In translating Benjamin Franklin’s 1728 shorthand ledger entry for Edward Farmar, did he publish one hundred lines or one hundred copies of a piece entitled “Accts. of Pennsylvania?” The pluralization of accounts would suggest copies, but which “Account of Pennsylvania?” And why? Did Edward write and publish a book!?
Benjamin Franklin Early Years
In 1723, Edward Farmar was a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly when Benjamin Franklin appeared advocating the printing and usage of paper money. Edward was also present when authorizing bonds and commissioning Franklin to print more of the “Pennsylvania pound.” New Castle and Kent Counties in Delaware had a currency of their own and Edward is listed in an advertisement within the 1726 Mercury newspaper as one of sixty merchants accepting the currency.[1]
On 21 July 1726, Franklin departed from his short stay in London and returned on 11 October to Philadelphia. He secured employment with his former boss, Samuel Keimer, with whom he had worked between October 1723 and March 1724. Two years later, he quit on 01 June 1728 establishing a printing company with his partner, fellow Keimer printer Hugh Meredith.
One of his very early customers was Edward Farmar:
1728: Edward Farmer Esq. Dr. For printing 100 Accts. of Pennsylvania, 1.14.6 [Miller A1]. Contra, For Cash, 1.0.0. For Wm. Dewees junior’s Assumption, 14.6, Total 1.14.6. Ledger A&B 174-75.[2]
Identifying the “Account of Pennsylvania”
In translating Franklin’s 1728 shorthand ledger entry, did Benjamin publish one hundred lines or one hundred copies of a piece entitled “Accts. of Pennsylvania?” The pluralization of accounts would suggest copies, but which Account of Pennsylvania? And why? Did Edward Farmar write and publish a book!?
Several possibilities exist,[3] from reprints of William Penn’s Some Account of the Province of Pennsylvania (1681) or his Further Account of the Province of Pennsylvania (1685), perhaps to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Penn’s death. Or was it Gabriel Thomas’ An Account of Pennsylvania and West New Jersey (1698) coinciding with the thirtieth anniversary of its original publication? The other possibility is Thomas Budd’s Good Order Established in Pennsylvania & New-Jersey in America (1685) subtitled “Being a true Account of the Country.”
One possibility may be Caleb Pusey’s Account of Pennsylvania.
The papers brought into this meeting last year, left by our deceased Friend, Caleb Pusey [d. 25 February 1727], came under consideration being an essay or preparation for a history of the first settlement of Friends in these countries, and many Friends appearing desirous to have such a history carried on, this meeting orders the papers to be delivered to David Lloyd who offered himself to that service, who with Isaac Norris are deserved to view and consider thm and make what progress they can therein. Friends who have any memorials or collections to the purpose are desired to furnish those Friends therewith as expeditiously as may be.[4]
The timeline fits although “in 1970 Willman Spawn of the American Philosophical Society Library discovered and identified the Pusey manuscript” where it was then transcribed and published.[5] Had Edward published Caleb’s manuscript more than two hundred forty years earlier? When examining the price paid for Penn’s, Thomas’, Budd’s, or Pusey’s rather lengthy history books with the relatively same price for advertisements in the Pennsylvania Gazette, it seems unlikely Edward ordered copies of any of these works, unless the costs of printing newspapers ads ten years later rivalled that of publishing and binding books in 1728.
Thomas Makin’s Encomium Pennsylvaniae
The most likely possibility is Thomas Makin’s Encomium Pennsylvaniae or simply A Description of Pennsylvania (1728), a 76-line Latin poem dedicated to James Logan and later translated in English for Israel Pemberton on 10 July of that year.[6] But as to the reason why Edward would print one hundred copies, the following may provide some insight.
On Monday Evening laft [19 November 1733], Mr. Thomas Meakins fell off a Wharff into the Delaware and before he could be taken out again, was drowned. He was an ancient Man, and formerly liv’d very well in this City, teaching a confiderable school; but of late Years was reduc’d to extream poverty.[7]
Eight lines from Makin’s poem accompanied his obituary. In 1728, Edward Farmar had at least three children of age enrolled in receiving an education and Makin may have been a teacher to Thomas, Rachel, or Joseph… and possibly Mary. There is no mention of Edward in the minutes of the Provincial Council or the Provincial Assembly being directed to print, sell, or distribute a publication. It may appear that Edward assisted the old, former Assembly clerk in reversing his poverty by supplying Makin printed copies of his poem to sell, while simultaneously assisting a young 22-year-old printing entrepreneur with big ideas for Pennsylvania.[8]
Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette
On 01 October 1728, Keimer announced a new newspaper would be published in the following month called The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences; and Pennsylvania Gazette but moved to Barbados within a year to escape his debt. Franklin on 02 October 1729 purchased the newspaper and shortened the name to the Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin’s surviving ledgers and shop books has entries for Edward and his relations, including entries for his map-making cousin Nicholas Scull II. There are also some entries for his son-in-law Peter Robeson and some entries for his son Samuel Farmar coinciding with their advertisements for land sales, calls to collect on debts, and notices for runaway servants, slaves, or horses.
As the owner of several local paper mills in Cresham Township and Germantown Township, there are numerous entries with Edward’s son-in-law William Mehls Dewees, who had joined Franklin’s Junto club, meeting on Friday evenings to discuss self-improvement, mutual aid, and ideas to better Philadelphia.
02 March 1729:
Wednesday. Nicholas Scull, For 200 bail bonds. 16s.8d [Miller A5]
22 June 1729:
Sunday. Nicholas Scull, For 100 summonses. 8s.4d [Miller A8]. 1 Doz. counter bail bonds. ls.8d [Miller A9]. Ledger A&B 172.
01 September 1729:
Monday. Nicholas Scull, For 20 bail bonds [Miller A10]. l.8. Ledger A&B l72.
05 October 1729:
Sunday. Nicholas Scull, 100 notes of hand. 8s.4d [Miller A12]. For An Account Book, 10.4-1/2. Ledger A&B 172.
16 December 1729:
Tuesday. Nicholas Scull, Dr. For an Advertisement of the Servt. in Gaz. 57 [16 Dec], 3.0. Ledger A&B 172. Cf. 15 June 1730.
22 September 1729:
Monday. Nicholas Scull, For 200 bail bonds [Miller A11]. l.6.8. Ledger A&B l72.
01 April 1738:
By an Order on Justice Farmer retd., 14.6., Total 99.3.4
20 March 1739:
For Cash per Samuel Farmer, 1.10.0.
28 March 1739:
Wm. Dewees, Dr. for Cash per Samuel Farmar, 1.10.0
07 July 1740:
Mr. Nich[olas] Scull, Cr. in Part £6. Ledger D 149.
1740. Mr. Nich[olas] Scullis, Dr. For a Note of Hand in 1733, 5.0.0. Ledger D 149.
01 May 1741:
Mr. Nich[olas] Scull, Dr. Cash pd. the Library, 10.0. Ledger D 149.
09 May 1745:
Peter Robinson, Ind’n King, Dr. For Advt. of a Stray in [Gaz], N856 [9 May 1745], 5.0. Ledger D 220.
02 March 1746:
Peter Robinson, Ind’n King, Dr. Copy Bk. 2.6. Ledger D 220.[9]
Philip Farmer is the author and publisher of “Thomas Fermor and the Sons of Witney” tracing the family history from 1420 to 1685, and “Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh” following their 1685 arrival from Ireland into Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Harlan County, Kentucky.
[1] Scharf et al, History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, vol.1 (1884), p.203.
[2] Lemay. “The Accounts of Benjamin Franklin Through 1747.” University of Delaware. 2006.
[3] Yeakle references Francis Rawle’s “Account of Pennsylvania” with a quote from Rawle’s Ways and Means for the Inhabitants of Delaware to Become Rich printed by Samuel Keimer in 1725, where in some publications it incorrectly states the work was printed by Benjamin Franklin. (Yeakle, “Whitemarsh,” Historical Sketches. A Collection of Papers Prepared for the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, vol.1 (1895), p.24).
[4] Cadbury, “Caleb Pusey’s Account of Pennsylvania,” Quaker History, vol.64, no.1 (Spring 1975), p.38.
[5] Cadbury, “Caleb Pusey’s Account of Pennsylvania,” Quaker History, vol.64, no.1 (Spring 1975), p.37.
[6] “Thomas Makin,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol.37, no.3 (1913), pp.369-374.
[7] Pennsylvania Gazette (22 November 1733).
[8] With 12 pence in a shilling, and 20 shillings in 1 pound, Edward spent 240p to print 100 copies, and Makin’s profit would be any value exceeding a unit cost of ~2-1/2p. For comparison, Franklin printed his 6600-word pamphlet a year later in Modest Inquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency (1729) and sold each copy for 6p.
[9] Lemay, “The Accounts of Benjamin Franklin Through 1747,” University of Delaware. 2006. Entries noted by “Miller” reference the imprints recorded in C. William Miller’s Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia Printing (1974), pp.457-474.