Poor Richard’s Women: Deborah Read Franklin and the Other Women Behind the Founding Father

Journalist Stuart (Defiant Brides) offers a fresh perspective on Benjamin Franklin in this revealing study of his relationships with women. Though some scholars have described Franklin’s common-law wife, Deborah Read Franklin, as “ignorant” and “provincial,” Stuart rejects those characterizations as misogynist, noting that, despite her lack of formal education, Deborah’s business acumen was so astute Franklin gave her power of attorney during his absences. Deborah also raised Franklin’s out-of-wedlock son, Billy, though she “never loved nor accepted the child as her own,” according to Stuart. Perpetually torn between his “prudence” and his “passion,” Franklin’s affections often wandered, usually to younger women, though his deepest relationship outside of marriage was with a woman his age: Margaret Rooke Stevenson, his widowed landlady in London. After Deborah died in 1774, Margaret hoped that Franklin would marry her, but his attentions were soon divided between two aristocratic French women—one of whom was so alarmed by his insistent marriage proposals that she fled Paris for a friend’s home in Tours. Stuart paints a nuanced portrait of Deborah and the other women in Franklin’s life, briskly recounts the highlights of his long and varied career, and incisively analyzes the era’s gender dynamics. American history buffs will be fascinated. (Feb.)