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“You may remember the inquiries I made, when you werewith me in England, among such of my relations as were then living; and the journey undertook for that purpose.”

— Quoted in Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin with his Essays and Will (Chicago: W.B. Conkey Company, 1900).

Emphasis via italics is by me and not from the original text

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    It should be “were with”—a typo in whatever version you have.
    – Xanne
    Apr 30, 2018 at 6:04
  • Other places (example) that quote have the correct spacing "... when you were with me.."
    – Laurel ♦
    Apr 30, 2018 at 6:15
  • The issue is that there is the archaic term "were with"/"werewith", then there is the term, "were with" which is simply the modern use of the term and is sometimes misspelled as "werewith." Can someone please correct me if I am mistaken? This is what is confusing me. I am not very sure about what I just wrote.
    – Donate to the Edhi Foundation
    Apr 30, 2018 at 6:28
  • I think "were-with" (archaic) and "were with" (modern use of the term) are different terms. I am absolutely not sure, so I am checking here.
    – Donate to the Edhi Foundation
    Apr 30, 2018 at 6:37

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I think "werewith" is merely a typo, as others have pointed out.

By archaic term "werewith" you mention, are you by any chance referring to some other word such as wherewith? It is an archaic word, too.

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  • I just found this: (quora.com/What-does-werewith-mean/answer/Robert-Charles-Lee)
    – Donate to the Edhi Foundation
    Apr 30, 2018 at 7:41
  • Well, I think he got confused by the typo as well, since "when you accompanying/escorting me in England" lacks a verb, not really making sense.
    – johnlee
    Apr 30, 2018 at 7:52
  • Maybe? :) He did say it was a real word, later on. :D
    – Donate to the Edhi Foundation
    Apr 30, 2018 at 8:01
  • He did, but he did not present any support other than the same quoted piece of text containing the word that is suspected to be a mere typo, as already shown by Laurel.
    – johnlee
    Apr 30, 2018 at 8:10
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    To put the "not in the OED even once, anywhere" in context, "herewith" has its own entry and appears in five definitions, 3 etymologies, and 101 quotations. Altogether it appears somewhere in the full entry of 95 different words. The even-more-obscure "herewithal" appears in three different entries. "Were" on its own appears in 66646 different entries.
    – 1006a
    Apr 30, 2018 at 15:30

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