Benjamin Thompson, like Franklin, was a native of Massachusetts, his
ancestors for several generations having been yeomen in that province,
and descendants of the first colonists of the Bay. In the diploma of
arms granted him when he was knighted by George III., he is described
as "son of Benjamin Thompson, late of the province of Massachusetts
Bay, in New England, gent." He was born in the house of his
grandfather, Ebenezer Thompson, at Woburn, Massachusetts, on March 26,
1753. His father died at the age of twenty-six, on November 7, 1754,
leaving the infant Benjamin and his mother to the care of the
grandparents. The widow married Josiah Pierce, junior, in March, 1756,
and with her child, now a boy of three, went to live in a house but a
short distance from her former residence.
Young Thompson appears to have received a sound elementary education
at the village school. From some remarks made by him in after years
to his friend, M. Pictet, it has been inferred that he did not receive
very kind treatment at the hands of his stepfather. It is clear,
however, that the most affectionate relationships always obtained
between him and his mother, and the latter appears to have had no
cause to complain of the treatment she received from her second
husband, with whom she lived to a very good old age. That Thompson in
early boyhood developed some tendencies which did not meet with ready
sympathy from those around him is, however, equally clear. His
guardians destined him for a farmer, like his ancestors, and his
experiments in mechanics, which took up much of his playtime and in
all probability not a few hours which should have been devoted to less
interesting work, were not regarded as tending towards the end in
view. Hence he was probably looked upon as "indolent, flighty, and
unpromising." Later on he was sent to school in Byfield, and in 1764,
at the age of eleven, "was put under the tuition of Mr. Hill, an able
teacher in Medford, a town adjoining Woburn." At length, his friends
having given up all hope of ever making a farmer of the boy, he was
apprenticed, on October 14, 1766, to Mr. John Appleton, of Salem, an
importer of British goods and dealer in miscellaneous articles. He
lived with his master, and seems to have done his work in a manner
satisfactory on the whole, but there is evidence that he would, during
business hours, occupy his spare moments with mechanical contrivances,
which he used to hide under the counter, and even ventured
occasionally to practise on his fiddle in the store. He stayed with
Mr. Appleton till the autumn of 1769, and during this time he attended
the ministry of the Rev. Thomas Barnard. This gentleman seems to have
taken great interest in the boy, and to have taught him mathematics,
so that at the age of fifteen he was able "to calculate an eclipse,"
and was delighted when the eclipse commenced within six seconds of his
calculated time. Thompson, while an apprentice, showed a great faculty
for drawing and designing, and used to carve devices for his friends
on the handles of their knives or other implements. It was at this
time he constructed an elaborate contrivance to produce perpetual
motion, and on one evening it is said that he walked from Salem to
Woburn, to show it to Loammi Baldwin, who was nine years older than
himself, but his most intimate friend. Like many other devices
designed for the same purpose, it had only one fault--it wouldn't go.
It was in 1769, while preparing fireworks for the illumination on the
abolition of the Stamp Act, that Thompson was injured by a severe
explosion as he was grinding his materials in a mortar. His note-book
contained many directions for the manufacture of fireworks.
During Thompson's apprenticeship those questions were agitating the
public mind which finally had their outcome in the War of
Independence. Mr. Appleton was one of those who signed the agreement
refusing to import British goods, and this so affected the trade of
the store that he had no further need for the apprentice. Hence it was
that, in the autumn of 1769, Thompson went to Boston as
apprentice-clerk in a dry goods store, but had to leave after a few
months, through the depression in trade consequent on the
non-importation agreement.
His note-book, containing the entries made at this time, comprised
several comic sketches very well drawn, and a quantity of business
memoranda which show that he was very systematic in keeping his
accounts. His chief method of earning money, or rather of making up
the "Cr." side of his accounts, was by cutting and cording wood. A
series of entries made in July and August, 1771, show the expense he
incurred in constructing an electrical machine. It is not easy to
determine, from the list of items purchased, the character of the
machine he constructed; but it is interesting to note that the price
in America at that time of nitric acid was _2s. 6d._ per ounce; of
lacquer, _40s._ per pint; of shellac, _5s._ per ounce; brass wire,
_40s._ per pound; and iron wire, _1s. 3d._ per yard. The nature of the
problems which occupied his thoughts during the last year or two of
his business life are apparent in the following letters:--
Woburn, August 16, 1769.
Mr. Loammi Baldwin,