Keaton Age 14, Week 14

                                                     Benjamin Franklin
                                                                       Early life

 On January 17th, 1706, a baby boy was born on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts .  This baby was named Benjamin Franklin, who was to become one of the great founding fathers of America. 

Benjamin was the son of Josiah Franklin, who was a middle class business man in Boston.  Benjamin had nine siblings, one of which was his older brother James Franklin.   James became a printer, and hired Ben to become his apprentice.  Ben was only 12 at the time, but was already beginning to grow an appreciation and interest for printing, and at age 15 helped to write The New-England Courant, which became the first independent newspaper in the colonies.  Eventually, however, Ben's thirst for writing got him into trouble.  He began to sneak contributions to the newspaper under a fictional widow's name "Silence Dogood".  The citizens of Boston loved his writings and wanted to know the real name of the author.  But one day he was discovered by James, and immediately forced to stop writing.  To say the truth, James was only jealous of the attention his brother was receiving - he recognized that Benjamin had exceptional talent.  So, James began abusing Ben.