Hall was apprenticed in 1729 for five years at the age of 15 to a printing firm in Scotland run by John Mosman and William Brown. After the training he went to London and obtained a position at Watt's printing business alongside journeyman William Strahan, an acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin. Strahan later became law-printer to the King of England. Hall became a friend of Strahan, who sent a letter on behalf of him to lawyer James Read of Philadelphia, a relative of Deborah Read Franklin, in January 1743 inquiring about opportunities for printers in the American colonies. In the letter, Strahan described Hall as a non-drinker, and an honest, hard working, skillful printer that was presently living in his house. Read presented the letter to his brother-in-law Franklin, who needed an experienced printer to run the Pennsylvania Gazette which he had purchased on October 2, 1729, from Samuel Keimer who had failed to make a success out of the newspaper.Benjamin Franklin Historical Society, Essay Franklin sent back a letter to Strahan on July 10 inviting Hall to come to Philadelphia for a job interview. In the letter Franklin said that if Hall did not ultimately like the position offered, he would pay his expenses back to England. Franklin offered Hall a year's employment for the trouble of coming from England and trying the journeyman printer position. Hall was 30 years old and accepted Franklin's offer and came to Philadelphia on June 19, 1744, and was employed as a journeyman."
