When I was a young man I worked as a printer’s apprentice in Boston. Later I left home and went to New York and then to Philadelphia where I settled down and opened my own print shop.  I worked hard and became the official printer for the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.

I was very interested in our city and helped to make it a nice place to live.  I was responsible for developing the first organized volunteer fire department.  It was called the Union Hose Company.  I also helped form the first fire insurance company that helped people when and after they had a fire.  I loved science and studied how fire behaved.  From my studies I was able to invent a safer type of fireplace.  That type of fireplace is still used today.

As the years went by I became a member of the Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence.  After the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the drafting of the United States Constitution I became the Ambassador of the United States of America and represented our country in England and France.