HISTORICAL WALKING TOURS | BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
  • Freedom Trail Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Tour
    • Boston Civil War Tour
    • The Kennedy Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Lesson Plan
    • The Boston Massacre per the Pennsylvania Gazette
    • Paul Revere Lesson Plan
  • Revere Bells Index
    • The Stickney Revere Bell Listings of 1976
    • Paul Revere Bell of Beverly
    • Revere Bells in Boston >
      • Paul Revere Bell Old South Meeting House
    • California's 2 Paul Revere Bells
    • Paul Revere & Son's Bell Westborough Massachusetts
    • Falmouth, Massachusetts
    • Revere Bell Fredericksburg VA
    • Revere Bell Hampton NH
    • First Parish Church of Kennebunk
    • Revere Bells in Maine
    • Revere Bell in Mansfield
    • Revere Bell of Michigan
    • Revere Salem Mass Bell
    • Roxbury First Unitariarn Universalist Church and their Revere Bell
    • Revere & Son Bell, Savannah Georgia
    • Singapore Revere Bell
    • Tuscaloosa Bell >
      • History of the St John and Leavens Patriarchs
      • Samuel St John Jr Estate Genealogy
      • Authenticating the Revere Tuscaloosa Bell
      • Joshua B Leavens Last Will and Testament
      • 20th Century Tuscaloosa bell
    • Revere Bells Lost in Time
    • Revere Bells Washington DC
    • Revere Bell in Wakefield, Mass
    • Revere Bells Woodstock VT
  • Bostonians
    • Edward F Alexander of The Harvard 20th Civil War Regiment
    • Polly Baker
    • John Wilkes Booth
    • The Mad Hatter, Thomas, Boston Corbett who Killed John Wilkes Booth
    • Richard-Henry-Dana-Jr
    • James Franklin
    • Benjamin Harris of Publick Occurrences
    • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
    • William Lloyd Garrison
    • USS Thomas Hudner DDG116
    • Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere
    • Amos Lincoln
    • King Philip
    • Mayor's of Boston
    • Mum Bett & Theodore Sedgwick
    • James Otis
    • Paul Joseph Revere
    • John Rowe >
      • John Rowe's Diary Entries
      • John Rowe and the Jail Fire
      • Hang John Rowe?????
      • John Rowe the Fisherman
      • Joh Rowe's Tea Ship
    • Be Proud to be Called a Lucy Stoner
    • Rachel Wall , Pirate
    • Paul Revere the Coroner of Boston
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Who was Mrs. Silence Dogood?
    • Dr. Joseph Warren's Dedication
  • History Blog
  • Lilja's of Natick
    • Lilja Brothers Military History
    • Lilja's Family Album
    • Memorials and Tributes to the Five Lilja Brothers
    • Lilja Family Tree
    • Lilja Historical Family Tree Documents
    • Lilja References
  • Collage of Boston
    • 4th of July Parade, Bristol RI
    • Boston Harbor
    • The Customs House
    • Forest Hills Cemetery
    • Georges Island
    • Nonviolent Monument to Peace - Sherborn
    • The Battle Road
    • Skate bike and scooter park
    • Cassin Young & USS Cassin Young
    • MIT
    • Historic Charles River
    • The Roxbury Standpipe on Fort Hill
    • John & Abigail Adams National Park
  • REvere Bell Paxton, Mass
  • GED Lilja

james Franklin, Ben's Brother, Printer, satirist

' 
                                         James Franklin, Ben's Brother, Printer, Satirist 1697-1738

Ben Franklin’s father, Josiah, exercised his parental authority and sent him to work in his brother's printing company.  The New England Courant was the Colonies first independent newspaper that also published almanacs.  Ben was indentured to his brother, by their father, to learn the printing trade.   James was given specific orders by his father to introduce discipline to Ben’s work ethic.  Father and brother refused to let Ben write for the paper.  Ben chose to overcome this obstacle using a female pen name, Silence DoGood, and slipping fourteen different satirical letters under the printing press door, in the middle of the night, every second week.  James published the letters acutely aware of the mocking content and vaguely aware the writer used an alias.  Each letter covered a different topic including the church in general, drinking to excess, idle chatter, religious hypocrisy, the lack of poetry in America, free speech, education, guilt, pride, courtship and a dissertation on “night walkers,” that I best not interpret.  Ben was sixteen years of age at the time.

Most Bostonians understood that the author was not the spinster portrayed in the journals.  Unfortunately for James, the Godly (as the Puritans called themselves) held James responsible.  James was already scandalizing Boston with “yellow journalism,” continually making accusations on limited facts.

Town officials reacted meekly as Bostonians supported the Courant, especially while it accused officials of collusion with local pirates and privateers.  The New England area was easy pickings for both.  Privateers were licensed and protected by national governments as long as they shared the bounty of their ocean exploits.  All too often a local merchant was victimized by privateers authorized by the merchants' country.

The Massachusetts Legislature, however, was more decisive with James. The legislature pronounced, “The Tendency of the said Paper is to;
                “mock Religion, and bring it into Contempt,
                “that the Holy Scriptures are therein profanely abused,
                “That the Reverend and Faithful Ministers of the Gospel are injuriously reflected,
                “on, His Majesty’s Government affronted, and the Peace and good Order of his Majesty’s
                Subjects of this Province disturbed.”
 
A week after the pronouncement James published his paper with another article by Silence DoGood.  He was imprisoned for four weeks for overall and general libel.

Five years later James fled Boston to Rhode Island, following the footsteps of reformer, Roger Williams. He wrote under the pen name of Poor Robin.  He published almanacs that were distributed in Boston.  Poor James, if we might use a pun, died at the age of thirty-eight.  His son, James Jr, became an apprentice for Ben, in Philadelphia. James' wife, Ann Smith Franklin, continued with the publishing business doing business as “The Widow Franklin.”

Each brother skirted local laws that left little room for free speech or worse yet satire.  Both brothers found it necessary to leave Boston in their prime. They continued to write and highlight the Puritanical moral and legal shortcomings that gripped Boston society.
 
James lived from 1697-1738 and died in Rhode Island of an unclassified terrible illness. He fostered eight children; six girls.
 

                                                                                                                Bibliography

  1.  Franklin, James (1911). The Rhode-Island almanack for the year, 1728. Being the first ever printed in that colony ... reproduced in exact facsimile ... with a brief account of James Franklin the printer ... Providence, R.I.: John Carter Brown library. p. 6. OCLC 68137848.
  2. Wroth, Lawrence C. (1995). The Colonial Printer. Courier Dover Publications. p. 22. ISBN 0-486-28294-5.
  3.  Mays, Dorothy A. (2004). Women in Early America: Struggle, Survival, and Freedom in a New World. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. pp. 148–149. ISBN 1-85109-429-6.
  4. Hammett, Charles Edward (1887). A Contribution to the Bibliography and Literature of Newport, R. I.: Comprising a List of Books Published Or Printed, in Newport, with Notes and Additions. Newport, R.I.: C.E. Hammett, jun. pp. 8–9. OCLC 3288133.
  5. The Rhode-Island Almanack for the Year, 1728: Being the First Ever Printed ... online at https://books.google.com/books?id=Rrs0AAAAMAAJ&dq=%22james+franklin%22+almanack&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=-bFD8zu6Hs&sig=5cMnMhfksI9Ekv1ZANGcnCTImgA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#v=onepage&q=%22james%20franklin%22%20almanack&f=false
  6. Aka, Poor Robbin, James Franklin. "The Rhode-Island Almanack for the Year, 1728: Being the First Ever Printed ..." The Rhode-Island Almanack for the Year, 1728: Being the First Ever Printed ..., 1st ser., 1, no. 1 (1728). Accessed June 6, 2017. doi:https://books.google.com/books?id=Rrs0AAAAMAAJ&dq=%22james franklin%22 almanack&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=-bFD8zu6Hs&sig=5cMnMhfksI9Ekv1ZANGcnCTImgA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#v=onepage&q=james%20franklin&f=false. Only copy produced and in existence is at the Library of Congress
 
10/22/2019, MITCH, ARLENE, NANCY AND I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR TODAY'S TOUR OF BOSTON.  WE LOVED SEEING BOSTON THROUGH YOUR EYES AND WERE AMAZED WITH ALL YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE CITY.  YOU ARE REALLY GOOD AT WHAT YOU DO.  BOBBIE.

7/15/2019, MITCH, THANK YOU FOR THE PRIVATE TOUR ALONG THE FREEDOM TRAIL.  WE LOVED THE WAY YOU LAYERED ALL THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE REVOLUTION GIVING US AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE POLITICS AND CONTRASTING VIEWSPOINTS OF THE "ENGLISH COUSINS". WE ESPECIALLY FOUND THE TALK AT FANEUIL HALL MOST TIMELY IN TODAYS STATE OF POLITICS.  THANKS MUCH, THE GIRLS FROM CHICAGO.
9/16/2018, comments on Paul Revere group tour.
ruth, It was a terrific tour. You clearly have done a lot of research. Thanks for the additional information.

EM, Mitch, thank you for the additional information. It was a wonderful few hours and I will assume you Get credit for the glorious weather.

Thank you so much, Mitch and Nancy!  The "rest of the story" info you sent is the icing on the cake.  Your tour was perfect-great information presented in an entertaining, casual way.  The wonderful weather helped, of course. Thanks again for offering your tour.  Hope to do it again.
Best,
Sue

8/13/2018
Great Work! So glad to see other walking guides whose research and use of primary sources is so thorough. DLa xxx (a.k.a. Mistress xxxxxxxxx de la xxx) #ocbground
​



Date: Fri, jun 22, 2018, 3:57 pm
subject: re: walk boston history Tour
to: n>

The tour of the freedom trail with the emphasis on Paul Revere was very informative.  We started at the state house and learned about its architecture.  We continued through Boston Commons and past the burial grounds.  We then continued to the north end and Paul Revere’s house.  At each stop Mitch had many interesting and little known facts to tell us.  We were surprised by the number of occupations Paul Revere had.  During our walk through the north end Mitch pointed out various restaurants to eat in.  The tour was about 2 miles of walking and lasted about 1 hour 45 minutes and was most enjoyable.  We would definitely take another tour with Mitch in the future.
Betsy, florida


6/5/2018 ​

Hi Sheila,


I just wanted to tell you and Mitch how very much I enjoyed today. Mitch is passion for history comes through loud and clear in his delivery.

I learned new facts about Paul Revere that I had never known before.

Mitch was so well-prepared including all of the pictures and it was obvious that heput a lot of time and effort into this tour and the presentation.

So thank you so much for the invitation
He did a great job!
leslie b, Natick



10/18/2017Hi Mitch, finally getting to say thank you for such an enjoyable day and tour of Paul Revere etc.. I truly learned so much and loved walking through so much of historic Boston! PHYLIS, nh

9/5/2017
Hi Beth,

Thanks for asking us to go on your tour, Mitch, of Boston’s historic sites. Your enthusiasm and love of history is contagious. You made history come alive. Sorry I had to leave early. I bet the tour of the North End was equally exciting! You put your all into it.
sarah r. Wellesley

6/15/2017 gxxxxen@snhu.edu Comment 6/1/2017, Your remarks about John Hancock really painted a historical image of the man.
​

​Irishman1987
I was there that day with members of Jerusalem lodge #104 Keene NH, I am so glad I had the chance to attend this event and pay my respects.

6/3/2017 GS, SNHU,edu,  Mitch your remarks about John Hancock really painted an historical image of the man.

10/15/2016 Thank you so much for the Boston Massacre Tour.  I never knew it was such a complicated affair.  I particularly liked the incidental historical stops about Colonial Boston.  I hadn't been downtown for years.  You opened up so much for me.  June, Natick Ma.

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An association of tour guidES for educators, amateur historians, and the general public looking to walk beyond the Freedom Trail, concentrating on the legal, philosophical, emotional and political events of Boston.

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  • Freedom Trail Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Tour
    • Boston Civil War Tour
    • The Kennedy Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Lesson Plan
    • The Boston Massacre per the Pennsylvania Gazette
    • Paul Revere Lesson Plan
  • Revere Bells Index
    • The Stickney Revere Bell Listings of 1976
    • Paul Revere Bell of Beverly
    • Revere Bells in Boston >
      • Paul Revere Bell Old South Meeting House
    • California's 2 Paul Revere Bells
    • Paul Revere & Son's Bell Westborough Massachusetts
    • Falmouth, Massachusetts
    • Revere Bell Fredericksburg VA
    • Revere Bell Hampton NH
    • First Parish Church of Kennebunk
    • Revere Bells in Maine
    • Revere Bell in Mansfield
    • Revere Bell of Michigan
    • Revere Salem Mass Bell
    • Roxbury First Unitariarn Universalist Church and their Revere Bell
    • Revere & Son Bell, Savannah Georgia
    • Singapore Revere Bell
    • Tuscaloosa Bell >
      • History of the St John and Leavens Patriarchs
      • Samuel St John Jr Estate Genealogy
      • Authenticating the Revere Tuscaloosa Bell
      • Joshua B Leavens Last Will and Testament
      • 20th Century Tuscaloosa bell
    • Revere Bells Lost in Time
    • Revere Bells Washington DC
    • Revere Bell in Wakefield, Mass
    • Revere Bells Woodstock VT
  • Bostonians
    • Edward F Alexander of The Harvard 20th Civil War Regiment
    • Polly Baker
    • John Wilkes Booth
    • The Mad Hatter, Thomas, Boston Corbett who Killed John Wilkes Booth
    • Richard-Henry-Dana-Jr
    • James Franklin
    • Benjamin Harris of Publick Occurrences
    • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
    • William Lloyd Garrison
    • USS Thomas Hudner DDG116
    • Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere
    • Amos Lincoln
    • King Philip
    • Mayor's of Boston
    • Mum Bett & Theodore Sedgwick
    • James Otis
    • Paul Joseph Revere
    • John Rowe >
      • John Rowe's Diary Entries
      • John Rowe and the Jail Fire
      • Hang John Rowe?????
      • John Rowe the Fisherman
      • Joh Rowe's Tea Ship
    • Be Proud to be Called a Lucy Stoner
    • Rachel Wall , Pirate
    • Paul Revere the Coroner of Boston
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Who was Mrs. Silence Dogood?
    • Dr. Joseph Warren's Dedication
  • History Blog
  • Lilja's of Natick
    • Lilja Brothers Military History
    • Lilja's Family Album
    • Memorials and Tributes to the Five Lilja Brothers
    • Lilja Family Tree
    • Lilja Historical Family Tree Documents
    • Lilja References
  • Collage of Boston
    • 4th of July Parade, Bristol RI
    • Boston Harbor
    • The Customs House
    • Forest Hills Cemetery
    • Georges Island
    • Nonviolent Monument to Peace - Sherborn
    • The Battle Road
    • Skate bike and scooter park
    • Cassin Young & USS Cassin Young
    • MIT
    • Historic Charles River
    • The Roxbury Standpipe on Fort Hill
    • John & Abigail Adams National Park
  • REvere Bell Paxton, Mass
  • GED Lilja