William Franklin (22 February 1730 – 17 November 1813) was an
American-born attorney, soldier, politician, and
colonial administrator
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
. He was the acknowledged illegitimate son of
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
. William Franklin was the last
colonial Governor of New Jersey (1763–1776), and a steadfast
Loyalist throughout the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. (In contrast, his father Benjamin was, in later life, one of the most prominent of the
Patriot
A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism.
Patriot may also refer to:
Political and military groups United States
* Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution
* Patriot m ...
leaders of the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
and a
Founding Father of the United States
The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary
Patriots, also known as Revolutionaries, Continentals, Rebels, or American Whigs, were t ...
.)
Following imprisonment by Patriots in 1776 to 1778, William became the chief leader of the Loyalists. From his base in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, he organized military units to fight on the British side. In 1782, he went into exile in Britain. He lived in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
until his death.
Early life
William Franklin was born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, then a colony in
British America
British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 16 ...
. He was the illegitimate son of
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
, a leading figure in the city. His mother's identity is unknown.
Confusion exists about Franklin's birth and parentage because Benjamin Franklin was secretive about his son's origins. In 1750, Benjamin Franklin told his mother that William was nineteen years old,
but this may have been an attempt to make the youth appear legitimate. Some older reference books give William's birth year as 1731.
William was raised by his father and
Deborah Read
Deborah Read Franklin ( 1708 – December 19, 1774) was the common-law wife of Benjamin Franklin, polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
Early years
Little is known about Read's early life. She was born around 1708, ...
, his father's
common-law wife
Common-law marriage, also known as non-ceremonial marriage, marriage, informal marriage, or marriage by habit and repute, is a legal framework where a couple may be considered married without having formally registered their relation as a civil ...
; she had been abandoned by her legal husband but not divorced. William always called her his mother.
There is some speculation that Deborah Read was Franklin's biological mother, and that because of his parents' common-law relationship, the circumstances of his birth were obscured so as not to be politically harmful to him or to their marital arrangement.
Franklin joined a company of Pennsylvania provincial troops in 1746 and spent a winter in
Albany in
King George's War
King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in t ...
, obtaining the rank of captain in 1747. As he grew older, he accompanied his father on several missions, including trips to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Although often depicted as a young child when he assisted his father in the famed
kite experiment
The kite experiment is a scientific experiment in which a kite with a pointed, conductive wire attached to its apex is flown near thunder clouds to collect electricity from the air and conduct it down the wet kite string to the ground. It was p ...
of 1752, Franklin was at least 21 years old at the time.
Marriage and family
As a young man, William became engaged to
Elizabeth Graeme, daughter of prominent Philadelphia physician Dr. Thomas Graeme
and step-granddaughter of Pennsylvania's 14th Governor,
Sir William Keith. Neither family approved of the match, but when William went to London to study law about 1759, he left with the understanding that Elizabeth would wait for him.
![William temple franklin by john trumbull](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/William_temple_franklin_by_john_trumbull.gif)
Franklin studied law at the
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...
, chiefly under
Richard Jackson "The Omniscient". While in London, Franklin sired an illegitimate son,
William Temple Franklin
William Temple Franklin Jr, known as Temple Franklin, (February 22, 1760, in London – May 25, 1823, in Paris) was an American diplomat and real estate speculator. He is best known for his involvement with the American diplomatic mission in F ...
, who was born 22 February 1762. His mother has never been identified, and Temple was placed in foster care.
Later that year, Franklin married Elizabeth Downes on 4 September 1762 at
St George's, Hanover Square
St George's, Hanover Square, is an Anglican church, the parish church of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, central London, built in the early eighteenth century as part of a project to build fifty new churches around London (the Queen Anne C ...
, in London. She was born in the English colony of
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
to the sugar
planter John Downes and his wife, Elizabeth (). She met Franklin while visiting England with her father in 1760.
They moved to the New Jersey colony in 1763. Elizabeth died in 1777 while he was imprisoned as a Loyalist during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. She was interred beneath the altar of
St. Paul's Chapel in lower Manhattan, where she had resided after the British evacuated
Perth Amboy
Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,436. Perth Amboy has a Hispanic majority population. In the 2010 census, th ...
. The memorial plaque on the wall at St. Paul's was commissioned by William Franklin from London, where he went into exile following the war.
He was a widower for more than ten years.
On 14 August 1788, William married Mary Johnson d'Evelin, a wealthy Irish widow with children.
William's son, Temple, after a failed business career in the U.S., lived with his father and stepmother for a time, and followed in his grandfather and father's footsteps and had an illegitimate daughter, Ellen (15 May 1798
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
– 1875
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
, France), with Ellen Johnson d'Evelin, the sister-in-law of his stepmother, Mary. William took responsibility for his granddaughter Ellen. Temple moved to Paris, where he lived the remainder of his life and never saw his father again. After Mary died in 1811, William continued to live with Ellen, age 13 at the time, and when he died in 1813 he left most of his small estate to her.
Colonial governor
William Franklin completed his law education in England, and was admitted to the bar. William and Benjamin Franklin became partners and confidants, working together to pursue land grants in what was then called the Northwest (now
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
). Before they left England, the senior Franklin lobbied hard to procure his son an appointment, especially working with the Prime Minister
Lord Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...
.
Franklin was inducted into the original
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
, founded by Benjamin Franklin, around 1758.
In 1763, William Franklin was appointed as the Royal Governor of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. He had asked the prime minister,
Lord Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...
for the position. Bute made the decision secretly to grant the request, not even informing Benjamin Franklin; he intended as a reward for Benjamin's role and a move to weaken the Penn faction. He replaced
Josiah Hardy
Josiah Hardy (1715–1790) was a British merchant and colonial administrator who served as colonial Governor of New Jersey between 1761 and 1763. He was succeeded in the post by William Franklin, the son of Benjamin Franklin. Hardy was later app ...
, a merchant and colonial administrator who sided with the New Jersey legislature against the government in London. Randall states:
American War of Independence
![ProprietaryHousePerthAmboy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/ProprietaryHousePerthAmboy.JPG)
Owing to his father's role as a
Founding Father
The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...
and William's loyalty to Britain, the relationship between father and son became strained past the breaking point. When Benjamin decided to take up the Patriot cause, he tried to convince William to join him, but the son refused. After Benjamin Franklin was systematically ridiculed and humiliated by
Solicitor-General Alexander Wedderburn before the
Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
on 29 January 1774, he expected his son to resign in protest. Instead, William advised his father to take his medicine and retire from office.
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment.
...
historian Sheila Skemp noted: "
illiamdid not abandon Benjamin, but Benjamin abandoned him." His Loyalist position was a reflection of his respect for benevolent authority which he felt was embodied by the British Crown, a view consistent with his father's earlier
Anglophilia
An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents.
Etymology
The word is derived from the Latin word '' Anglii'' and Ancient Greek word φίλος ''philos'', meaning "frie ...
. Further, unlike his father William was a devout member of the Church of England, which reinforced his loyalty to the Crown. Financially, he needed the salary and perquisites. On 13 January 1775, with revolution seeming imminent, Franklin delivered his "Two Roads" speech to the New Jersey legislature, urging the New Jersey Legislature to take the road toward prosperity as a part of England rather than a road to civil war and anarchy. The legislature instead unanimously issued a resolution in support of the radicals in Boston.
Capture and imprisonment, 1776–1778
William Franklin remained as governor of New Jersey, and secretly reported Patriot activities to London. He continued as governor until January 1776, when colonial militiamen placed him under house arrest, which lasted until the middle of June. After the Declaration of Independence, Franklin was formally taken into custody by order of the
Provincial Congress of New Jersey
The Provincial Congress of New Jersey was a transitional governing body of the Province of New Jersey in the early part of the American Revolution. It first met in 1775 with representatives from all New Jersey's then-thirteen counties, to supersed ...
, an entity which he refused to recognize, regarding it as an "illegal assembly." He was incarcerated in Connecticut for two years, in
Wallingford and
Middletown. He surreptitiously engaged Americans in supporting the Loyalist cause. Discovered, he was held in solitary confinement at
Litchfield, Connecticut
Litchfield is a town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,192 at the 2020 census. The boroughs of Bantam and Litchfield are located within the town. There are also three unincorporat ...
for eight months. When finally released in a prisoner exchange in 1778, he moved to New York City, which was still occupied by the British.
New York Loyalist leader, 1778–1781
Once in New York, Boyd Schlenther says he became, "the acknowledged leader of the American loyalists, for whom he struggled to secure aid. He also built up an unofficial yet active spy network." He set up Loyalist military units to fight the Patriots, such as "
Bacon's Refugees". In 1779, he had learned through his friend
Jonathan Odell
Jonathan Odell (25 September 1737 – 25 November 1818) was a Loyalist poet who lived during the American Revolution.
Early life and career
Odell was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1737 to John and Temperance Odell. He graduated from Prince ...
, and British Secret Service agent
John André
John André (2 May 1750/1751[''Gravesite–Memorial''](_blank)
Westmi ...
, that
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defect ...
was secretly defecting to the British.
While in New York, Franklin tried to encourage a
guerrilla war
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...
and active reprisals against the rebels but was frustrated by British Commander-in-Chief
General Clinton
General Sir Henry Clinton, KB (16 April 1730 – 23 December 1795) was a British Army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1772 and 1795. He is best known for his service as a general during the American War of Indep ...
, who did not support this nor had much use for American loyalists. Nonetheless, Franklin coordinated a multi-colony group known as the Associated Loyalists that waged guerrilla warfare in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. A correspondence between Franklin's collaborator, British general
William Tryon
Lieutenant-General William Tryon (8 June 172927 January 1788) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as governor of North Carolina from 1764 to 1771 and the governor of New York from 1771 to 1777. He also served durin ...
, and
Lord George Germain
George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, PC (26 January 1716 – 26 August 1785), styled The Honourable George Sackville until 1720, Lord George Sackville from 1720 to 1770 and Lord George Germain from 1770 to 1782, was a British soldier and p ...
led to Franklin receiving official blessing for the operation in 1780.
Asgill Affair
In 1782 Franklin was implicated in the Loyalist officer
Richard Lippincott's hanging of
Joshua Huddy. During a raid, Loyalist troops under Franklin's general oversight captured Joshua Huddy, an officer of the New Jersey
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
. The Loyalist soldiers hanged Huddy in revenge for similar killings of Loyalists, particularly Phillip White. Huddy was a member of the Association of Retaliation, a
vigilante
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without Right, legal authority.
A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a pers ...
body with a history of attacking and killing Loyalists and neutrals in New Jersey. At the time, some alleged that Franklin had sanctioned the killing of Huddy. This claim was theoretically substantiated by a note left on Huddy's body, which read, "Up goes Huddy for Philip White."
When he heard of Huddy's death, General
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
threatened to execute Captain
Charles Asgill, a British officer who had been
captured at Yorktown, unless Lippincott were handed over to the American military. The British refused, but tried Lippincott. The British acquitted him of charges in the hanging. Due to the intervention of the French King
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
, who interceded with his American allies to prevent Asgill's execution, the British officer was eventually exchanged by the Americans. Despite the speed with which it was terminated, the Asgill Affair temporarily stalled peace talks between American and British authorities, extending uncertainty over the United States' prospects. Ironically, Benjamin Franklin was a senior negotiator for the revolutionary Americans in Paris when the Asgill Affair occurred.
Exile
The
Surrender at Yorktown in October 1781 dimmed British hopes for victory, and in 1782, William Franklin departed for Britain, never to return. Once in London, he became a leading spokesman for the Loyalist community. Because of the continued strength of British forces in North America, in spite of the disaster at Yorktown, many expected Britain to continue fighting the war. The British naval victory against the French at the
Battle of the Saintes
The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...
and the successful
defence of Gibraltar also raised their hopes. In summer 1782, a
new British government came to power, who still hoped to achieve a reconciliation with the American colonies.
In 1783 he visited Scotland and was asked to be a founding member of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
.
Benjamin Franklin dedicated his autobiography (written before the war) to his son,
though the only mention of William within the manuscript is the inclusion of a newspaper article in which Franklin noted that his son was authorized to make contracts to purchase carts for the British army.
But the father and son were never reconciled; the elder Franklin became known for his uncompromising position related to not providing compensation nor amnesty for the Loyalists who left the colonies, during the negotiations in Paris for the
Peace of Paris. His son's reputation as a Loyalist contributed to his position. The British government gave him £1,800 from the Commissioners of Loyalist Claims. That was the value of his furniture; there was no payment for his lands. He also received a brigadier's half-pay pension of £800 per year.
William Franklin sent a letter to his father, dated 22 July 1784, in an attempt at reconciliation. His father never accepted his position, but responded in a letter dated 16 August 1784, in which he states "
ewill endeavor, as you propose mutually to forget what has happened relating to it, as well we can."
William saw his father one last time in 1785, when Benjamin stopped in Britain on his return journey to the U.S. after his time in France. The meeting was brief and involved tying up outstanding legal matters. In a reconciliation attempt, Benjamin also proposed that his son give land that he owned in New York and New Jersey to William's son
Temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
, who had served as Benjamin's secretary during the war and for whom the elder Franklin had great affection, in order to repay a debt William owed his father; in the event, William transferred the New York portion of the land.
In his 1788 will, Benjamin left William virtually none of his wealth, except some nearly worthless territory in
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
and some property already in William's possession. He said that had Britain won the war, he would have had no wealth to leave his son.
William died in 1813, and was buried in London's
St Pancras Old Church
St Pancras Old Church is a Church of England parish church in Somers Town, Central London. It is dedicated to the Roman martyr Saint Pancras, and is believed by many to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England. The church i ...
churchyard. The grave is lost.
Legacy and honors
*
Franklin Township in
Bergen County
Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...]
, was named in William's honor, as was the borough of
Franklin Lakes.
In popular culture
William Franklin is referenced in a humorous dialogue exchange in the stage musical
''1776''. During a session of the Continental Congress,
John Hancock
John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the ...
asks Benjamin Franklin if he has heard any news from his son, whom Hancock calls the Royal Governor of New Jersey. To this Dr. Franklin responds, "As that title might suggest, sir, we are not in touch at the present time." Later when a new congressional delegation from New Jersey arrives, the leader of the delegation, Rev.
John Witherspoon
John Witherspoon (February 5, 1723 – November 15, 1794) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister, educator, farmer, slaveholder, and a Founding Father of the United States. Witherspoon embraced the concepts of Scottish common sense reali ...
, informs Dr. Franklin of William's arrest and transferral to
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
. Upon learning that William is unharmed, Dr. Franklin contemptuously answers, "Tell me, why did they arrest the little bastard?"
See also
*
Burlington Company
*
Proprietary House
Proprietary House in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, United States, is the only proprietary governor's mansion of the original Thirteen Colonies still standing. Overseen by architect and builder John Edward Pryor, construction began in 1762 and was com ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
* Epstein, Daniel Mark (2017). ''The Loyal Son: The War in Ben Franklin's House''
Description Ballantine.
ttps://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/daniel-mark-epstein/the-loyal-son/ Kirkus ReviewPublishers Weekly Review*.
* Gerlach, Larry R. ''William Franklin: New Jersey's Last Royal Governor'' (1976), a scholarly biography
*.
*.
* Randall, Willard Sterne. "Franklin, William"
*.
* Schlenther, Boyd Stanley. "Franklin, William (1730/31–1813)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 Boyd Stanle
accessed 1 Oct 2017doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/62971
*
Skemp, Sheila L. "Benjamin Franklin, Patriot, and William Franklin, Loyalist." ''Pennsylvania History'' 65.1 (1998): 35–45.
*
Skemp, Sheila L. "William Franklin: His Father's Son." ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 109.2 (1985): 145–178.
Additional reading
*
External links
*
*
The Proprietary House (final home of the Royal Governor)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, William
1731 births
1813 deaths
Benjamin Franklin
British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession
Burials at St Pancras Old Church
Colonial governors of New Jersey
Founder Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Franklin family
Loyalists in the American Revolution from New Jersey
Politicians from Philadelphia
People of colonial New Jersey
People of colonial Pennsylvania
Royal American Regiment officers
Lawyers from Philadelphia
Loyalist military personnel of the American Revolutionary War