7 Benjamin Franklin 7marriage lasted until Deborah’s death in 1774. They had a
son, Franky, who died at age four, and a daughter, Sarah,
who survived them both. William was brought up in the
household and apparently did not get along well with
Deborah.
Franklin and his partner’s first coup was securing the
printing of Pennsylvania’s paper currency. Franklin helped
get this business by writing A Modest Enquiry into the Nature
and Necessity of a Paper Currency (1729), and later he also
became public printer of New Jersey, Delaware, and
Maryland. Other moneymaking ventures included the
Pennsylvania Gazette, published by Franklin from 1729
and generally acknowledged as among the best of the
colonial newspapers, and Poor Richard ’s almanac, printed
annually from 1732 to 1757. Despite some failures, Franklin
prospered. Indeed, he made enough to lend money with
interest and to invest in rental properties in Philadelphia
and many coastal towns. He had franchises or partner-
ships with printers in the Carolinas, New York, and the
British West Indies. By the late 1740s he had become one
of the wealthiest colonists in the northern part of the
North American continent.
As he made money, he concocted a variety of projects
for social improvement. In 1727 he organized the Junto,
or Leather Apron Club, to debate questions of morals,
politics, and natural philosophy and to exchange knowl-
edge of business affairs. The need of Junto members for
easier access to books led in 1731 to the organization of the
Library Company of Philadelphia. Through the Junto,
Franklin proposed a paid city watch, or police force. A
paper read to the same group resulted in the organization
of a volunteer fire company. In 1743 he sought an inter-
colonial version of the Junto, which led to the formation
of the American Philosophical Society. In 1749 he published
Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsilvania; in