Francis Daymon was the “Librarian to the Public library,” the Library Company of Philadelphia, and a “master of the FRENCH and LATIN LANGUAGES.” He advertised instruction “in the French language in the most expeditious method,” and offered both daytime and evening classes. Daymon’s first advertisements were published in Philadelphia newspapers in 1770, when he was “newly come from Paris.” At that time, he noted that French was “that polite language” which was “favoured by all Kings and Princes of Europe.” He also highlighted the usefulness of Latin to “surgeons, apothecaries, druggists, chemists, &c.,” if they could make the time to learn.
Advertisements show that Daymon and his “French Academy” moved around a bit in his initial years in Philadelphia. At first, Daymon lodged on Chestnut Street with a taylor named Jacob Garaud. A few months later, he briefly moved to the home of John Young, Jr. on Market Street, and then lived on Front Street between Market and Arch Streets, with a sign with his name over the door. In 1774, Daymon moved from Front Street to Letitia Court. Soon after, he moved his French Academy to the library, which was housed in Carpenters’ Hall. By the fall of 1776, Daymon was living and teaching on the south side of Market Street near Fourth Street, a block from Carpenters’ Hall.
The Pennsylvania Evening Post
Printed by Benjamin Towne
FRANCIS DAYMON, master of the FRENCH and LATIN LANGUAGES, and Librarian to the Public library, continues to instruct gentlemen in the French language in the most expeditious method, agreeable to the late improvements of the French academy. He keeps a regular class every evening for those who cannot conveniently attend in the day time.
The said Daymon lives on the south side of Market-street, the fifth door below Fourth-street.
