Mecom, Jane Franklin

Extract

Mecom, Jane Franklin (27 March 1712–09 May 1794), the favorite sister of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), the favorite sister of Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), was born in Boston to Josiah Franklin, tallow chandler, and his second wife, Abiah Folger. The last of the seventeen Franklin children, Jane formed, with Benjamin and Lydia, a trio separated from their older siblings by a gap of several years. Benjamin and Jane outlived all the others; they were alike in many ways: intelligent, vital, indomitable. But whereas Benjamin rose in the world, Jane never had a chance. Married at fifteen to an almost illiterate and sickly saddler, Edward Mecom, she had twelve children, eleven of whom died before her, as did many of her grandchildren. The deaths were recorded with Christian resignation in her ...