Tricked / Trapped into Poverty

About the Life of a Benjamin Franklin Descendant

The descendant was not told until he was 28 years old that he was a Benjamin Franklin descendant. He found out at work from a coworker he hardly knew.

He had a love-hate relationship with both parents and experienced a very bad marriage.

The descendant seemed to be over-hyper and accident-prone as a toddler, ending up in the emergency room on four different occasions between the ages of 4 and 6 years. He was not a very good student and dropped out of high school. However, he loved sports, played them, and dreamed of becoming a professional football or baseball player.

Relationship with His Father

He and his father had a good relationship between the ages of 5 and 12. However, after a couple of heated exchanges in public, the relationship turned sour. Between the ages of 14 and 17, they lived in the same house but never talked to each other, as if they didn't see each other. There was no love until the father fell ill.

The father was dying of cancer in the last stage. That was when he and the descendant looked into each other's eyes, hugged, and showed love for each other. The father passed away a short time later. The funeral was the saddest day of the descendant's life; he cried throughout the funeral.

Relationship with His Mother

The mother seemed to spoil the descendant and delay him in every way possible, giving him anything he asked for—except good advice or right directions. In fact, she seemed to send him in the wrong direction.