11 Facts About Deborah Read

John Deborah Read was a moderately prosperous building contractor and carpenter who died in 1724.

Deborah Read had three siblings: two brothers, John and James, and a sister, Frances.

The Deborah Read family immigrated to British America in 1711, settling in Philadelphia.

When Franklin was unable to find appropriate living accommodations near his job, Deborah Read's father allowed him to rent a room in the family home.

In Franklin's absence, Deborah Read was persuaded by her mother to marry John Rogers, a British man who has been identified variously as a carpenter or a potter.

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Four months after they were married, Deborah Read left Rogers after a friend of Rogers' visiting from England informed her that Rogers had a wife in his native England.

Deborah Read refused to live with or recognize Rogers as her husband.

Deborah Read helped to raise Franklin's illegitimate son William, whose mother's identity is still unknown.

Deborah Read refused to accompany him due to a fear of ocean travel.

In 1768, Deborah Read suffered the first of a series of strokes that severely impaired her speech and memory.

Franklin continued to write to Deborah Read, inquiring as to why her letters had ceased, but still did not return home.