The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Character Guide

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Benjamin Franklin

The narrator and author, a curious, bookish youth who becomes an apprentice printer in Boston before running away to seek his fortune.

Josiah Franklin

Benjamin's father, a Boston tallow chandler and soap-boiler who critiques his son's writing and steers him toward the printing trade.

James Franklin

Benjamin's older brother, a printer in Boston who takes Benjamin on as an apprentice and later clashes with him over authority and freedom.

Deborah Read (Miss Read)

A young woman in Philadelphia who first sees Benjamin as a bedraggled newcomer eating bread rolls on Market Street; she becomes significant to his later domestic life.

Samuel Keimer

An eccentric, disorganized Philadelphia printer for whom Franklin works after arriving in the city, and later a business rival.

Governor William Keith

The Governor of Pennsylvania who encourages young Franklin's ambitions and promises support for setting up his own printing business.

Andrew Bradford

An established Philadelphia printer, another early rival in the trade whom Franklin encounters upon arrival in the city.

Mr. Denham

A merchant who befriends Franklin, offers him honest counsel like a father, and gives him employment after a voyage together.

George Whitefield

A famous, powerful-voiced evangelist preacher whom Franklin admires for his oratory skill and befriends despite differing religious views.

Glossary

Errata

Franklin's term (borrowed from printing, meaning list of errors) for his own past moral mistakes or missteps in life.

Junto

A mutual-improvement club Franklin founded with friends for discussing morals, politics, and natural philosophy.

Indenture

A legal contract binding an apprentice to serve a master craftsman for a set number of years.

Chapmen's books

Cheap small books or pamphlets sold by traveling peddlers (chapmen) in the 18th century.

Nuncupative will

An oral will, spoken rather than written, later recorded by witnesses.

Nostrum

A quack remedy or pet scheme presented as a cure-all (used figuratively for personal doctrines).

Nostrum/Perspicuity

Clarity of expression in writing—one of the qualities Franklin's father found lacking in his early letters.

Venery

An archaic term for sexual indulgence, used in Franklin's virtue of Chastity.

Raree-show

An old term for a novel spectacle or curiosity displayed for amusement, akin to a peep-show.

Piece of eight

A Spanish silver dollar coin widely circulated in colonial America.

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