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Michael Francklin By John Singleton Copley, Uniacke Estate Museum Park

Michael Francklin or Franklin (6 December 1733 – 8 November 1782) served as Nova Scotia's Lieutenant Governor from 1766 to 1772. He is buried in the crypt of St. Paul's Church (Halifax).

Early life and immigration

Born in Poole, England, Francklin immigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1752. He worked as a trader and merchant, initially in association with Joshua Maugher.

Capture

During Father Le Loutre's War, Michael Francklin was captured by a Mi'kmaw raiding party in 1754 and held captive for three months in which he learned the Mi'kmaw language and developed an appreciation for native culture.^[1]

Political career

Francklin represented Lunenburg County from 1759 to 1760 and Halifax County from 1761 to 1762 in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.

In May of 1762, he was named to the Nova Scotia Council.

In the early 1770s, he was responsible for bringing about the Yorkshire Emigration. He also played an important role in assisting the return of Acadians after the Expulsion of the Acadians by guaranteeing Catholic worship, land grants and a promise that there would be no second expulsion.

He established the Shubenacadie reserve in 1779.^[2]

Family

On February 7, 1762, Francklin married Susannah Boutineau (b. 1740). Susannah died at Windsor, Nova Scotia, April 19, 1816 in her 76th year and is buried at the Old Parish Burying Grounds. She was the daughter of Joseph and Susannah (Faneuil) Boutineau, and granddaughter of Benjamin Faneuil.^[3]

Susannah and Michael had the following children:^[3]

James Boutineau, born July 31, 1763. Clerk to the House of Assembly for 42 years.
Elizabeth Mauger Gould (1st m. to Dr. John Gould), born September 3, 1764. died 1817. Second Wife of Rev. William Colsell King.
Susannah, born August 23, 1765. m (1) . Benjamin Davis of Pennsylvania, m (2)
Ann, born August 31, 1767.
Joshua Mauger, born September 1, 1869
Michael Nickleson, born August 20, 1773. Went to India, but subsequently entered business with relatives in London and died there in 1830. [2]
John Robinson, born July 6, 1774.
George Sackville Germain, born January 15, 1777. Studied law at Quebec. Died 8th Oct 1799 at Windsor while on a visit to friends. [3]
Mary Phillipps, born October 7, 1779.
Sarah Nickleson, born December 21, 1780.

Death

On the 8th of November, 1782, while arranging with several of the Indian chiefs, about winter supplies of blankets and clothing, in his office on Granville St., just north of the Army and Navy Depot; he suddenly and without a moment's warning expired in the 62nd year of his age, deeply regretted by every citizen of Halifax. He was given a grand public funeral which took place on the nth of November, 1782, and was buried in St. Paul's in a vault at the left of the altar. Over 200 Indians followed his coffin to the church, chanting the death song of the Micmacs. His funeral and the chanting of the Indians was long remembered in Halifax, and among the stories of the olden time in our city, there was no description more vivid or interesting than the weird wail of the savages, as they at his burial mourned their friend and protector.

Legacy

The Francklin's long made their chief home at Windsor, and were among the most active supporters of the Anglican Church in that town. Lieutenant-Governor Francklin gave the land for the parish church (Christ Church) and churchyard at Windsor, and Mrs. Francklin gave, April 28, 1801, an acre of land opposite the church for a parsonage, and in 1815 a complete set of service books, including a handsomely-bound folio Bible, for use in public worship.^[3]^[4]

namesake of Francklyn Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia^[5]
namesake of Fort Franklin, Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia (1768) ^[6]
namesake of Mi'kmaq reserve Franklin Manor 22, Nova Scotia^[7]

Susannah (Boutineau) Francklin (1762) by John Singleton Copley (wife of Michael Franklin; grandchild of Peter Faneuil), Uniacke Estate Museum Park
Susannah Boutineau by Robert Feke (1748), (mother-in-law of Michael Francklin), Uniacke Estate Museum Park

References

Endnotes

^ Fischer, L. R. (1979). "Francklin, Michael". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. IV (1771–1800) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
^ Murdoch, Beamish (1866). A History of Nova-Scotia, Or Acadie. Vol. II. Halifax: J. Barnes. p. 600.
^ ^a ^b ^c Fales, De Coursey (1919). The Fales family of Bristol, Rhode Island : ancestry of Haliburton Fales of New York. Boston: T. R. Marvin & Son. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ [1] (p. 183)
^ NS Archieves
^ Frank Patterson. Acadian Tatamagouche and Fort Franklkin, p.75
^ "Place-names of the Province of Nova Scotia". Halifax, N.S. Royal Print. & Litho. 1922.

Texts

James S. Macdonald, "Lt. Governor Michael Francklin, 1752-1782" Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society; (40 pp.) vol. 16 (1912)
W. B. Kerr, "The Rise of Michael Francklin" (7 pp.) The Dalhousie Review, Vol. 13 (1934), No. 4.
Memoir of Lieut. Governor Michael Francklin

External links

Government offices
Preceded by Benjamin Green	Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia 1766-1776 Served under: Lord William Campbell and Francis Legge	Succeeded by Mariot Arbuthnot