Deborah Read was 15 years old when she first saw Benjamin Franklin while standing on the front porch of his parents' boarding house in Philadelphia.  Benjamin had just arrived in the city after leaving his home in Boston and he was, as she described, odd-looking, wet, disheveled and eating a roll.  He was also 17 years old and a young man out to make a future for himself.  Deborah herself, though not formally educated, was hard working, thrifty and clever enough to sense that Benjamin Franklin would do just that.  

When Benjamin became a lodger at the Read home, the two fell in love and it seemed the perfect match.  However, when Benjamin asked for Deborah's hand in marriage, Deborah's mother declined permission because of Deborah's youth and questions she had about Benjamin's financial and career status.  Deborah's mother would live to regret her decision as Deborah eventually married another man named John Rogers who proved an unloving and unreliable husband, deserting his young bride to live in Barbados and taking Deborah's dowry with him.  Rumors of his death later opened the way for Benjamin to marry Deborah in 1730.  Two children eventually joined the Franklin household, along with Franklin's illegitimate son, William, whom Deborah raised as her own.  

The Franklins proved to be well-matched in many ways.  Like Benjamin, Deborah had a head for business and together they ran a printing shop and a general store selling everything from soap to fabric. Benjamin also owned a book shop and in 1732, started publishing his "Poor Richard's Almanack", a pamphlet full of wit and wisdom which became an instant success.  Benjamin also involved himself in scientific and civic affairs, leaving Deborah often alone to see to the family businesses and the care of their children.  In 1757, Franklin was chosen as a colonial representative and moved to England, begging Deborah to join him there.  However due to her fear of sea travel, Deborah declined and as a result, during their 44 years of marriage, they were apart for over 18 years, a time which she often referred to as years of "dissatisfied distress".  When Deborah died suddenly of a stroke in 1774, her husband was still living in England.  When Benjamin Franklin was later elected to the historical Second Continental Congress and worked on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, then served as the ambassador to France, he did so as a widower.  Franklin never married again.  

Deborah Franklin was buried in Christ Church cemetery in Philadelphia.  Benjamin joined her in death nearly 16 years later and was buried beside her.  It was a long and eventful marriage, much of it sacrificed to the service of country, something Franklin was very much aware of when he said of Deborah, "She proved a good and faithful helpmate, assisted me much by attending the shop; we throve together and have ever mutually endeavored to make each other happy."

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