Franklin Benjamin Sanborn
Franklin Benjamin Sanborn was an American journalist, teacher, and biographer known for his connections to notable writers of the mid-19th century Concord School, including Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Born in 1831 in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, Sanborn graduated from Harvard College in 1855 and later taught at the progressive Concord School founded by Emerson and Thoreau. He was an abolitionist and played a role in the Free Soil movement, gaining notoriety as one of the "Secret Six" who were aware of John Brown's planned raid at Harper's Ferry, though he disapproved of the action. Sanborn's writings include biographies of influential figures like Alcott and Thoreau, celebrated for their personal insights rather than scholarly analysis. Additionally, he was a philanthropist who contributed to various educational and social initiatives, including the founding of schools and social science associations. Notably eccentric, Sanborn faced challenges within social circles and had a unique sense of individuality, even defending unconventional practices in his later years. He passed away in 1917 after an accident at the age of eighty-six.
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Franklin Benjamin Sanborn
Author
- Born: December 15, 1831
- Birthplace: Hampton Falls, New Hampshire
- Died: February 24, 1917
Biography
American journalist, teacher, and biographer Franklin Benjamin Sanborn was an acquaintance of many of the writers in the Concord School, particularly Henry David Thoreau, during the mid- nineteenth century and is remembered for his efforts to publicize and popularize their works. Born in 1931 in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, he was the son of farmer and clerk Aaron Sanborn and Lydia (Leavitt) Sanborn. Franklin Sanborn attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard College, graduating seventh in his class in 1855. He met Ralph Waldo Emerson while at college. Sanborn taught for a time at the Concord school Emerson had founded with Thoreau, teaching the children of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, John Brown, and Horace Mann and using the progressive method developed by another college friend, A. Bronson Alcott. Sanford’s first marriage to Arianna Walker only lasted until her death, which occurred eight days later. His second wife was his cousin, Louisa Augusta Leavitt; they married in 1862. Sanborn and Louisa had three sons.
Sanford was an abolitionist, having covered the Free Soil movement as one of his first journalism assignments for the Springfield, Massachusetts, Republican, and in 1857 was one of the “Secret Six” who knew about John Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry. Although he was a friend of John Brown, he did not approve of the Harper’s Ferry raid. Because of his prior knowledge of the raid, he was summoned to testify in front of the Senate during the Brown trial, which he refused. He cofounded the American Association for the Promotion of Social Science and developed the first social-science course ever taught at Cornell University, where he held a lectureship from 1884 to 1887. He wrote multiple and respected biographies of Alcott, Thoreau, and Emerson, although the works are more admired for their personal remembrances of the men than for their scholarship.
A philanthropist, Sanborn helped found a school for infants, a school for deaf-mutes, and a prison association. He also founded the American Social Sciences Association. Sanford was a lifelong eccentric and individualist. He was twice ejected from the Concord Social Circle, an elite club of which he was an original founding member. Shortly before his death, he went to court to defend his right to fertilize his garden with sewage from his own residence. In 1917, at the age of eighty-six, he was struck by a baggage cart on a New Jersey train platform, and died of complications from his injuries five weeks later.