Benjamin Edes

(1732-1803)

Occupation: Printer Class: The Middling Sort

OSH Clearance: First floor only Political scale: 10

You’re a Son of Liberty with revolutionary opinions and a printing press to spread them.

* You and John Gill print the Patriot newspaper The Boston Gazette and other publications which are overtly political.

* You are an official printer of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, helping to spread the news of political controversy.

* You make many Loyalist enemies, including the Royal Governor, who wants you jailed for sedition.

* Patriots use your parlor as a gathering place for punch and plotting before the Boston Tea Party.

* During the war, you escape to Watertown, where you continue printing the ''Boston Gazette. ''John Gill stays in Boston.

* After the war, you invest heavily in the new American money. As the new and unstable currency (really currencies) fluctuate, you end up in financial ruin.

* You work as a printer until the end of your life.

Social Connections: John Gill (business partner), Paul Revere (Edes printed Revere’s work, including the engraving of the Boston Massacre), Martha Starr (wife), Joseph Warren (Edes printed his essays) Governor Bernard (Enemy) Samuel Maverick (you write a poem to mark his death)