Chronology

This epilogue traces the fates of Franklin's family and descendants after his death, including his estranged son William, his charming but irresponsible grandson Temple, his devoted daughter Sally, and his grandson Benjamin Bache. It also details Franklin's innovative bequest of £2,000 to establish loan funds for young tradesmen in Boston and Philadelphia, which grew over centuries into institutions and scholarship programs that embodied his belief in aiding aspiring artisans.

William Franklin, having sided with the British during the Revolution, received only worthless Canadian land claims and forgiveness of debts in his father's will. Embittered by this "shameful injustice," he never returned to America but spent his final years—after marrying his Irish landlady Mary D'Evelyn—in loneliness and estrangement. Temple Franklin inherited his grandfather's papers and estate but proved chronically unreliable, fathering illegitimate children and fleeing to Paris for fourteen years before finally publishing a incomplete edition of Franklin's Autobiography in 1817. Many of Franklin's precious papers were lost to history after Temple abandoned them in Philadelphia; they were eventually rediscovered in a tailor's shop in 1840 and scattered until the American Philosophical Society began systematic collection in the 1860s.

Sally and Richard Bache, Franklin's loyal daughter and son-in-law, received most of his property including the Market Street houses. Sally was also given a diamond-encircled Louis XVI miniature with the stipulation that she not convert the diamonds into jewelry, though she eventually sold them to fund a trip to England. Benjamin Bache, Franklin's young grandson, inherited the printing press and launched the fiercely partisan American Aurora newspaper in the Jeffersonian tradition, making it briefly the most popular paper in America before his arrest for sedition in 1798. He died of yellow fever at age 29, largely estranged from his parents. Polly Stevenson, who had revered Franklin for thirty-three years, received only a silver tankard and died in 1795, disenchanted with his family and America.

Franklin's most innovative bequest was £2,000 designated as a trust for young married tradesmen in Boston and Philadelphia, given at 5 percent annual interest as loans. He meticulously calculated that after one hundred years the fund would reach £131,000 in each city, and after two centuries would grow to approximately £4 million, ultimately disbursed to public projects. In Boston, the fund—modified as apprenticeships declined—grew to about $400,000 after one century, leading to the founding of Franklin Union (now Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology) with support from Andrew Carnegie. In Philadelphia, the fund accumulated more slowly to $172,000 due to stricter focus on poor individuals and lower repayment rates, but was ultimately distributed among the Franklin Institute, libraries, fire companies, and vocational scholarship programs. By 2001, scholarship recipients with diverse names built a battery-powered car that won an award, embodying Franklin's legacy of supporting aspiring young craftsmen.