Early Life and Education
William Temple Franklin, called Temple, was born in 1760, the illegitimate (and only) son of William Franklin, who sired him while a law student in London. His mother is unknown, and the infant was placed in foster care. His father William was the illegitimate but acknowledged son of Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and raised in his household. William Temple Franklin's middle name is said to have been derived from his having been conceived while his father was studying at the Middle Temple.
Later in 1762, William married "respectably", to Elizabeth Downes in London, the daughter of a wealthy Barbados planter. After passing the bar, he returned to North America, but he continued to pay for the upkeep and later education of Temple.
In 1763, with the aide of his father Benjamin Franklin, William Franklin was appointed as the last colonial governor of New Jersey and went to North America. He left Temple in foster care. William's position as a Loyalist later put him at odds with his father, and they broke permanently over it. William Franklin was imprisoned during the Revolution and afterward forced into exile in Britain.
Benjamin Franklin learned of his grandson Temple (his only grandson through the male line) while on an extended mission in London, when the boy was about four. He became fond of the young boy, but at first did not tell him of his full identity. He eventually took over custody, returning with the youth to the United States in 1775, and acknowledging their blood relation. A widower by then, Franklin raised the boy in his household.
Read more about this topic: William Temple Franklin
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early, life and/or education:
“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)
“Some men have a necessity to be mean, as if they were exercising a faculty which they had to partially neglect since early childhood.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“One idea is enough to organize a life and project it
Into unusual but viable forms, but many ideas merely
Lead one thither into a morass of their own good intentions.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)