Deborah Read was born in 1708, likely in Birmingham, England, to Sarah (White) and John Reed. Little is known about her early life. Records do confirm that she grew up in a middle-class Quaker family, but she likely received no formal education. Although her origins and details about her childhood are unclear, Read resided in Philadelphia by her late teens.

In 1724, Read met an 18-year-old boy who had recently moved to Philadelphia from Boston to start a new life. His name was Benjamin Franklin, and he became infatuated with her. When Franklin could not find a suitable place to live, John Read allowed him to board at their home. Thus, Franklin became well acquainted with young Deborah. "I had a great Respect and Admiration for her, and had some Reason to believe she had the same for me," he wrote (Franklin 37).

The same year, John Read passed away, leaving Deborah to the care of her mother. Franklin proposed marriage but Read’s mother protested. She believed Franklin to be financially unstable and thought he should not marry Deborah before his pending trip to London. Thus, Franklin and Read postponed their marriage. Franklin then chose to focus on his political career. He ended his betrothal to Read in a terse letter that also revealed he had decided to stay in London permanently.

Read’s mother attempted to console her daughter by arranging a new relationship, this time with John Rogers, a British carpenter or potter. After overcoming her anguish toward Franklin, Read married Rogers on August 5, 1725, at Christ Church in Philadelphia. However, the marriage fell apart. Approximately four months after their wedding, Read learned that Rogers had a secret wife in England. She left him and refused to recognize him as her husband.

By that time, Franklin had returned to Philadelphia and Read resumed her romance with him. They again decided to marry. Though Read considered her relationship with Rogers over, she remained legally tied to him. If she were to marry Franklin, she could face the charge of bigamy and a sentence of nine lashings and imprisonment. To avoid any potential punishment, Read and Franklin decided on a common-law marriage without religious or civil approval. The couple wed in a small ceremony on September 1, 1730, in front of friends and family. Over the next two decades, they had two children: Francis "Franky" Folger (born 1732), who died of smallpox in 1736, and Sarah (born 1743). Read also adopted and raised Franklin’s illegitimate son William.

As Franklin focused on printing and politics, Read pursued her own business endeavors. Her mother moved into the Franklin household in 1732 and helped open a shop. Sarah sold homemade salves and ointments, while Deborah sold stationery and books.

In the 1750s, Franklin’s career as a printer, writer, and postmaster skyrocketed. His name became well-known throughout the American colonies and England, too. Despite this, Read maintained her quiet life as a Philadelphia shop owner. In 1757, Franklin left for Europe. However, Read decided to remain behind in Philadelphia for fear of travelling across the ocean. Franklin stayed in Europe for five years while Read maintained their household. She continued to care for their children and follow the Quaker traditions of her family. Franklin returned in 1762, but only for two years. In 1764, he again tried to persuade her to accompany him overseas, but she again refused. He departed without her and never saw her again.

Historians have long interpreted this period of Read’s life as an arduous one, as she remained behind while her husband was otherwise engaged in Europe. However, some recent scholarship has offered that Read may have decided to remain in Philadelphia to help finance Franklin’s costly travels. Both Read and Franklin shared a strong sense of civic duty, and Read might have expressed this by resolving to oversee the family’s business ventures.

Four years later, Read’s health began to decline. In 1768, she suffered the first of several strokes, which severely affected her speech and memory. Despite his wife’s ailments, Franklin refused to return home. Read’s correspondence with her husband reveals that she believed her poor health to be a result of his prolonged absence. She wrote her final letter to him on November 16, 1773, stating, "I have been very much distressed about you as I did not [have] any letter nor one word from you." Perhaps her condition prevented her from writing further, or she lost interest in communicating with him. Franklin, on the other hand, continued to write to his wife for the following nine months, inquiring why he received no word from her. He did not, however, return to Philadelphia.

On December 14, 1774, Read suffered another stroke. Her health improved over the next four days, but she took a turn for the worst and died on December 19. She was buried in Christ Church Cemetery in Philadelphia. William Franklin informed his father of Read’s death, confessing that he “heartily wish[ed]” that his father could have been present to comfort her. Franklin himself expressed regret and grief: "I have lately lost my old and faithful Companion," he wrote, "and I every day become more sensible of the greatness of that Loss; which cannot now be repaired" (quoted in "Deborah Read Franklin: Wife of Founding Father Benjamin Franklin," cited below).

Though Deborah Read Franklin does not stand among the pantheon of the most famous colonial women such as Abigail Adams or Martha Washington, she was certainly an influential businessperson and homemaker. Her role in maintaining her family’s household and raising her children in the absence of her husband was critical in enabling him to achieve fame as one of the most famous Americans of the eighteenth century. Benjamin Franklin acknowledged this in his Autobiography when he quoted the proverb, "He that would thrive, must ask his wife" (80).