Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He was
the tenth son of soap maker, Josiah Franklin. Benjamin's mother
was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah. In all, Josiah
would father 17 children. Josiah intended for Benjamin to enter
into the clergy. However, Josiah could only afford to send his
son to school for one year and clergymen needed years of
schooling. But, as young Benjamin loved to read he had him
apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer. After
helping James compose pamphlets and set type which was grueling
work, 12-year-old Benjamin would sell their products in the
streets. When Benjamin was 15 his brother started The New
England Courant the first "newspaper" in Boston. Though there
were two papers in the city before James's Courant, they only
reprinted news from abroad. James's paper carried articles,
opinion pieces written by James's friends, advertisements, and
news of ship schedules. Benjamin wanted to write for the paper
too, but he knew that James would never l