Biography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706. He was the youngest son in a family of seventeen. His father was a salesman of candles and soap. Because the Franklin family was poor, Ben wasn't able to get much education. When he was ten years old, his father took him out of school and taught him the soap and candle business. However, Benjamin disliked the trade. Two years later, Ben was apprenticed to his brother who was a printer and publisher of The New England Courant. He became a very good printer. While he was apprenticed, he had frequent arguments with his brother. In 1723 he left his brother and went to New York