The Two Thomas Tickells

The Gentleman's Magazine of December 1761 printed a poem "To a lady before marriage by the late ingenious Mr Tickel; never before published." It appeared without notes or commentary. We know that this poem was submitted by Mary Stevenson, with the aid of Benjamin Franklin and John Hawkesworth. Whitefield Bell wrote that it was "an uncompleted poem which her uncle, Thomas Tickell, had addressed to his wife", an attribution accepted by others. The poem subsequently appeared in editions of the poet Tickell's works. However, this Thomas Tickell was not in fact her uncle. Readers of Benjamin Franklin's letters will immediately know that Mary Stevenson was his much loved "Polly", daughter of his London landlady and friend, Margaret Stevenson. At one time he had hoped that she would marry his son William. In fact, she married the rising medical man, William Hewson, in 1770. After his tragic death in May 1774 she remained a widow in England with three young children but in 1786 she showed her continuing devotion to Franklin by moving to Philadelphia. She was present at his deathbed and continued to live in Pennsylvania until her own death in 1795.