Scoop’s Views

Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross, two figures in America’s Colonial history, have been married, and are now finishing up commitments prior to escaping the Philadelphia area this Fall for a planned honeymoon.

The newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Franklin, plan on keeping their daily occupations. Mr. Franklin is a statesman, scientist, printer and publisher, and has numerous other duties to the city, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and to the United States government. He also serves as postmaster, and also is responsible for printing currency, especially since he developed a way to help keep forgery of the currency to a minimum.

In this marriage, though, Ben Franklin is none other than the period actor Ralph Archbold, who serves as Ben Franklin in the Independence Mall area through much of the tourist season, but also is called upon to do other work as Ben Franklin. Now 66, Archbold has portrayed Franklin since 1973 — a whopping 35 years.

Wilde, who’s 50, says the two period actors met last September when she hired him to do a wedding toast for a friend.

The couple, who work only blocks away from each other as period actors around the Independence Mall area, say they share a mutual love of history and education, and after spending time together, announced their engagement this past spring.

Betsy Ross, on the other hand, is generally known as Linda Wilde, who portrays the Colonial flag maker and seamstress.

Franklin and Ross, oops, Archbold and Wilde, tied the knot at 8 p.m. on July 3, 2008, in an open-air public ceremony in front of Independence Hall, where the real Franklin helped draft the nation’s founding documents.

The bride and groom, in addition to the rest of the wedding party, were in period costume for the real-life marriage of Archbold and Wilde.

Philadelphia’s Mayor Michael Nutter performed the ceremony, told the newlyweds that "the entire city could not be happier for you."

After exchanging their vows and slipping rings on each other in real life, Archbold and Wilde were given a standing ovation by the crowd of several thousand spectators, many of whom were believed to be tourists, though some were local Philadelphians who wanted to see the familiar Philadelphians tie the knot.

The Philly Pops played the wedding march for the period actors’ wedding, something not many Philadelphians would be able to arrange at their own wedding.

The couple boarded a horse-drawn coach for the trip to a private reception at the historic City Tavern, where Franklin dined along with such notables as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. City Tavern traces its roots back to the colonial era, when the Founding Fathers, among others, really did gather for drink, ale, and conversation, at the local establishment.

Could the two historical figures have married for real? Well, Franklin was married, but in some books, claims he had women about him, and in his — or their — bedrooms while on trips and missions for the new, floundering nation.

Another factor to consider: Franklin was born in January 7, 1706, and Ross was born January 1, 1752. It would have been around the time of the Revolution that the real Franklin and Miss Ross could have had the opportunity to meet, but by then, Franklin, 45 years older than Betsy Ross, was often busy with other duties.

Both Franklin and Ross lived to be 84 years old.

Just for an interesting footnote: Archbold was also born on January 17, allowing him to share something in common with Franklin. For Archbold, though, he was born 236 years after Franklin, in 1942.