Ann Smith Franklin (1696–1763) was an American colonial printer. She inherited the business from her husband, James Franklin, half-brother of Benjamin Franklin. She published the Newport, Rhode Island Mercury, Rhode Island paper currency, and an almanac series. The year 1696 had the earliest equinoxes and solstices for 400 years in the Gregorian calendar, because this year is a leap year and the Gregorian calendar would have behaved like the Julian calendar since March 1500 had it have been in use that long. ... 1763 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Betsy Ross purportedly sewed the first American flag with 13 stars and 13 stripes representing each of the 13 colonies. ... Benjamin Franklin (January 17 [O.S. January 6] 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the most well known Founding Fathers of the United States. ... Newport as seen from the International Space Station. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... An almanac (also spelled almanack, especially in Commonwealth English) is an annual publication containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar. ...