Benjamin Franklin Facts For Kids | The First American

He was a writer, politician, statesman and a scientist. He is widely known by his title ‘First American’ because among many others, he was also the founding father of USA. He contributed a lot to the field of Physics and introduced new concepts in electricity. He created a lot of useful scientific instruments like lightning rod. Now let’s take a short look at Benjamin Franklin facts for kids.

Benjamin Franklin Facts For Kids

Date of Birth: January 17, 1706

Place of Birth: Boston, Massachusetts

Number of Children: 3

Date of Death: April 17, 1790

Place of Death: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Family and Marriage

1. The name of his father was Josiah Franklin. He was a British businessman.
2. The name of his mother was Abiah Folger.
3. He had one brother and one sister.
4. The name of his brother was James Franklin. He was a printer and was older than Ben.
5. The name of his sister was Jane Franklin Mecom. She was younger than Ben.
6. The name of his wife was Deborah Read Franklin.
7. When Franklin was just 17 years old, he proposed Read at her home in 1723. At the time, Read was only 15 years old. Read’s mother turned down the proposal.
8. While Franklin was in London, Deborah Read got married to a man named John Rodgers. Shortly after the marriage, Rodgers ran away to Barbados alone and left his wife (Read).
9. Franklin got married to Read on September 1, 1730. Since Read was already married but was left behind, such kind of wedding was known as ‘common-law marriage’ or simply ‘informal marriage’. Such kinds of marriages were not registered officially.
10. The name of an illegitimate son of Franklin was William Franklin. The name of his mother is unknown. He was a US soldier and later became Governor of New Jersey.
11. Franklin and Read had 3 kids: two sons and a daughter.
12. The name of Franklin’s eldest son was Francis Folger Franklin. He was only 4 years old when he died due to smallpox in 1736.
13. The name of his only daughter was Sarah Franklin Bache. Known as ‘Sally’, she was in charge of the aid work conducted in the American War of Independence.
14. Deborah was always scared of sea water which is why Franklin had to go to European tours alone.
15. When Franklin was on his trip to England in 1774, his wife (Deborah) passed away due to severe stroke.

Later Years

1. He studied in Boston Latin School. However, he had to cancel his schooling just after 2 years when he was only 10 years old.
2. At the age of 12, he worked with his brother James to learn printing for some time.
3. He went to Philadelphia while he was 17 and worked as a printer in various stores.
4. He made a club in 1727 consisting of people who wanted to share their business ideas with others. This club was known as Junto. He was 21 years old at the time.
5. Junto loved reading different books. They made a library from their own books because books were not readily available and also because books were so much expensive that they could not afford to buy.
6. Benjamin Franklin is the founder of the library in Pennsylvania called Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP).
7. The first US librarian was employed by Franklin in 1732. His name was Louis Timothee.
8. He founded a printing house in 1728.
9. In 1729, a newspaper named ‘The Pennsylvania Gazette’ took Franklin as its publisher.
10. He published a newspaper named ‘The Philadelphische Zeitung’ in 1732. This was the first newspaper ever published in German Language in United States. However, the paper could not continue to publish for more than one year.
11. In 1729, he wrote a series of articles in the paper called ‘American Mercury’. These articles were published under the title ‘The Busy-Body’.

Scientific Achievements

1. He invented quite a number of scientific instruments. Some of the Franklin’s instruments were glass armonica, Franklin stove, urinary catheter, lightning rod and bifocal eyeglasses.
2. He was the first person to name electric charges as positive charge and negative charge.
3. He discovered the ‘charge conservation’ principle in Physics which means a charge can never be created or destroyed.
4. In 1750, he flew a kite in a storm as an experiment to prove that lightning has electricity.

More Benjamin Franklin Facts For Kids

1. He was among the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.
2. He was known as ‘First American’.
3. He loved playing chess.
4. In 1999, he was included in the ‘World Chess Hall of Fame’.
5. He is the founder of the firefighting company called Union Fire Company. He built this company in 1736. This company is among the earliest US companies that offers volunteer services for firefighting activities.

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