(Benjamin Franklin) | Fulfilling a civic responsibility

(Benjamin Franklin)

Manuscript list of "Grand Jury City Sessions," [Philadelphia,] April 1741, on a slip of laid paper (317 x 102 mm) cut from a larger sheet (watermarked Pro Patria with Maid of Dort), being a list of 24 jurors and alternates, including Benjamin Franklin, George Mifflin, William Callender, Joseph Sims, and other Philadelphians, both celebrated and obscure, signed by, and evidently in the hand of Septimus Robinson, Sheriff of the City and County of Philadelphia (“Sept. Robinson Sher.”); lightly browned, some minor repairs on verso. 

An intriguing piece of manuscript ephemera testifying to Franklin's early civic engagement, of which Jay Snider writes: “I love this bit of ephemera, plainly listing Benjamin Franklin as a juror, in the days when he was becoming quite a force in Philadelphia society but before he had achieved great fame. Here he is, fulfilling his duty as a citizen, just like everyone else.

“I have tried, in this collection, to assemble a diverse array of things that represent the man in all his facets: printer; entrepreneur; civic institution builder; politician; family patriarch; inventor; philosopher (in the 18thc sense); and everyday guy. This item fits in the last category.

“But it turns out there is more than meets the eye here if one is only searching for Ben. There are some others, among the 24 jurors chosen that year, that played a role in Ben’s life: for example, William Coleman and Hugh Roberts, two of Franklin’s very best friends. Both were members of the Junto—Coleman an original member. Coleman was also the treasurer of the Library Company; the treasurer of the first, failed, American Philosophical Society; a director of the Philadelphia Contributionship; and he was also named by Franklin as an advisor on his 1750 and1757 wills. Roberts, in addition to being a Junto member, was an original director of the Library Company; a founding member of the Union Fire Company; one of the original managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital; and a director of the Philadelphia Contributionship.

“And there are more from Ben’s circle: Richard Sewell, a member of the Union Fire Company; Samuel Coates, a Library Company and Union Fire Company member; and Joseph Stretch, who held subscription #8 to the Library Company. He was elected a director in 1740 and served for many years. Franklin was either a founder or co-founder of every one of these institutions. One wonders if he organized his own posse to sit in the jury pool, if for no other reason than to keep him amused.

“Lastly, I must also mention that Simon Edgill was on that list. Franklin and Meredith rented his house to set up their printing business in 1728. Looking beyond Franklin to Philadelphia colonial history, this is quite an interesting little document.”

PROVENANCE

Caren Archive (Bonhams, 7 April 2014, lot 38)