Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was one of seventeen other brothers and sisters. His father, Josiah Franklin, who emigrated from Oxfordshire, England, worked as a soap maker and tallow salesman. Benjamin's mother, Abiah Folger, was from Nantucket but her family also came from England. Benjamin Franklin's entire life, spanning most of the 18th century, was based on order and systematic discipline as well as a reliance on wisdom and intelligence. Franklin was sincere, honest, and prone to self-examination. He has acquired long-time friends from people of all ages. Benjamin Franklin began attending school at age 8 and was head of his class by the end of his first year. After only attending the first school for a year, he moved on to the school of mathematics and arithmetic. He failed school at the age of 10. He then left school entirely to assist his father in the soap and candle making business. At the age of 12 he went on to be apprenticed to his older brother James, who was a printer. Franklin soon had an ambition to write, and by the age of 16 he had written a series of letters from an imaginary author. The letters were printed in the New England Courant, published by his brother. Continuing his writing career, he ran away to Philadelphia and continued working in the printing business. He arrived in 1725 with a Dutch dollar and a copper shilling. By 1729 he had purchased and published The Pennsylvania Gazette. He then married his landlady's daughter, Deborah Reed. Over the next seventeen years Franklin had three children, published the first Poor Richards Almanac, and invented the Pennsylvania fireplace, a… paper medium… near water. Franklin answered many of the questions posed by water. He did experiments that showed the multiple effect of oil in water. He also built a miniature tow tank that demonstrated that the drag of an object dragged through water increased as depth decreased. Franklin worked on his first electrical experiment in 1747 and was immediately intrigued. He continued with his electrical experiments, including electrifying his kite string during a storm. He also looked at how storms worked. Franklin learned how "airways" cause different weather patterns and storms. Franklin's life was largely composed of understanding phenomena that baffled others. This pushed him to succeed in many areas of life. His success was verified throughout his life. When he died, Franklin was honored with membership in twenty colleges or learned societies.