41 Benjamin Franklin Descendants
They Attended Ivy League University Founded by Famous Ancestor
Nov 8, 2009
Ben Franklin was a man of many talents. He dabbled in science, negotiated for French support during the Revolutionary War, started one of the nation’s first newspapers and founded a school which became one of the Ivy League universities. His inventions include bifocals and the lightning rod, library chair, swim fins, Franklin Stove, catheter, and Daylight Savings Time.
The University of Pennsylvania
In 1740, Benjamin Franklin founded a charity school in Philadelphia. In 1791, it became the University of Pennsylvania. It soon had one of the nation‘s first medical schools and was graduating men who would carve out stellar careers in dozens of newly emerging fields.
Penn has remained a private university and is a member of the prestigious Ivy League. It’s Wharton School of Finance and Annenberg School of Communications are known internationally, as are many of its other programs. An unusually high number of its graduates have won the Nobel Prize and other awards of excellence.
Franklin’s Descendants Attend Penn
These 41 descendants of Benjamin Franklin have attended the University of Pennsylvania. They are listed by graduation year.
- William Temple Franklin, 1780
- Benjamin Franklin Bache, 1787
- William Bache, 1790, 1794 (Medical School)
- Franklin Bache, 1810, 1814 (Medical School)
- Richard Bache Jr., 1812
- Benjamin Franklin Bache, 1823 (Medical School)
- William Duane, 1825
- George Mifflin Bache, 1835 (Medical School)
- Henry Jonathan Sergeant, 1836
- Richard Bache Duane, 1841
- Thomas Hewson Bache, 1846
- Benjamin Franklin Duane, 1847
- William Sergeant, 1847
- Charles Meigs Bache, 1849
- Richard Meade Bache, 1850
- Albert Dabadie Bache, 1852
- Duane Williams, 1854
- Charles Hodge Jr., 1855 (Medical School)
- Charles Williams Duane, 1858
- Richard Norris Williams, 1880
- Louis Bancel La Farge, 1888 (Medical School)
- Franklin Bache, 1890 (Engineering)
- Russell Duane, 1891 (Law School)
- Benjamin Harris Brewster Jr., 1891
- William Duane, 1892; 1922
- William Pepper, 1894, 1897 (Medical School), 1932
- Benjamin Franklin Pepper, 1903 (Law School)
- Oliver Hazard Perry Pepper, 1905, 1908 (Medical School)
- Seaton Schroeder Jr., 1911 (Engineering)
- Charles Hodge IV, 1922
- Christopher Grant La Farge, 1923
- Morris Duane, 1926 (Law School)
- William Duane Jr., 1927 (Medical School)
- Dickinson Sergeant Pepper, 1932 (Medical School)
- George Willing Pepper, 1934
- Quincy Norris Williams, 1957
- Seaton Schroeder IV, 1964
- Richard Davis Wood III, 1964 (Law School)
- Thomas Sergeant Pepper, 1966
- O. H. Perry Pepper, 1967
- Elise Ravenel (Wood) DuPont, 1979 (Law School)
Elise DuPont, the only woman on the list, is the wife of former Delaware Gov. Pierre Samuel du Pont 4th. She headed for law school when her two oldest children were in college.
Pepper, Perry and LaFarge Families
William Pepper Jr. (1843-1898) married Frances Sergeant Perry (1848-1918). She was the daughter of Christopher Grant Perry (1812-1857) and the former Muriel Frances Sergeant (1817-1903), and the granddaughter of War of 1812 Naval hero Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (1785-1819) and his wife, the former Elizabeth Champlin Mason (1791-1858). William Pepper, a prominent physician, became Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. A century of Peppers were either Penn Medical School professors or in a position to guide the school’s progress. Their origin was German; their fortune was made in beer and invested in valuable real estate.
Margaret Mason Perry, older sister of Frances, married John LaFarge. He was a talented painter, muralist and writer noted for his masterpiece stained glass windows. It is Muriel Frances Sergeant, the mother of Margaret and Frances, who descends from Benjamin Franklin.
The Bache, Duane and Sergeant Families
Benjamin Franklin Bache was the son of Richard Bache and Sarah Franklin (1743-1808). Sarah was the daughter of Benjamin Franklin and his wife, the former Deborah Read. Richard and Sarah’s children also included Deborah Franklin Bache, who married William J. Duane, and Sarah Franklin Bache, who married Thomas Sergeant.
Benjamin F. Bache followed his grandfather’s lead and became a journalist and newspaper editor and publisher. He was arrested after suggesting that George Washington had collaborated with the British during the Revolutionary War, but died of yellow fever at age 29 before the trial was begun.
Source:
Publications of the University of Pennsylvania, the primary one being a 1985 issue of The Pennsylvania Gazette, a monthly magazine sent to alumni.
 |
 |
 |
 |
