William Temple Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society

The son of William Franklin, Royal Governor of New Jersey, William Temple Franklin worked as aide to his grandfather, Benjamin Franklin, when the latter served as minister to France during the American Revolution. A bonvivant, Temple received his highest public appointment as Secretary to the American delegation at the Treaty of Versailles in 1782-1783, largely through the influence of his famous grandfather, but never again attained a significant post. As Franklin's literary heir, he edited and published a three volume set of his grandfather's writings in 1817. He married his long time mistress a few months before his death in Paris in 1823.

The William Temple Franklin Papers provides a richly detailed portrait of the life of the grandson of Benjamin Franklin, and consists largely of letters received during the years that Temple served as his grandfather's aide in France, 1776-1785. Although much of the correspondence is routine, during this period, Temple received regular reports from friends and diplomatic colleagues relaying information on the American Revolution, the course of diplomatic and peace negotiations, and French public opinion on Benjamin Franklin and the new United States. The collection is also a rich resource for information on the personal lives of the Franklins, including interesting correspondence from Temple's relatives William Franklin, Elizabeth Franklin, Sarah Franklin Bache, and Jonathan Williams, and his mistress Blanchette Caillot.

Background note

Shortly after his birth in London in 1760, William Temple Franklin was sent out to be raised by a string of foster mothers. The illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin's illegitimate son William and of an unidentified woman of apparently ill repute, Temple was kept far away from the public eye as his father advanced in career and social standing. When Temple was two, his father married respectably and left England to become Royal Governor of New Jersey, and only at age four would Temple begin his slow integration into the fractious Franklin family.

Kept ignorant of his parentage, Temple was introduced into Franklin's Craven Street home as "William Temple," a protégé of his grandfather, while the expenses of his lodging and schooling were funneled quietly through Margaret Stevenson to his absent father. Temple enjoyed the benefits of an excellent education and an amiable social circle and was considered a charming, if sometimes irresponsible young boy, yet it was only years later, when he was asked to accompany his grandfather on his return to Philadelphia in the spring of 1775, that he was at last apprised of his identity. The news, as he soon discovered, was a mixed blessing. Simmering tensions between Benjamin and William over both personal and political differences came to head in May 1775 when the three generations of Franklins met in at Joseph Galloway's farm at Trevose, Bucks County, Pa., to reacquaint themselves and attempt to reconcile. Rather than reunion, however, this meeting provoked a rancorous split between the elder, headstrong Franklins, with the flighty Temple caught in the middle. Although Temple left Trevose with William to become acquainted over the summer, Benjamin insisted that he return to Philadelphia in the fall to begin college -- and not coincidentally, to remain under Benjamin's close supervision.

At the end of an indifferent year at the College of Philadelphia, Temple received news that his father had been declared "an enemy to the liberties of this country" and thrown into prison. Benjamin grew alarmed when Temple decided to travel to New Jersey late in the summer to console his step-mother Elizabeth, and wrote to his grandson to express concern for his safety being so near British lines, but beneath that, he feared that Temple was falling under the sway of Loyalist sympathies. Having already lost a son to the Tories, Benjamin was determined not to lose his grandson. In early September, Benjamin quashed Temple's request to visit his father in prison, claiming at first that useful intelligence might be passed to the enemy, but adding later that he prevented the visit out of "tender Concern" for Temple's welfare during the perilous trip to Connecticut.

In the long run, Benjamin won out in the contest for Temple's loyalties, and when the aging diplomat was called upon to travel to France to secure support for the American cause late in September 1776, Temple came along as his personal aide. From his grandfather's side, Temple was provided with a uniquely privileged view on the sensitive negotiations between the fledgling United States and the French crown, and his grandfather regularly favored him with highly visible assignments to prepare him for future betterment. In December 1777, for example, Temple was selected to deliver the critically important Treaty of Amity between France and the new United States to the French ministry.

Yet despite his grandfather's assistance, Temple did little to distinguish himself, attracting a chorus of doubters as time progressed. Grown into a feckless, seemingly aimless young man, Temple was inclined to dandyism and took to the social life in France with as deep an enthusiasm as his grandfather, but without the wit or intellectual depth, and certainly without the personal discipline and commitment to Republican principles. Worse, Temple seems to have acquired an aptitude for infelicitous choices, gladly embracing the Mesmerist fad, for example, despite his grandfather's reservations on the subject, and even joining the pro-Mesmer Société d'Harmonie. Perhaps to prove his mettle and his commitment to serious matters, Temple teamed up with the Marquis de Lafayette in the summer of 1779 (a fellow fan of Mesmer) to plan an invasion of Britain, but like many of Temple's plans, this one never came to pass.

Despite his grandson's insouciance, Benjamin continued to work on Temple's behalf, initiating him into his Masonic Loge des Neuf Soeurs and scheming, as he once had for William, to see Temple marry well. In 1781, Benjamin attempted to strike a match between Temple and Cunegonde, daughter of Franklin's beloved Mme Brillon. "Having almost lost my own daughter because of the wide distance between us," he wrote to Mme Brillon, "I hoped to find another one in you, and still another in your daughter, to take care of my old age." Citing Temple's Protestantism as an excuse, however, the Brillons rejected the union. In characteristic Franklin fashion, Temple rebounded by taking up with a married neighbor at Passy, Blanchette Caillot, with whom he had a natural son, Théodore.

Through his grandfather's influence in 1782 -- and over the opposition even of many of Benjamin's allies -- Temple landed the most important assignment of his career when he was appointed as Secretary to the Peace Commission. But rather than advancing his prospects, this appointment may actually have hindered them by piquing the jealousy and animosity of his rivals. It is likely that the failure of Benjamin's efforts to win a ministerial appointment for Temple in 1783 can be attributed to a combination of resentment over Benjamin's manipulation and Temple's personality, which everyone but Benjamin now considered disreputable. When Polly Stevenson visited Benjamin at Passy in 1784, even she was disimpressed with the man Temple had become, writing that he had become "so engaged in the pursuit of pleasure that he is not an amiable or respectable character."

Before their returning to the United States in 1785, Benjamin and Temple parlayed with William yet again in a half-hearted attempt to work out their differences. Although there was no reconciliation, William agreed (not entirely willingly) to aid his son by selling him his New Jersey and New York properties at a bargain price. When Benjamin died on April 17, 1790, Temple inherited his library and became his literary executor. Although this seemed to instill an enthusiasm in Temple over plans to publish his grandfather's works, once again things did not go as planned. Gathering the manuscript of the autobiography and some important correspondence that he intended to use to update it, Temple returned to England in 1792 only to find that a French translation of it had already appeared. He decided, however, to continue on with his project, working slowly to produce a more complete edition.

Reuniting with his father in 1792, still unmarried, Temple chafed under William's demands that he find a wife, and shortly after fathering another illegitimate child, Ellen, with the daughter of his father's second wife, Temple broke bitterly away and moved to Paris. Without his grandfather's guiding hand, Temple continued on the same aimless path. His three volume edition of the Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin did not appear until 1817. He lived the last six years of his life with his English mistress Hannah Collyer, whom he finally married a months before his death in 1823.

Scope and content

The William Temple Franklin Papers provides a richly detailed portrait of the life of the grandson of Benjamin Franklin, concentrated in letters received by Temple in the years that he served as his grandfather's aide in France, 1776-1785. Although much of the correspondence is perfunctory, during this period, Temple received regular reports from friends and diplomatic colleagues relaying information on the American Revolution, the course of diplomatic and peace negotiations, and French public opinion on Benjamin Franklin and the new United States.

The collection is equally valuable for providing insight into the personal lives of the Franklins, their sometimes contentious family life, indiscretions, and their intricate web of personal quarrels and alliances. The letters from Temple's father William and step-mother Elizabeth provide a glimpse into the stress Temple must have endured during his father's imprisonment during the summer of 1776, and Temple was in regular friendly contact with his aunt Sarah Bache Franklin and kinsman Jonathan Williams. There are also over 40 letters from Blanchette Caillot, Temple's mistress and mother of his son who died early.

The finding aid is divided into two parts:

Upon calendaring, the W. T. Franklin Papers were bound into volumes in roughly chronological order. Although the collection has been rearranged chronologically, we have retained the original volume and folio numbers for reference purposes.

Administrative information

Restrictions

None.

Provenance

Gift of Charles Pemberton Fox, 1840.

Preferred citation

Cite as: William Temple Franklin Papers, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Recatalogued and encoded by rsc, April 2003.

Other finding aids

Most of the William Temple Franklin Papers are calendared in I. Minis Hays, Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 5 (Philadelphia: APS, 1908).

Additional information

Related material

Several other collections at the APS relate to William Temple Franklin, including:

References

Franklin, William Temple, Sketch of William Temple Franklin's services to the United-States of America (Philadelphia, 1789). Call no.: Broadside 973 C583 no.482.

The Printed Materials Department also houses most of the works published or edited by William Temple Franklin, including:

Franklin, William Temple, The Private Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin (London, 1817). Call no.: B F85f763.

Franklin, William Temple, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, 3 vols. (London, 1818). Call no.: B F85f77.