BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

      Benjamin Franklin was born February 1, 1812, in what is now Belmont county, Ohio, nearly opposite to Wheeling, West Virginia. He was descended in the fourth generation from a brother of the philosopher, Dr. Benjamin Franklin. When he was near twenty-one years of age he came with his father's family to Henry county, Indiana, and settled about three miles south of Middletown. Here he met, soon after, and married, Miss Mary Personet. There were born to them eleven children, nine of whom lived to be men and women.

      While with his father he became a skilled cabinet maker and followed this until he left off all manual labor and gave himself to preaching.

      Joseph and Isabelle Franklin were members of the Protestant Methodist church and were people of strong faith. But in their new home there was no Protestant Methodist church. In 1834 Samuel Rogers, from Kentucky, moved into the community and became a neighbor of the Franklins. Mr. Rogers at once began to preach to the people in a school house. There was such strong prejudice against what they called "Campbellism" as to cause the closing of the school house against him. Mr. Franklin had this prejudice also; but he felt a sense of injustice done to his neighbor, and gave him sympathy and support. The result was that he soon became convinced that Mr. Rogers was preaching true gospel, and became a member of the new church which was organized that same year. Altogether there were about forty, who, "believing, were baptized." Among these were Benjamin, Josiah, Daniel and Joseph Franklin, Jr., and John I. Rogers, son of Samuel Rogers. All of these became preachers. Josiah and Joseph Franklin died quite early. The others all lived to give thirty-five years or more to the ministry. There was a younger brother, David Franklin, who became a Christian half a dozen years later and gave his life thereafter to the ministry.

      Benjamin Franklin went into the Restoration with all the zeal that characterized this work in Kentucky and Indiana. He began to speak in public immediately after his baptism and in less than a year was filling appointments at sundry places. He was always more of an evangelist than a minister. Even while acting as the regular minister of churches, which he did much of the time for twenty years, he would find occasions for holding "protracted meetings," and was always successful in such work.

      During the last half of his public ministry he was in the evangelistic field exclusively. He kept no record of converts, but estimated that he had led about seven thousand persons into "the obedience of faith." In this work he traveled over most of the central states, and made many journeys into Eastern and Western states, and into three provinces of the Dominion of Canada. In his early years he made several changes of residence, living at two places in Henry county and three in Wayne county, Indiana. From 1850 to 1864 he lived in Cincinnati, Ohio. From 1864 till the year of his death, 1878, he lived in Anderson, Indiana. His body lies in an Anderson cemetery. [420]

      In 1845, while living at Centerville, Indiana, he began his editorial career. He bought a small printing office from Daniel K. Winder, who had for two years published from New Paris, Ohio, a small monthly called the Reformer. The paper was changed into a sixteen page pamphlet and was numbered "Vol. III." It was issued from Centerville for two years and then transferred to Milton, in the same county. About the same time he bought of Alexander Hall, The Gospel Proclamation, which Mr. Hall had been conducting for two years at Loydsville, Ohio, The two periodicals were merged and issued thereafter as the Proclamation and Reformer, containing sixty-four pages. After another two years the paper and its editor went to Hygeia, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, where Elder D. S. Burnet was conducting a school for young ladies and at the same time conducting a paper called the Christian Age. The two editors formed a partnership, and for a time issued the two periodicals. This arrangement was unsatisfactory and in a little while the interests of both were united in The Christian Age, and removed to Cincinnati, where it became the property of "The Christian Publication Society." Soon after these changes Benjamin Franklin withdrew from the paper, promising not to issue any periodical for two years. In 1856 he started the American Christian Review, of which he continued to be the editor until his death, in 1878.

      By the time of his last editorial venture the discussion between radicals and conservatives (often called "progress" and "old fogies.") was on. The editor of the American Christian Review was ultra conservative, and was easily the leader on that side. The periodical grew wonderfully and distanced all competitors for several years. The great Civil War of the sixties, was the first thing to weaken its influence. Thereafter the tide turned against the editor. He made heroic efforts and worked incessantly, editing the Review, holding evangelistic meetings in many states and in Canada and carrying on an immense correspondence. Ten years before his death he was an invalid, and should have closed his editorial work. But his partisan friends would not hear of it. They christened his paper the "Old Reliable," and insisted that it was the only hope of saving the Restoration. Their insistence held him to the work until his magnificent physical constitution was wrecked, and he died prematurely when some months less than sixty-seven years of age.

      The writing and publishing of two volumes of his best sermons, "The Gospel Preacher, Volumes I and II," contributed in no small degree to his physical break down. But these volumes contained his best work, and have had a very wide circulation. About half a dozen of his oral debates were printed in book form. Perhaps the tract entitled, "Sincerity Seeking the Way to Heaven," had the widest circulation of anything from his pen. It is still in print, (1903) and many copies are sold every year.

      Although the American Christian Review was always issued from Cincinnati, Mr. Franklin, in 1864, moved his family to Anderson, Indiana. In the third year of the Review, Geo. W. Rice became a full and equal partner, and was thereafter the general business manager, contributing largely to its success. The firm was known under the title of "Franklin and Rice."

[COC 420-421]