Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/196

 FRANKLIN

FRANKLIN

never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, wJien I expect soon an op- portunity of knowing the truth with less trou- ble." He received the honoi'ary degree of A.M. from Harvard and Yale in 1T.53, and from Wil- liam and Mary in 1755; the degree of J.U.D. from the University of St. Andrews in 1759, and that of D.C.L. from Oxford, England, in 1762. He was president and fovmder of the American philosophical society; fellow of the American academy of arts and sciences and of the Royal societies of London and Edinburgh; a member of the Royal academy of science, Paris; of the Im- perial academy of science, St. Petersburg; of the Literary and Philosophical society, Manchester, England, and of the Real academy of history, Madrid. In his will, after distributing his prop- erty and various memorials among kindred, friends and the societies of which he was a mem- ber, he left £1000 to the city of Philadelphia, and a like sum to the town of Boston, to be invested for the encouragement of young married me- chanics. The full advantages which the testator expected from these bequests were not realized. The gift to the town of Boston at the end of the first one hundred years was to be laid out at the discretion of managers " in public works which may be judged of

most general utility to the inhabitants." In December, 1893, the trustees of t lie Franklin fund turned over to the city the money in their possession, wliich amounted in _ 1897 to 8348,000. ^ ' — In his will, Frank-

FRAAiKLi/j:..^,,i^ii_. llu prescribed that

the fund should be " managed by the selectmen of the town and the ministers of the oldest Episcopal, Congregational and Presbyterian churches. " The question of the proper executors of the bequest became the subject of legal con- troversy, the wording of the will being regarded by the plaintiffs as tantamount to the creating of trustees. The Slassachusetts supreme court in 1898 decided that, taking into account the whole of the will, Franklin did not create a technical tru-steeship in those classes, but gave them duties akin to those of visitors of a charity, and upon this decision the fund became available for the purposes named in the will. Another donation of £100 to the town of Boston, provided that the interest be expended for silver medals to be awarded annually to meritorious pupils in the public schools. This gift has answered its pur- pose and is a lasting monument to Franklin who

received his first instruction in literature at the free grammar school of Boston. See his works in ten volumes edited by Jared Sparks (1850;; another ten volume edition by John Bigelow (1887); his Autobiography; Parton's Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (3 vols., 1864); Benjamin Franklin by J. T. Morse, Jr. (1890); Franklin in France hy'E. E. Hale (1887); Benjamin Franklin, Printer, Statesman, Philosopher and Practical Citi- zen, 1706-1790, by Edward Robins (1898); and TTie Many-Sided Franklin by Paul Leicester Ford (1899). Franklin received a place in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, October, 1900. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., April 17, 1790.

FRANKLIN, Benjamin, clergyman, was born in Providence, R.I., Nov. 19, 1819; .son of Henry Paine and Charlotte (Bicknell) Franklin. He was prepared for college in the public schools of Providence and vicinity, and w^as graduated from Brown vmiversity in 1840. He studied theology at the General theological seminary. New York city, and under BisJiop Whittingham of Balti- more. He was ordained deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church, Dec. 23, 1843, by Bishop Gris- wold, and priest at Seneca Falls, N.Y., February, 1845, by Bishop DeLancey. He became rector at Havre de Grace, Md., in 1847, was later at Tren- ton, N.J., and in 1856 became rector at New Castle, Del., where his health failed and he was unable to i>reach for several years. During the civil war he lived at New Castle, near Fort Dela- ware, which was used as a Union prison, and there worked among the sick and dying men. He was rector of Christ church, Indianapolis, Ind., 1870-74, and of Christ church, Shrewsbury, N.J., 1875-98. He received the degree of D.D. from the University of Indiana in 1869. He is the author of: The Eucharist (1872); The Creed and Modern Thought (1881); The Church and the Era (1884); and Marriage and Divorce (1889). He died at Slirew.sbury, N.J., Nov. 3, 1898.

FRANKLIN, Christine Ladd, author, was born in Windsor, Conn., Dec. 1, 1847; daughter of Eliphalet and Augusta (Niles) Ladd; grand- daughter of Henry and Hannah (Hard) Ladd of Portsmouth, N.H., and of Richard and Christiana (Grisvvold) Niles of Windsor, Conn., and great- granddaughter of Col. Eliplialet Ladd, who served on the staff of his cousin. Governor Oilman. She was graduated from Vassar college in 1869, and for some years she taught mathematics and science in different schools, in the meantime con- tinuing her studies in mathematics and contrib- uting to mathematical journals. In 1878 she was invited to study at Johns Hopkins university, and from 1879 to 1883 she remained there upon the footing of a fellow, being the first woman to re- ceive this honor. In 1891-92 she pursued her studies in the Universities of Gottingen and Ber-