User:Junipergirl2022/sandbox

Edward Mecom ( m. 1727; died 1765)


 * children = 12 | parents = Josiah Franklin±

Abiah Folger | family = Benjamin Franklin (brother) }} Jane Franklin Mecom (March 27, 1712 – May 7, 1794) was the youngest sister of Benjamin Franklin and was considered one of his closest confidants. Mecom and Franklin corresponded for sixty-three years, throughout the course of Ben Franklin's life, and some of their letters survive.

Contents

 * 1Early life and family×
 * 2Life and work
 * 3Writing and involvement in politics
 * 4Later life
 * 5Notes
 * 6Sources
 * 7External links

Early life and family×
Mecom's father had seven children from a previous marriage. (I agree with marking this out; DrKB: Yes, it's really not relevant, as it gets repeated later) Mecom was the daughter of Josiah Franklin and his wife Abiah Folger; she was born on March 27, 1712, at Blue Ball house in Boston Massachusetts. She had ten siblings, only three of which were full, as her father had seven [DrKB: wait 3+7=10, not 9!] other children from a previous marriage. .^^^^^ Mecom was the youngest sister of Benjamin Franklin, of whom she corresponded with throughout the entirety of both of their lives. There are a number of surviving letters between the two; these letters are priceless sources for understanding women at the time, as well as Mecom herself. The pair was so close that they ended up living together for several years. ^^^^^ (Maybe add a short list/description on how she corresponded with Franklin throughout their lives--DrKB: I would not add too much here on that subject since this section is about her early life and family. But something about her closeness with Benjamin or other (step-)siblings might make sense.)

Mecom never attended a formal school, as public schools in Boston did not typically enroll females. Though Mecom never attended formal school, she learned to read and write under the tutelage of her brother Benjamin Franklin. This education under Franklin continued until Mecom was 11 years old. In 1723, Benjamin left home to become a printer in New York and escape his indenture to his brother, '''[DrKB: I see you deleted this reference and the description about her husband's education/profession--I said in the class you missed that deletions might be more prone to reversion since someone else took the trouble to include those topics. Make sure you are certain that the material is irrelevant! Here I can imagine that it wasn't just that BF left his sister for a promotion, but because something was wrong in his relationship to their brother]''' leaving his 11-year-old sister alone. Franklin first wrote a letter to Mecom in 1726, and their correspondence continued until Franklin's death in 1790.

At 15, Mecom was married, despite the legal marriage age in Massachusetts being 16. Although her brothers and most of her sisters had married by 24, none of them were wed before 20. She was married to a nearly illiterate 22-year-old saddler, Edward Mecom, a poor Scottish immigrant who was known for constant mood swings and outbursts. Constantly in deep debt, he spent much of their marriage in debtors' prison, leaving his wife to be the sole source of income. Mecom's historians agree that this likely was not a love match. Jill Lepore, the primary and only historian so far of Jane Franklin, theorizes that the young girl could have had an affair and become pregnant out of wedlock from it, and the marriage was an attempt to save the family dignity, ^^^^^although nothing is known to be fact^^^^^. [DrKB: excellent impulse to be clear, although the term "theorizes" pretty much says the same thing as you've added.] If there had been a child she miscarried it; her first son, Josiah Mecom, was born two years later and she named him for her father. He died three weeks before his first birthday.

Jane and Edward Mecom had twelve children: Josiah Mecom I, Edward "Neddy" Mecom, Benjamin "Benny" Mecom, Ebenezer Mecom, Sarah "Sally" Mecom, Peter Franklin Mecom, John Mecom, Josiah Mecom, Jane "Jenny" Mecom, James Mecom, Mary "Polly" Mecom, and Abiah Mecom.

One son, Benjamin, disappeared during the Battle of Trenton. Two of her sons struggled with mental illness. Mecom made efforts to keep her children out of debtors' prison, the almshouse, and asylums. Several of them succumbed to an illness now believed to be tuberculosis. Only one of Mecom's children outlived her, her daughter, Jane Collas. Her husband, Edward Mecom died in 1765 after 38 years of marriage, leaving no will, and leaving Mecom in debt.

Life and work
^^^^Mecom proved herself to be a very successful businesswoman. ===== [DrKB: use ==== at the end of additions] To earn money, Mecom boiled soap and took in boarders.

^^^^Mecom's soapmaking was a very successful endeavor; it was her father's trade, so it is likely that she learned from him. It was Mecom's homemade soaps that Franklin used to woo the French, presenting the image of a humbled, "homespun" American. ====

'''[DrKB: I like that you're adding info about her success as a businesswoman. You might have two paragraphs, one on soapmaking (and move up here the info about her homemade soaps being part of her brother's diplomacy with the French) and the other on boarding houses and related hustles]'''. Mecom also ran a boarding house for members of the House of Representatives in Boston in the 1750s which was likely where she began hearing about current political issues and forming opinions on them, which she more readily began to share in her correspondence with Benjamin Franklin.

In November 1766, she and her daughters Jenny and Polly established a small shop to sell caps and bonnets that they created using materials sent from London by a friend of Benjamin Franklin. Her skills in needlework and her brother's fame kept her products circulating among wealthier people. The shop failed when colonists boycotted imported products due to the Townshend Act, a decision Benjamin Franklin was politically inclined to encourage. In June 1768, she tried to open her business a second time and failed again.

By August 1768, Benjamin Franklin's political views had grown more radical in support of American politics and nonimportation, while Mecom detested the aggression of both sides at the time. Although Mecom is not widely believed to have been supportive of the American cause until 1774, evidence from Franklin's replies to Mecom suggest that she was writing in favor of nonimportation and American patriotism by January 1769. In 1769, Mecom moved to Philadelphia and did not return to Boston until the following year, consequently missing the events of and following the Boston Massacre. When the British invaded Boston in 1775, Mecom fled to Rhode Island to live with Catherine Greene, wife of the governor of Rhode Island. Shortly after Mecom moved to Philadelphia to live with Franklin, which marked the first time they had seen each other in 11 years. In 1777, she moved in with her granddaughter, Jenny Flagg Greene, until 1779 when she could safely return to Boston.

No letters passed between Franklin and Mecom between 1780 and 1782, but Franklin did secure an annuity for Mecom so that she would not have to worry about money.

Writing and involvement in politics
Although Jane Mecom and Benjamin Franklin corresponded for six decades following his departure from their childhood home, letters written by Mecom before 1758 are lost. Prior to that date, the only record of her writing is a slim book that she made to chronicle her life. Mecom named her chronicle "Book of Ages."

Mecom's letters to Franklin from 1770 to 1774 are lost, but a letter from November 1774 shows Mecom's involvement in both Franklin's career and the political situation in America at the time. Her interests in politics had grown substantially in her later life. Her distaste for Britain grew substantially, as well, so much so that she considered removing the "crown" stamp from her soaps to replace them with the 13 stars. In the postwar period, Mecom's letters show her to have grown in commitment for the American cause.^^^^^ Her opinion was notably strong throughout the entirety of her correspondence, and Franklin himself listened to many of the opinions and ideas Mecom 's ideas  held . ^^^^^ '''[DrKB: Any specific things he appreciated about her ideas? Relating specifics will help your additions have more effect--and don't forget to cite your sources!!]'''

Later life and Legacy
When Benjamin Franklin died in 1790, his will stipulated that Mecom should continue to live as she had since 1784, in her Unity Street house, which was owned by Franklin until she died. Franklin's memoirs were released after his death, containing no mention of Mecom.^^^^^This could potentially be due to one or a combination of three reasons. For one, his memoirs were handwritten and therefore difficult to transcribe, leaving possible omission of accounts of Mecom. There is also a chance that the men who transcribed Franklin's memoirs felt that mention of Mecom of unnecessary. Or, there is the assumed reason: he just never made mention of her. His final will, however, shows proof of Mecom's importance in his life. He, in addition to the house,^^^^^ (I like how you elaborated on why she wasn’t mentioned despite his contribution to her later life; DrKB: Yes, I agree! I would maybe change the title of this section to "Later life and legacy"?) arranged for an allowance of 50 pounds to be given to her each year, a sizable sum at the time. Jane died four years later on May 7, 1794, at 83, survived by her only remaining child, Jane Mecom. The house was demolished in 1939 to make room for a memorial to Paul Revere. There is no knowledge of where she is buried.

She gave the majority of her papers to her granddaughter, Jenny Mecom. Jared Sparks collected and published the correspondence between Mecom and Franklin, although he heavily edited Mecom's letters to change her original spellings. '''[DrKB: I'm very curious about the relationship between Jenny and Jared, and why Sparks changed her spellings. Might that be part of her legacy?]'''