Summary: Ben had an illegitimate son named Bill, whom he acknowledged, raised and educated. Of course, Bill became a Tory, since his own father was, after all, the greatest of Patriots. The two men broke off relations over the political divide. Bill was ultimately imprisoned, then freed, then left for England never to return to the land his father founded. An old story.
William Franklin
See also: William Franklin
In 1730, at the age of 24, Franklin publicly acknowledged the existence of William, his son, who was deemed ‘illegitimate’ as he was born out of wedlock, and raised him in his household. His mother’s identity is not known.[30] He was educated in Philadelphia.
Beginning at about age 30, William studied law in London in the early 1760s. He fathered an illegitimate son, William Temple Franklin, born February 22, 1762. The boy’s mother was never identified, and he was placed in foster care. Franklin later that year married Elizabeth Downes, daughter of a planter from Barbados. After William passed the bar, his father helped him gain an appointment in 1763 as the last Royal Governor of New Jersey.
A Loyalist, William and his father eventually broke relations over their differences about the American Revolutionary War. The elder Franklin could never accept William’s position. Deposed in 1776 by the revolutionary government of New Jersey, William was arrested at his home in Perth Amboy at the Proprietary House and imprisoned for a time. The younger Franklin went to New York in 1782, which was still occupied by British troops. He became leader of the Board of Associated Loyalists — a quasi-military organization, headquartered in New York City. They initiated guerrilla forays into New Jersey, southern Connecticut, and New York counties north of the city.[31] When British troops evacuated from New York, William Franklin left with them and sailed to England. He settled in London, never to return to North America.
In the preliminary peace talks in 1782 with Britain, “… Benjamin Franklin insisted that loyalists who had borne arms against the United States would be excluded from this plea (that they be given a general pardon). He was undoubtedly thinking of William Franklin.”[32]