Second postmaster-general of the United States, born at Settle, Yorkshire, England, in 1737; died in Berks County, PA, in 1811; followed his brother Theophylact to the colonies, and in 1770 became his agent in Philadelphia and accumulated a fortune. At the beginning of the Revolution he was president of the Republican Society in Philadelphia. In 1767 he married the only daughter of Benjamin Franklin, whom he succeeded as postmaster-general in 1776.
