Hello! My name is Benjamin Rush, and I would like to introduce myself to you all. You might have heard of me before; most commonly known, I am one of the founding fathers and signed the Declaration of Independence. I am also well-renowned for many other reasons.

Anyway, I was born the 4th of 7 children on January 4, 1746 in a tiny town called Byberry, just outside of modern day Philadelphia, PA, back when the United States was just British Columbia and Pennsylvania was a province, not a state.

My mom ran a country store to support the family, and my dad was a gunmaker as well as a farmer. He died when I was very young, at age 5 or 6. A couple years later, my older brother and I went to live with our uncle so we could get an education. We ended up attending West Nottingham Academy.

I continued my education at modern day Princeton University, but back then it was called the College of New Jersey. I graduated with my bachelor’s degree there at age 14. Then I got my M.D. degree at the University of Edinburgh. I toured Europe and became fluent in 3 languages—Spanish, Italian, and French.

After I finished my education, I had many careers. I originally wanted to get a career somewhere in law, such as a lawyer or judge, but I changed my mind. I ended up choosing to be a physician, professor, author, and even a politician.

I would tell you a whole lot more about myself, but that will have to wait until the next blog post! Cannot wait to see you there!