The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin.
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Benjamin Franklin
major
Also known as Franklin, Benjamin, Dr. Franklin, B. Franklin, Mr. Franklin
Franklin opens his life as a letter to his son, tracing how a hungry apprentice became a master printer, civic improver, and Enlightenment celebrity. His hunger for reputation wars with his professed humility, and he confesses vanity, errata, and youthful missteps with a printer's eye for a good story. These early chapters establish the self-made template—industry, frugality, and self-improvement—that makes the book both a memoir and a manual.
Samuel Keimer
supporting
Also known as Keimer, S. Keimer
Keimer runs a ragged print shop where Franklin works while secretly measuring his own prospects against his master's disorder. Odd in dress and doctrine, he embodies the precarious tradesman Franklin vows not to become, and his decline sharpens Franklin's resolve to master the craft and the market. Their uneasy partnership marks the first rung of Franklin's climb from journeyman to proprietor.
James Ralph
supporting
Also known as Ralph, James, Jas. Ralph
Ralph arrives in London with Franklin, dreaming of patronage and verse while relying on his friend's purse and patience. His charm and fecklessness expose the young Franklin to the seductions of literary London and the hazards of supporting a friend's illusions. The relationship becomes an early lesson in character-reading and in the limits of generosity.
George Whitefield
supporting
Also known as the Reverend Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Whitefield
Whitefield sweeps the colonies with revival fervor, and Franklin, though skeptical of his doctrine, is fascinated by his oratory and its practical effects. Their friendship lets Franklin study persuasion at close range while profiting as printer of Whitefield's journals and sermons. The bond dramatizes Franklin's lifelong split between rational detachment and genuine admiration for charismatic power.
John Collins
minor
Also known as Collins, John, John ⸻
Franklin's boyhood friend from Boston who later fell into debt and drink.
Thomas Denham
supporting
Also known as Mr. Denham, Denham
Denham meets Franklin in London, lends him money, and urges him home with promises of employment, becoming the steady patron the young printer lacked. His plain honesty and business sense contrast with Keimer's chaos and Ralph's improvidence, giving Franklin a template for reputable dealing. Denham's trust shapes Franklin's early Philadelphia years and his emerging ideal of the virtuous merchant.
James Morris
minor
Also known as Mr. James Morris, Mr. Morris
Pennsylvania assemblyman and deputy postmaster who worked with Franklin.
Colonel Dunbar
minor
Also known as Dunbar
British officer commanding the rear of Braddock's expedition.
Andrew Bradford
supporting
Also known as Bradford, old Bradford
Bradford holds the town's printing and postal business when Franklin arrives, a fixture of the old order against which the newcomer measures himself. Their rivalry plays out through contracts, newspapers, and the post office, with Franklin exploiting every opening Bradford leaves. The contest defines Franklin's competitive method: patience, superior work, and strategic alliances rather than open confrontation.
William Franklin
supporting
Also known as William Temple Franklin, Temple Franklin
William Franklin is the intimate audience for the Autobiography's opening section, the son whose father writes with unusual warmth and informality. That closeness carries an undercurrent of tension: the same son would grow into a Loyalist officeholder, a choice that shadowed Franklin's later years. His presence shapes the book's very form, since the first part exists because a father wanted to tell his boy how he made his way.
Sir William Keith
supporting
Also known as Sir William, Keith, Governor Keith
Keith is the polished patron who takes an interest in the ambitious teenage printer and fills his head with plans for a London equipment-buying trip. His grand assurances prove hollow, leaving Franklin stranded abroad and forced to rely on his own wits. That betrayal becomes one of the Autobiography's sharpest early lessons about trusting flattery over written commitments.
Lord Loudoun
minor
Also known as Loudoun
British commander-in-chief in America during the French and Indian War.
General Braddock
supporting
Also known as Braddock
Braddock arrives in the colonies with professional swagger and little patience for frontier advice, including Franklin's cautions about ambush and Indian warfare. Franklin, drawn into the campaign as a supplier, watches his warnings go unheeded and disaster follow. The episode marks a turning point in Franklin's public life, showing him as a practical fixer caught between imperial arrogance and colonial reality.
Charles Osborne
minor
Also known as Osborne
Young friend of Franklin in Philadelphia, fond of disputation.
Captain Denny
minor
Also known as Denny
British officer who served under Braddock and later became governor.
Deborah Read
supporting
Also known as Miss Read
Miss Read is the early romantic thread in Franklin's narrative, the woman he leaves behind with vague promises when he sails for England. Her circumstances sour in his absence, and their reunion is complicated by an unfortunate marriage she could not escape. She matters because she turns Franklin's story from a lone apprentice's rise into a domestic reckoning about loyalty, absence, and second chances.
John Bigelow
minor
Also known as Mr. John Bigelow, Mr. Bigelow
Editor of the autobiography's first complete edition.
Thomas Bond
minor
Also known as Dr. Thomas Bond, Dr. Bond
Physician who co-founded the Pennsylvania Hospital with Franklin.
Andrew Hamilton
minor
Also known as Mr. Andrew Hamilton, Mr. Hamilton, Hamilton
Prominent Philadelphia lawyer who defended the printer Zenger.
Peter Collinson
minor
Also known as Mr. P. Collinson, Mr. Collinson
London merchant and botanist who corresponded with Franklin about electricity.
Thomas Godfrey
minor
Also known as Godfrey
Glazier and mathematician, inventor of the quadrant, friend of Franklin.
Captain Holmes
minor
Also known as Holmes
Sea captain and brother-in-law of Franklin who helped him in Boston.
General Shirley
minor
Also known as Shirley
British governor of Massachusetts and commander during the war.
Deborah Franklin
supporting
Also known as Mrs. Franklin
Deborah Franklin is the quiet anchor of Franklin's domestic and business life, managing the shop, the accounts, and the family while he travels and negotiates on behalf of the colonies. Their marriage is affectionate yet tested by distance, and she never crosses the ocean to join him. Her steadiness lets Franklin pursue public ambitions, making her an unsung partner in the very success the Autobiography sets out to explain.
Josiah Franklin
minor
Also known as Josiah
Franklin's father, a tallow chandler and candle maker in Boston.
Samuel Vernon
minor
Also known as Vernon, Mr. Vernon
Friend from Boston who lent Franklin money for his London trip.
Hugh Meredith
minor
Also known as Meredith
Franklin's partner in his first printing business in Philadelphia.
John Fothergill
minor
Also known as Dr. Fothergill
London physician who advised Franklin on colonial affairs.
Charles Brockden
minor
Also known as Brockden, Mr. Charles Brockden, Mr. Brockden
Philadelphia scrivener and friend who helped Franklin with legal documents.
David Harry
minor
Also known as Harry
Printer who worked for Keimer and later started his own business.
Ebenezer Kinnersley
minor
Also known as Mr. Kinnersley
Friend and collaborator who helped Franklin with electrical experiments.
Poor Richard
minor
Also known as X Poor Richard
Fictional persona of Franklin's almanac, dispensing proverbs and wit.
Riddlesden
minor
Also known as Riddlesden
A dishonest lawyer who tried to cheat Franklin's friend Vernon.
James Foster
minor
Also known as Dr. Foster, Dr. James Foster, Foster
English dissenting minister whose sermons Franklin admired.
Josiah Quincy
minor
Also known as Mr. Quincy
Boston merchant who visited Philadelphia and corresponded with Franklin.
Abel James
minor
Also known as James
Philadelphia merchant and friend who urged Franklin to write his autobiography.
Le Veillard
minor
Also known as Monsieur Le Veillard, the Le Veillard
French friend who received a manuscript copy of the autobiography.
Joseph Breintnal
minor
Also known as Breintnal
Philadelphia merchant and member of Franklin's Junto club.
George Webb
minor
Also known as Webb
An Oxford scholar turned printer's apprentice in Philadelphia.
Gilbert Tennent
minor
Also known as the Rev. Gilbert Tennent
Presbyterian minister and friend of Whitefield in Philadelphia.
Tom Jones
minor
Also known as Thomas
A friend of Franklin in London who helped him return to Philadelphia.
Alexander Pope
minor
Also known as Pope
English poet quoted by Franklin in the autobiography.
Cotton Mather
minor
Also known as Mather
Boston minister whose writings influenced Franklin's moral project.
Governor Denny
minor
Also known as Denny
Pennsylvania governor who clashed with Franklin over proprietary issues.
Captain Kennedy
minor
Also known as Kennedy
British naval officer who assisted Franklin in frontier defense.
Dalibard
minor
Also known as Dalibard
French scientist who translated Franklin's electrical experiments.
George Keith
minor
Also known as George Keith
Quaker preacher whose schism led to the founding of the first Pennsylvania press.
Hans Sloane
minor
Also known as Sir Hans Sloane
London physician and naturalist who purchased a curiosity from Franklin.
Stephen Potts
minor
Also known as Potts
A workman in Keimer's printing house, later a friend of Franklin.
Colonel Spotswood
minor
Also known as Spotswood
Former governor of Virginia who met Franklin in London.
Governor Clinton
minor
Also known as Clinton
British governor of New York during the French and Indian War.
Jean-Antoine Nollet
minor
Also known as M. Nollet
French scientist who disputed Franklin's electrical theories.
Joseph Watson
minor
Also known as Watson
Friend of Franklin in Philadelphia, later a successful merchant.
James Logan
minor
Also known as Mr. Logan
Pennsylvania statesman and scholar who lent Franklin books.
John Syng
minor
Also known as Mr. Syng
Philadelphia silversmith and friend of Franklin.
Lord Mansfield
minor
Also known as Mansfield
British judge who ruled on colonial legal matters.
John Bunyan
minor
Also known as Bunyan
Author of Pilgrim's Progress, which influenced Franklin's writing style.
Daniel Defoe
minor
Also known as Defoe, DeFoe, De Foe
English writer whose essays Franklin imitated as a youth.
Wygate
minor
Also known as one Wygate
Well-educated printer's apprentice who traveled with Franklin in London.
William Parsons
minor
Also known as Parsons
Friend of Franklin who became surveyor-general of Pennsylvania.
Robert Grace
minor
Also known as Mr. Robert Grace
Ironmaster who helped Franklin with printing equipment.
Richard Saunders
minor
Also known as Frederick
Pseudonym used by Franklin for Poor Richard's Almanac.
John Hanbury
minor
Also known as Hanbury
London merchant who helped Franklin with colonial lobbying.
