Ben Franklin died, and most Philadelphians attended his funeral, on this week in Philly history
Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790. He penned the inscription that would eventually appear at his Christ Church gravesite.
Of course Benjamin Franklin wrote his own epitaph.
At age 22 in 1728, his dark humor stronger than his sense of history, he penned the tomb inscription that would eventually appear at his grave site.
“The Body of B. Franklin, Printer; like the Cover of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be wholly lost; For it will, as he believ’d, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended By the Author.”
But at his death at age 84 on April 17, 1790, brought on by a bacterial infection in his lungs, history had outlived the humor.
The young man from Boston who had entertained tens of thousands with his wit and sarcasm under the pseudonym “Poor Richard” had become a sickly old man preparing for his end in his adopted hometown of Philadelphia.
“Still, in the intervals of pain, he not only amused himself with reading and conversing cheerfully with his family and a few friends, who visited him, but was often employed in doing business of a public as well as private nature, with various persons, who waited on him for that purpose,” according to his doctor, who provided a statement to the Federal Gazette.
By then he had become a Founding Father, having enlightened the colonies with printed wisdom, scientific breakthroughs, and scores of firsts: library, hospital, university.
In France, where Franklin spent years as a representative of the new nation, its people mourned the loss of their favorite American statesman.
In Congress, the willingness to honor Franklin was divided. James Madison persuaded his fellow members of the House of Representatives to wear symbols of mourning. The Senate, influenced by Franklin rivals John Adams and Richard Henry Lee, declined.
At his funeral, held on April 22, roughly 20,000 people in a town of about 28,000 showed up in honor of their great neighbor. Dignitaries including Samuel Powel and David Rittenhouse carried his casket.
He was laid to rest at Christ Church, and 235 years later his marble-topped grave remains a sacred site in the city.
And upon a brick wall near the grave hangs a plaque with his epitaph.