Page 22 - Boca Exposure - March '21

Page 22, Boca Exposure
Book Review

Book Of Ages: The Life And Jane Franklin Born on March 27 – 1712 the author to determine
much of what Jane
Edward Mecom Marryed to Jane Franklin the 27th of
Opinions Of Jane Franklin July 1727 wrote.
Through the years, she would add many entries, Adding enormously
By Nils A. Shapiro including the births of 12 children and the deaths of 11 of both to the pleasure and
I am not one who them. Hers was not an easy life, but one that participated the information in Book
generally makes it a point to in the great events of her time and our nation’s history. of Ages is the unusually
reread books I have already After serving as a printer and bookseller in Philadelphia, extensive 162-page
enjoyed a first time; there Benjamin had gone to England and lived there for decades reference section that
are so many new books during the colonial period, developing his reputation follows the almost
being published every day there (fathering a bastard son during that time) and 300-page history that
on subjects that interest returning home for visits only once every 10 years. His is the heart of the book.
me. But while watching relationship with Jane, as loving and close as it truly was, While some will simply
on television the recent was therefore limited to their two-way correspondence ignore this addendum, I
inauguration of the first of hundreds of letters that were carried by mutual friends found it fascinating. It
woman to hold the office of across the Atlantic. includes an explanation
Vice President of the United States, the historic import of the Through these letters we become first-hand witnesses of Lepore’s methods
moment suddenly made me think of another woman I had to the founding of our nation as she experienced them, and sources used to
read about several years ago – one who had lived in a very an average colonist in Boston: “the shot heard ‘round gather so many of the previously lost details of Jane
different America. I had been deeply touched by her story, the world” that lit the flame of the Revolution; the mob Franklin’s life; a genealogy of the Franklin family dating
had reviewed at the time a splendidly written biography of colonists disguised as Mohawks who attacked the back to 1665 (which is very helpful, since many of the
of her in this column and highly recommended it. I now British ship in the harbor to protest the tea tax, an event children were named for parents, grandparents, etc.); a
read that book again after finding it among the hundreds of that became known as the Tea Party; the secret meetings detailed calendar of all the letters written by Jane and
volumes in my home office library and, after first intending in taverns, the rumors of uprisings, Paul Revere’s ride to Benjamin, and others, from January 1727 to July 1793; a
to write a new review comparing that woman’s very different warn of the British invasion, and much more. Jane wrote chapter about all of the books that Jane had in her home
circumstances to today’s America, in which women are to her brother of all that was happening around her, and library, and how she obtained them; and, best of all, a
playing an ever-increasing role, I decided that my original her fear of the coming war. remarkably comprehensive and helpful 90-page section of
review, presented here, has stood the test of time. Across the Atlantic, Benjamin – though acclaimed and notes tied to footnotes from each chapter in the book (see
***** celebrated in England over a period of many years – was an example in the next paragraph), and an index.
When we learn history, it is almost always by reading now sending secret messages of his own to contacts in the Here is an example of the kind of information you
about the events and lives of the most famous people of their colonies, providing valuable information about the king’s will find by turning to the notes section from time to
times, and their achievements. There are rare exceptions, military plans, until one of his messages was intercepted by time. In Chapter 4, after the following sentences, there is
and I have reviewed one or two such books in past Review a traitor and he was deported from England. In the colonies, a footnote marked 8: “Men waged wars, but for women
columns; A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome comes to mind. his own son, the Governor of New Jersey, continued to be each birth was another battle. No woman dared imagine
This month’s selection is another – a book I came upon a Royalist who protested against the Revolution and was herself spared, not by grace, not by wealth: pain was
strictly by chance while browsing through a local bookstore, eventually branded a traitor to the new nation. her portion. Even if she survived childbirth, she could
which is where I discovered what turned out to be this Perhaps the most striking, and saddest, example of the scarcely expect that her child would.”
remarkable literary treasure. difference in Benjamin’s and Jane’s status is the fact that So I turned to the notes section at the back of the book,
What led me to select it from the thousands of other hundreds of Benjamin Franklin’s letters are preserved to number 8 under Chapter 4, and this is what I found: “On
volumes on this store’s shelves I have no idea. I had never in archives and are worth fortunes today, whereas the average, an eighteenth-century white woman could expect
heard of the book, nor of the woman whose life story it first letter from Jane that survives is one she wrote not to become pregnant between five and ten times, to give
tells. Indeed, I never even knew that Benjamin Franklin to her brother but to his wife (who had stayed behind in birth to between five and seven live children. Mary Beth
had a sister! Philadelphia, did not see Benjamin for years at a time, Norton, Liberty’s Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience
But that fact did surprise and intrigue me. And the and died while he was still in England); Jane wrote that of American Women, 1750-1800 (Boston: Little, Brown,
excerpts of glowing reviews on the back cover, together letter when she was 45 years old! (All the letters she had 1980), 72.” I found that extra fact quite interesting.
with the fact that the book was a finalist for the coveted written before that time have been lost to history because With unanimous praise from reviewers who described
National Book Award when published in 2013, was enough they were not considered important!) this book as “luminous,” “marvelous,” “fantastic,” and
to convince me to make the purchase. And so, Book of Ages This fact alone makes clear how incredibly diligent and “eloquent,” perhaps The Washington Post said it best: “We
came home with me, where it has rested among my personal thorough was the research for this book on the part of its may know about Jane Franklin only because of her famous
library shelves ever since, almost forgotten … until I scanned author, Jill Lepore, who is Professor of American History brother, but he is not why she matters.”
my collection for a book to consider for this review column. at Harvard University and a staff writer at The New Yorker And Time Magazine said, “Jane Franklin’s indomitable
The result is one of the most compelling, most magazine. She has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and voice and hungry, searching intellect shine through these
emotionally moving, most impressive works of history I a winner of the Bancroft Prize. Lepore studied Benjamin pages; she will not be forgotten, and the world is richer for
have ever had the good fortune to experience. More than Franklin’s letters, many of which refer to the content of it.”
once, as I finished a chapter, I put this book down for a his sister’s letters in his responses to them, which enabled Read this book. You will be richer for it.
few minutes and simply sat quietly, pondering with a deep
empathy the life of Jane Franklin, the youngest of her
parents’ 17 children, seven girls and 10 boys. The youngest
of her brothers was Benjamin, who was six years older than
her. Jenny and Benny (as they were called) would be close,
caring and adoring brother and sister for all their lives, into
old age, the last of their family to survive. But that is the
only thing they had in common.
Benjamin, who left home at the age of 15 and did not
return for decades, would come to be revered throughout Do you know a family member,
the world as statesman, philosopher, scientist, author,
businessman, man of letters, governor, our nation’s first friend or a neighbor in need of
diplomat – a signer of the Declaration of Independence
and Constitution – while Jane would marry at 15 a man Home Health Care?
who failed at everything, borrowed his way into debtors’
prison and eventually went mad. She bore 12 children Get 4 hours of free care
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she admired how he had handled himself in an appearance Complimentary In-Home Consultation
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The book’s title, Book of Ages, is taken from one that
Jane herself created, “the paper made from rags, soaked and Family owned and operated. Boca Resident for 30+ years and Boca Pointe Members.
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Edward Mecom Senr Born in December 1704