Great Three Inspirational Biographies

Author: Benjamin Franklin (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-02-13
Features: Franklin's Autobiography, written in 1771 at the home of the Bishop of St. Asaph in Twyford, I my dear son: I have always had a fondness for collecting anecdotes about my ancestors, even the most trivial matters. Perhaps you can still remember the days we spent together in England, the times when I traveled far and wide to visit the elders in my family. I think you are not very familiar with my life experiences. You should be very interested in learning more about them. Since I am currently retired to the countryside and have about a week of free time, I have taken my seat at home and written about my own experiences. In addition, there is another reason for doing so. I was born into poverty and obscurity, yet now I live a life of great wealth and have gained considerable reputation in the world. So far, everything has gone very smoothly for me, and this is the success of my way of doing things and my way of living. Of course, I also owe this to the care of God. I think these methods are worth emulating by my descendants. Because some of these situations may be similar to theirs, they should be willing to learn about them. When I recall the successes in my life, I often cannot help but think that if I had another chance to choose my life, I would still follow the same path, but I would hope to correct some of the errors in the first edition, just as an author corrects mistakes in a revised book. Indeed, it is not just about correcting errors. I also want to resolve the difficulties in my life more smoothly. However, even if this idea cannot be realized, I would still be willing to live as I originally did. Since this wish cannot be fulfilled, the best way to relive life is through remembrance. To make the memory last, it needs to be recorded. From one of my uncles, I obtained a record of our ancestors' stories, from which I learned that our family has lived in the parish of Acton, Northamptonshire, for at least 300 years, and he does not know how long they had been there before that, because at that time, people all over England used their own surnames. So perhaps it began when they adopted the surname "Franklin." Before that, the name "Franklin" represented a league of people who owned 30 acres of free land, and they made ironworking their secondary occupation. Until my uncle's time, our family still maintained this secondary occupation of ironworking. My uncle and my father, according to custom, had their eldest son also become a blacksmith. I also found records of births, marriages, and deaths after 1555 in the parish register of Acton. From that register, I learned that I was the youngest of the youngest for five generations. My grandfather, Thomas, was born in 1598 and lived in Acton until he was too old to work, when he moved to his son John's house. John, my father's master, was a dyer. He lived in the village of Banbury in Oxfordshire. My grandfather died there, and his eldest son, Thomas, lived in the old house in Acton, leaving this property to his only daughter. Her husband was a man named Fisher from Wellesley. Later, they sold this property to the current lord of the manor, Mr. East. My grandfather had four sons.