The BFB (Ben Franklin's Birthday that is...)

Our RS Family History Group was canceled tonight due to a lovely snowstorm raging outside. So, what better way to spend my time that helping you all become educated about a certain individual dear to my heart...

According to the White House 2008 calendar that "Santa" put in my stocking for Christmas, it is Ben Franklin's birthday today. He was born in 1706. And that is the White House "World Famous Submarines" in Atlantic City, not the White House "World Famous Presidents" of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The year before I moved to Philadelphia I was reading a copy of Ben Franklin's Autobiography that was sitting around my parents' house. I actually started reading it before Tony and I even met, but as I kept reading bits at a time and planning to move to Ben's part of the world, it helped me feel more at home. In case you didn't know, Ben - who is arguably the most famous Philadelphian - was not even a native son! He was born in Boston and he had a horrible time of it there. You may also not have realized that Ben and his firstborn son, William, were on opposite sides of the Revolution. William Franklin was a colonial governor of New Jersey. The very thing his dad was fighting against. I think that's pretty interesting.

I think there is no doubt that Ben Franklin was a fascinating guy, and quite ladies' man so they say. No one is quite sure who his son, William's, mother even was. Lots of Franklin things in Philly - including the Franklin Institute, the Franklin Mint, and the Franklin Grave. Here is a photo of it that I took in November.

Tony kindly paid for our group to gain access to the Christ Church Burial Ground so we could properly pay homage to Ben. Luckily Alex and Katie got in on student fees ($1 instead of $2 - they're really making a killing!), but I have a thing for graveyards and my husband was sweet enough to indulge me. Most poor paupers (how redundant) have to throw a penny on Ben's grave through the fence! Ha!

By the way, speaking of Roald Dahl (whose children's books I love) - if anyone got the BFG reference in the title - never let your child, or yourself for that matter - read the ENTIRE Dahl body of work. Some of his stuff was wayyyy too adult. Finally, I apologize for some of the atrocious sentence structures in this post, but it amuses me to write that way - and frankly, that is the way it comes out of my head - so that is what I do. Happy, happy birthday, Benjamin, dear!