B. 6 May 1692 in Haverhill, Massachusetts
M. 18 Jun 1713 in Boston Massachusetts
Wife: Elizabeth Ayers
D. before 11 Sep 1739 in (probably) Boston, Massachusetts
During the first few decades of the 18th century, Boston was one of the most important ports in the English colonies. And its location made it a base of supplies for military efforts against the French in and around Maine. For David Franklin, this was an opportunity to make a living for himself and his family.
David was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts on May 6, 1692 to Jonathan and Sarah Franklin, the youngest of three sons. Haverhill was on the border with New Hampshire, then considered a frontier, and sometimes a dangerous place. When David was a baby, an Indian raid took the life of his father. His mother remarried a year later on August 30, 1694 to a man named John Field of Boston. From there, the records don’t say if the family remained in Haverhill or moved south to the Boston area. But it seems likely they relocated to the safer location, and David did indeed end up in Boston as an adult.
A document dated June 8, 1708 reveals a few details of David’s circumstances at age 16. It’s a letter of guardianship, signed by David saying that he chose his “honored uncle, John Smith of Roxbury” as the person who would look after him until he reached a legal age. Roxbury was just south of Boston, so this places David at least in the area. And the fact this was a guardianship meant that his mother was deceased.
But who was John Smith? Besides having the most common name in Anglo-America, he was also living in a densely populated area. It’s been assumed that he was the brother of David’s mother Sarah (making her last name Smith), but this is far from a proven fact. John Smith of Roxbury did write a will dated November 21, 1728 which names David and his brothers as heirs. This might mean he was indeed the brother of their mother, and in looking at family records, we find that he had a sister named Sarah. But at the time of John and Sarah’s father’s will in 1695, she was clearly not married to anyone named Franklin, so the mystery remains
What is certain is that on June 18, 1713, David got married. His bride was Elizabeth Ayers of Boston, and the wedding was officiated by Reverend Benjamin Colman. Reverend Colman was a prominent minister in Boston, said to be greatly influenced by “Cotton Mather and Ezekiel Cheever.” He was associated with the Brattle Street Church at the time David got married, so this may be where the wedding took place. We know that David later had a pew at the Old South Meeting House, and one source says that “in 1711, when the Old South Church meeting-house was destroyed in the Great Fire of Boston, it was with Brattle Street Church that they gathered for worship until May 1713.” The church was a “plain unpainted meeting-house” at the time David and Elizabeth would have been married there.
Where did David live during this time? Several sources say he was a sailor from Hull, a small town located at the tip of a narrow peninsula marking the entrance to Boston Harbor. The main reason for anyone to live there was to use it as a place for boats to land, and people made a living by fishing, transporting goods, and repairing ships. David’s connection to this place makes a lot of sense — it would seem he may have lived here (or kept his boat here) until he could acquire property in Boston. Meanwhile, he and Elizabeth started a family in 1714, with a total of 8 children born to them by 1735. All were recorded as being born in Boston, so perhaps he kept his boat in Hull and had a house in Boston at the same time.
During these years, Boston harbor was a busy place, and one of the main activities was to run supplies up the coast for English military forces dealing with the French. A series of wars took place in the first couple of decades of the 18th century, with French using Indian allies to harass and raid any English settlers they felt were encroaching on their territory. The English in turn felt the French were making false claims on Maine, which was then part of Massachusetts. The conflict flared up from 1722 to 1725 in what became known as “Dummer’s War,” named for the governor of Massachusetts. As troops from England and New England carried out military activities in Maine, small ships based in Boston delivered basic supplies to the men — food, ammunition, and other goods.
David was known to have been a part of this effort. A record dated November 15, 1725 shows that he was the captain of a sloop called George, and commanded four seamen who worked for him. A sloop was a single-masted sailboat, generally with one sail in front of the mast and one behind. The simple design meant that it took fewer sailors to handle, but the size was limited, and David’s sloop weighed 60 tons. George was also said to be was armed with four guns; whether or not this was used during David’s ownership isn’t known, though he was sailing into a war zone.
Around this time, David had both his home and boat in Boston. On June 26, 1726, he purchased property on the waterfront that included “beach and flats,” plus a small wharf that was shared with someone else. The lot was described as being on “Sea Street,” which is an archaic designation believed to be Federal Street. The exact location is today no longer at water’s edge because Boston’s coastline has been completely transformed by landfill over the years. The records also show he deeded the property to another man less than two years later, but later records show him with the same or similar property.
Boston newspapers offer a glimpse into David’s travels as a mariner. Each day the paper would report on the comings and goings in the Boston customs house, and David was mentioned at least 19 times. Between the years 1729 and 1733, he took his ship to such places as North Carolina, Virginia, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland; there was even a trip to Antigua in the Caribbean. In 1734, David seems to also have acquired a license to operate a tavern. Whether he put this to use or not isn’t known. It’s easy to imagine that he used the location of his residence to start this sort of business.
One of the dangers of raising a family on a busy waterfront was shown on May 11, 1739 when one of David’s children died in the harbor. The May 14th edition of the Boston Post reported it this way, “Last Friday, a little boy, son of Capt. David Franklin, was drowned near a wharf at the South End.” It isn’t certain if this was one of David’s known children, which would have to be William age 12. The death notice seems to suggest it was a much younger child; perhaps it’s one that’s missing from records.
David didn’t live very long after that event. Sometime before September 11th, he passed away of an unknown cause. He died intestate and this produced an extensive probate file. His estate inventory included his pew at Old South Meeting House valued at £12, as well as “a house, land, old wharf and barn.” David’s wife Elizabeth remarried in 1742. Information about David’s children is incomplete. We do know that his son John followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a mariner. By virtue of working on ships, he would wind up in Virginia and North Carolina, bringing a massive amount of descendants into a different part of the American story.
Children:
1. Elizabeth Franklin — B. 15 Jun 1714, Boston Massachusetts; D. 1739; M. Samuel Wiswell (1700-?), 17 Oct 1733, Dorchester, Massachusetts
2. Anna Franklin — B. 18 Sep 1715, Boston Massachusetts; D. 1739; M. Benjamin Hart (1715-?), 18 Sep 1735, Boston, Massachusetts
3. David Franklin — B. 24 May 1719, Boston Massachusetts
4. Jonathan Franklin — B. 21 Jan 1721, Boston Massachusetts; D. before 24 Oct 1734, (probably) Boston Massachusetts
5. John Franklin — B. 6 May 1725, Boston Massachusetts; D. before 2 Jun 1729, (probably) Boston Massachusetts
6. William Franklin — B. 7 Feb 1727, Boston Massachusetts
7. John Franklin — B. 2 Jun 1729, Boston Massachusetts; D. about 1818, Burke County, North Carolina; M. Phoebe ______ (~1735-1820), about 1759, (probably) Hardy County, (West) Virginia
8. Jonathan Franklin — B. 24 Oct 1734, Boston Massachusetts
Sources:
