James Franklin

James Franklin (February 4, 1697 in Boston – February 4, 1735 in Newport, Rhode Island) was an early American printer, publisher and author of newspapers and almanacs in the American colonies. James published the New England Courant, one of the oldest and the first truly independent American newspapers, and the short lived Rhode Island Gazette. Early years James was an older brother of Benjamin Franklin and the son of Josiah Franklin, a chandler and businessman from Ecton, Northamptonshire, England, and Abiah Folger Franklin, who came from a family of Nantucket Puritans. In addition to James, their children included: John (1690–1756), Peter (1692–1766), Mary (1694–ca. 1730), Sarah (1699–1731), Ebenezer (1701–1702), Thomas (1703–1706), Benjamin (1706–1790), Lydia (1708–1758), and Jane (1712–1794). James had seven other siblings from his father's earlier marriage. James married Ann Smith, who came from a Puritan family, in 1723, on his 26th birthday. The ceremony, in Boston, was performed by the Rev. John Webb of the New North Church. James Franklin was married to Ann Franklin and together that had a son, James Franklin Jr. who took over his father's newspaper, The Rhode Island Gazzette when his father died. Career James Franklin learned the printer's trade in England, thereafter returning to the American colonies in March 1717, bringing with him his own printing Ramage press and printer's type. to start in the printing trade, and younger brother, Benjamin, became indentured to him.