Sketch LVI
Captain William Franklin
Just a century of the world’s history has been completed since William Franklin came to Long Point.[1] He was not a U. E. Loyalist and, consequently, did not draw land or receive any other favors from the Government. He was of English descent, and came from the State of Connecticut. He was an American, and as captain of a company of American militiamen, had fought for independence in the war of the Revolution.[2] After the war he retired to his home in Connecticut, where he operated a ferry at a point on the Thames River, supposed to be the place where the town of Franklin now stands.[3] In 1797 he came to Upper Canada with his family of seven children and his son-in-law, Hamilton Woodroof.[4] Like many other American families that came to Long Point the Franklins were not prompted by political motives. In 1790 the population of Connecticut was 238,141, and in 1870 it was only 537,454, the increase during all this time being barely 1 1/3 per cent. per annum. A result so anomalous, where the general population doubles itself every twenty-five years, is creditably explained by the fact that to all the new States of the Union, and the provinces of Canada, Connecticut has uniformly been a nursery of educated men of every class—of merchants and agriculturists, of lawyers and statesmen. The quota furnished by the little wooden nutmeg State, in the settlement of Upper Canada, although considerably less than that furnished by New Jersey and other States, has been a creditable one. A down-east “Yankee” may be given somewhat to “sharp” practices, which fail to harmonize with the conservative notions of honest old John Bull, yet a sprinkling of him is a valuable acquisition in every community. He is industrious, enterprising and progressive, and no man can live by the side of him without being influenced, more or less, by the spirit of economical thrift that so signally characterizes him. William Franklin did not come to Upper Canada because he hated the New Flag which bore thirteen bright stars, and for which he had fought. Political matters had nothing to do with it. He came to Long Point settlement because it was a new country and a good country, and because the chances for securing homes for himself and his children were all that might be desired. He fought for independence because that meant freedom from an unjust and unholy anti-British system of taxation, which was an outrage to the true spirit of British institutions. Indeed, the record that William Franklin and many other American pioneers of Norfolk have left behind them, prove that the men who took up arms to resist that iniquitous stamp tax were not, necessarily, unfriendly or disloyal to British institutions. There is not a true son of Britain, to-day, in any portion of the empire, who would not resist to the uttermost a like imposition.
Captain Franklin finally settled on Lot. 14, 1st concession of Walsingham, and was a shoemaker by trade. He died about the year 1827, honored and respected by all who knew him. He left five sons—Benjamin, George, Augustus, William and Horatio N.; and two daughters—Rebecca and Sarah.
Benjamin Franklin, eldest son of the Captain, settled in Ohio.[5]
George Franklin, second son of the Captain, married Rachel, daughter of William Hazen, and settled in Bayham, where he raised a large family.
Augustus Franklin, third son of the Captain, married Jane Smith, and settled on part of the homestead. He had four sons—Benjamin, Isaac, Nelson Byron, and Wellington; and two daughters—Clarissa and Eliza Jane. These sons and daughters all settled in Walsingham. Nelson Byron was the late Dr. Franklin, of Port Rowan, and Miss Ann Franklin, of that place, a prominent local vocalist, is a daughter of Dr. Franklin.[6]
William Franklin, fourth son of the Captain, married Martha, daughter of Andrew McCleish, and settled on part of the homestead. He had six sons—Ethan, John L., Andrew R., William, Benjamin W. and Harvey L.; and one daughter—Louisa Jane. All settled in Walsingham, William succeeding to the homestead.[7]
Horatio N. Franklin, youngest son of the Captain, married Mary Rockefeller, a relative of the American millionaire of that name.[8] He settled in Bayham and, subsequently, in Charlotteville. He had two sons—Oliver and Horatio N.; and one daughter, Hester. All settled in Walsingham.[9]
Sarah Franklin, eldest daughter of the Captain, married Henry Smith, and settled in Walsingham. She raised a large family, the most of whom settled in their native township.
Rebecca Franklin, the Captain’s second daughter, married Hamilton Woodroof, in Connecticut, and, as before stated, came with her husband in the Franklin party. They settled at Vittoria and raised a large family, the most of whom settled in Michigan.[10]
Dr. Benjamin W. Franklin, of Port Huron, is the fifth son of William Franklin, son of the original William. William Franklin, the third, present occupant in part of the old homestead, has seen seven generations of Franklins, and his chances for seeing the eighth are very good.
[1] The pioneer head who brought his family to Norfolk County was John Franklin, erroneously named “Captain William Franklin” by E. A. Owen. John Franklin was born at Jamestown, Rhode Island on April 21, 1760 and lived there and then at Canaan, New York until coming to Upper Canada. Source: “John Franklin: From Rhode Island to Walsingham” by Benjamin W. Franklin, in The Long Point Settlers Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1
[2] No record has been found of John Franklin serving in the Patriot forces during the American Revolution. A youth and young man of 15 to 22 years of age during the war, he worked in the tannery and on the ferries owned by his widowed mother at Jamestown.
[3] John’s father George Franklin, during his lifetime, operated two ferries on Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island running between Jamestown on Conanicut Island and the mainland.
[4] In 1794, the family sold the ferries and John Franklin moved to Canaan, Washington County, New York where he was recorded in the 1800 Census. He and his wife Lydia (Tayer) arrived at Niagara, Upper Canada in the summer of 1801 and both filed land petitions dated on August 20, 1801. John’s stated that he brought a family of seven children. Neither application was approved by the Executive Council. Source: Upper Canada Land Petition “F” Bundle 5, Doc. No. 50.
[5] Benjamin Franklin was a sailor on the Great Lakes and made his home in Buffalo, New York. Family tradition passed down states that he drowned when his ship went down in Lake Erie. His brother Augustus Franklin’s deposition stated that he died at Buffalo on or about 1819, a bachelor (LPSJ 1:1). By a liaison with Lydia Hazen, he had a daughter Permelia Franklin who married Oliver Smith. Ross, W. McCurdy, Descendants of Daniel Hazen, p. 11
[6] John Nelson Franklin and William Byron Franklin were two sons of Augustus Franklin, not one. Byron was the physician at Port Rowan.
[7] William Franklin had two additional children recorded in his Family Bible, Maria L. born on August 23, 1828 and Bruce born on October 18, 1838. A copy of this page is at the Norfolk Historical Society Archives in Simcoe.
[8] Family historians John and Eva Taylor attempted to find that relationship. They traced the background of Mary’s father, Diehl Rockefeller and that of Standard Oil founder John David Rockefeller back through colonial America to their respective German origins, without finding a relationship in the several generations. There may have been an earlier relationship, but that would be in the 1600’s. Montross: A Family History, John and Eva Taylor, p.p. (Staunton, VA: 1958), p. 148.
[9] Horatio and Mary (Rockefeller) Franklin settled on Lot 21, Concession 1, Malahide Township, Elgin County, then on Lot 24, Concession 2, Walsingham Township and later on Lot 1, Front Concession of Charlotteville Township. Mary died in 1847 and Horatio married second to Maria L. ________, who was recorded with him in the 1852 Census of Charlotteville Twp. By his second wife, Horatio had three daughters, Eliza Elvina born on December 19, 1854; Rosamond Mary born c. 1856; and Sarah Z., born on November 17, 1857. The first and third died young and were buried in Franklin Cemetery, Port Rowan. The second was recorded with her parents in the 1861 Census.
[10] Rebecca Franklin, born in 1786, married Hamilton Woodruff either at Columbia County, New York or after the family came to Niagara in 1801. Of their children several lived out their lives in Walsingham Township. Clarissa Woodruff married Abraham Countryman on December 23 1832, listed in the London District Marriage Register. They lived near Port Royal. Rebecca Jane married Thomas Cope Price and lived near St. Williams. She was buried beside her husband in Johnson Cemetery, St. Williams. Julia never married and lived with her cousin Nelson Franklin in Walsingham Township, recorded in the 1871 Census. A probable son of Hamilton and Rebecca Woodruff, also named Hamilton Woodruff was listed in the 1852 Census of Walsingham Twp. then apparently left the county.