pipe below . . . Sometimes applied to the pan and the connected apparatus for flushing and discharge; also, loosely, to any kind of privy."

159. Harington's publication in the form of a satire entitled A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, Called the Metamorphosis of Ajax, (Jacks or privy) referring to the facility under discussion as "in playne English a shyting place," at first so outraged his godmother, Queen Elizabeth, as to be referred to the Star Chamber. Doubtless his hard-earned reputation as a prankster aided his case, and the queen herself in time relented to the point of installing one at Richmond Palace. From Harington's first name comes the common term the "John." In the two water-systemless centuries that followed the water closet was slow to catch on. Only the wealthy built them in England, and in all of France during the reign of Louis XVI a single "lieu a l'anglaise," as the French called it could be found—and that one at Versailles. Henry E. Sigerist, "An Elizabethan Poet's Contribution to Public Health: Sir John Harington and the Water Closet," Bulletin of the History of Medicine, XIII, 229-43.

Hugh Phillips reports finding record of a water closet designed for Shelbourne House in 1765. Mid-Georgian London (London, 1964), pp. 11, 258.

Cummings' patent brought others onto the field. One Samuel Prosser patented one of another design in 1777, followed by Joseph Bramah, a cabinetmaker in 1778. In 1782 John Gaillait, a cook, took out the first patent for a "stink-trap" to help along the other machine. Marjorie and C.H.B. Quennell, A History of Everyday Things in England, III, 1733-1851 (London, 1919), 96-99. All these systems included a cistern as a water source, and Franklin's may be assumed to have had one of the customary soldered lead design.

160. B. Bruce Powell, The Archeology of Franklin Court, 1962, pp. 18-19. Historic Structures Report, Part I on Franklin's House, December 1961, Chapter IV, Section 2, pp. 2-3 and Illustration No. 1.

161. Ibid.

162. Richard Bache's Day Book (1761-1792), MSS, Franklin Institute.

163.

[Oct. 31, 1784] "Expences D.r To Cash paid for sundries in this Month Viz. 5.th Paid White Washing the house . . .5..7..6
[Sep. 30, 1785] "Expences D.r To Cash paid for sundries in this Month 7.th Paid White washing the house . . .2..12..6
This payment was made seven days before Franklin's return from France, obviously to freshen up the house for his arrival.
[Nov. 30, 1785] "Expences D.r To Cash paid for sundries in this Month 1.st Paid George Ludlam for Glazing1..18..——

164. Franklin to Mr. and Mrs. Richard Bache, May 10, 1785, Benjamin Franklin Papers, Library of Congress.

165. Franklin to Jane Mecom, September 21, 1786, Franklin — Mecom Correspondence, American Philosophical Society Memoirs, XXVII, 282-83. [cited hereafter as Mecom Correspondence.]

166. Benjamin Rush to Richard Price, October 27, 1786, quoted in Lyman H. Butterfield, ed., Letters of Benjamin Rush (Princeton, 1951), I, 409.

167. Franklin to Ferdinand Grand, January 29, 1786, Smyth, Writings, IX, 482.

168. Mecom Correspondence, pp. 282-83.

169. Franklin's Waste Book 1785-1787, MSS, American Philosophical Society.

170. On January 23 he had "Paid Henderson the Smith his account 1.10.6" thus discontinuing the work. Franklin's Waste Book 1785-1787, MSS, American Philosophical Society. Franklin to Ferdinand Grand, January 29, 1786, Smyth, Writings, IX, 482.

171. Mecom Correspondence, pp. 282-83.

172. Ibid. As he admitted "At present all my papers and manuscripts are so mixed with other things, by the confusions occasioned in sudden and various removals during the late troubles, that I can hardly find anything." Franklin to Edward Bancroft, November 26, 1786, Smyth, Writings, IX, 550.

173. Franklin's Waste Book, 1785-1787, MSS, American Philosophical Society. Payments totalling £ 8——for gravel hauled between May 2 and 8 indicates a great amount, probably for the garden. He had decided to turn the vegetable garden to flowers as produce could be bought as cheaply at the "Jersey" market on High Street, ibid.

174. Ibid.

175. Franklin to Jane Mecom, Mecom Correspondence, pp. 282-83.

176. Benjamin Rush to Richard Price, October 27, 1786, Lyman H. Butterfield, ed., Letters of Benjamin Rush (Princeton, 1951), I, 409.

177. Benjamin Franklin to Edward Bancroft, November 21, 1786, Smyth, Writings, IX, 550.

178. James Gibson's Journals, or Leander & Lorenzo's Journals, 1786-1787, MS at Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

179. Franklin to Le Veillard, Smyth, Writings, IX, 559.

180. Franklin to Ferdinand Grand, April 22, 1787, Smyth, Writings, IX, 575-76. This, of course, establishes the width of that room's chimney breast.

181. Franklin to Jane Mecom, May 30, 1787, ibid., pp. 589-90.

182. From rental advertisement for the "Mansion-House of the late Dr. Franklin" Poulson's Daily Advertiser, October 9, 1801.

183. Franklin to Ferdinand Grand, April 23, 1788, Benjamin Franklin Papers, Library of Congress.

184. Franklin to Francis Childs, April 27, 1789, photostat copy MSS, Princeton University Library.

185. William Parker Cutler and Julia Perkins Cutler, Life, Journals and Correspondence of the Reverend Manasseh Cutler, LL.D. (Cincinnati, 1888), I, 267-70.

186. Jane Mecom to Franklin, October 12, 1786, Mecom Correspondence, American Philosophical Society Memoirs, XXVII, 283-84.

187. The Weekly Magazine, April 14, 1798, p. 350.

188. The Philadelphia Aurora and General Advertiser, November 22, 1799.

189. Poulson's American Daily Advertiser, October 9, 1801.

190. The Philadelphia Aurora, January 1, 1803.

191. Richmond Inquirer, October 12, 1808.

192. County Tax Records, Chestnut Ward, 1807-1812; 1808, p. 42; 1809, p. 36. Philadelphia City Archives.



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