It is interesting to see that he didn't move to Philadelphia but was removed from bean city to the city of brotherly love in 1723.
What are the things on the tombstone? They look like coins but I can't make them out. It'd be cool if they were Franklin halves
Yes they are, I visited Philadelphia last year myself and also saw Franklin's grave with coins on it. I didn't see any Franklin halves, though.
Or people are just cheap tight wads of which most in recent years probably don't even know he was on the Half Dollar?
In the US military there is a tradition of leaving coins on grave markers in cemeteries - a signification of a visit by a fellow member of the military. Then there is a difference with the denomination of the coin placed on the grave - the higher the denomination the better that the serviceman knew the person buried there. Even though I have not served in the military but am a military brat I leave coins at veteran's graves - most recently this summer at a War of 1812 era cemetery.
"Removed" was a common way of saying "moved " in the 19th century. I see it all the time when researching old counterstamps. Bruce
I might be mistaken, but I thought Franklin was apprenticed to his older brother's print shop in Boston and walked off before he became a journeyman in the shop - so in essence he left before he was supposed to and could have been considered to have been a fugitive.
