Politics

Benjamin Franklin

The fifteenth of a candlemaker's seventeen children; arrived in Philadelphia with three bread rolls.

Born: 1706 · Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony
Roots: English colonial; a Puritan tradesman's family
Family: Working class; His candlemaker father could afford two years of schooling before apprenticing him, at 12, to an older brother's print shop.
Education: Two years of school; the print shop and borrowed books did the rest
Started with: Three bread rolls; By his autobiography's telling, his purchases on arriving in Philadelphia at 17, having fled his brother's apprenticeship.
Affiliations & societies: FreemasonryDocumented; Joined St. John's Lodge in 1731 and rose to Grand Master of Pennsylvania.; The JuntoDocumented; The mutual-improvement club he founded at 21; it seeded America's first lending library.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1723 · age 17
Runs away to Philadelphia
Breaks the apprenticeship to his brother; works as a journeyman printer.
1729 · age 23
The Pennsylvania Gazette
His press, his paper; Poor Richard's Almanack follows and makes him wealthy.
1748 · age 42
Retires from business
Rich enough at 42 to turn to science full-time.
1752 · age 46
The kite experiment
Lightning as electricity; the lightning rod follows, unpatented on principle.
1776 · age 70
Independence
Edits Jefferson's draft, then charms France into the alliance that wins the war.
1787 · age 81
The Constitution
The only person to sign all four founding documents; dies with 20,000 at the funeral.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.