Franklin, the county seat of Robertson County since 1879, a town of kind and friendly people, lies near the geographic center of the county, on an upland prairie that is drained by the branches of three creeks. Touchstone Branch, to the north, runs westward into Mud Creek; South Mineral Creek drains waters eastward to the Navasota River; and the forks of Cedar Creek run to the south, passing Mount Pleasant, Henry Prairie and Wheelock.

The town is located on Sesquehanna sandy loam that is surrounded by Norfolk sand and the Orangeburg gravelly sandy loam extending over the area. Throughout the farm and ranch section there are many streams with rich Meadow and Wilson soil. Franklin is a market center for the entire southeastern quarter of Robertson county, encompassing several rural communities and settlements.

Franklin came into existence in 1880; however, there was a small town, Morgan, at its present location a decade before, and the vicinity was considered a part of "Old Franklin" as early as 1838, when the wilderness village was the seat of a vast county under the Republic of Texas. The history of the community is interwoven in the story of early settlement in the Robertson Colony and there are residents of the town who trace their ancestry to families that came to the area before the Texas Revolution.

Like the accounts of other places, the history of Franklin starts with the first ownership of land in the area of its general location. Hugh Henry received a league grant south of the present town in December, 1834; Skeaugh Walker settled westward in July, 1835; Stephen H. Eaton lived to the south in December, 1835; and there is evidence Britton Dawson lived near the present townsite as early as 1833.

Huge sections of the land southeast of Franklin were originally granted to Jose Maria Viesca, a former Governor of the State of Coahuila and Texas, and to Pedro Pereira Jose de Jesus who possessed great sections in joint-ownership with Mariano Grande. After 1836, Edward McMillan moved to a section west of present Franklin and Francis Slauter, the first to own the land on which Franklin is built, was the leading citizen of the area after the Revolution.

Names of other men in the dim history of Franklin included surveyors, John Henry, William M. Love, Volney Cavitt, David Cobb, W. F. Henderson, and many others. The people of early Wheelock hunted the area in the 1840's and residents of Owensville grazed their cattle on the land during and after the Civil War. Harrison Owen had a small farm near the present town limits in 1865. R. S. Glass purchased a part of the Slauter survey in the late 1860's and worked a field of corn in the fall of 1867.

In 1872, the International Railway Company completed a segment of its lines between Hearne and the Navasota River and a number of villages developed along its right-of-way. One such village was Morgan, named for a railway official, and another was Englewood; Morgan lay on the present site of Franklin and Englewood was two miles to the east.

The railroad changed rural living in many ways. In a short time there were sixty families living at Morgan and an equal number at Englewood. Morgan was a railroad town and its residents were railroad workers and farmers. There was a depot, water station, a platform for split and cut logs that supplied fuel for the train, and there were three small stores.

In that time, the Texas Land Company owned much of the land along the International lines. Their officials had made many surveys, and when it was determined that the place was near the geographic center of the county several families moved to the area to build homes. Between 1872 and 1879, the population of the village increased to approximately two hundred residents.

Through the time from 1870 until 1879, many of the people in Robertson County complained about the location of the county seat at Calvert. Several times efforts were made to remove it but all failed until, in December 1879, a majority of the votes decreed that Morgan should replace Calvert and the town thereby became the new county seat.

When the results of the removal election were made public, families began moving to Morgan. On January 1, 1880, the Texas Land Company had over a hundred applications for property in the area. Citizens at Englewood moved "en masse" and many came from distant places.

Franklin received its name in 1880, when commissioners learned there was another Texas town by the name of Morgan. The remedy was simple; Judge T. J. Simmons decreed that since the original county seat had been named "Franklin" to honor Francis Slauter, and since the new town was to be on land owned by that distinguished man of the early days of settlement, so should the new town honor him. Thus, there after the original county seat was referred to as "Old Franklin" and the new as "New Franklin." In time, "Old Franklin" was forgotten and the "New" was dropped from the name of the second town.

In early January, 1880, Captain I. R. Overall and Captain H. Holdeman were appointed to prepare a building in Franklin for county archives, and Overall was instructed to secure records from Calvert and take them to the new county seat. Overall's assignment was more difficult than he thought it would be for some of the office holders in Calvert refused to cooperate with him. After several arguments, he left Calvert with the "incomplete archives" and deposited them in a building prepared for the purpose.

The following note was written on a fly leaf of the new "Reception Book of Robertson County":

Franklin, Texas March1880

The records were moved from Calvert this month into a frame building 24' x 100' on Lot 13, Block 88, and on March 13, 14, and 15, 1880, was experienced the most in tense cold by the occupants to the courthouse. Ice 1/2 inch thick 12 feet from constant fire in stove.

I. R. 0.

On March 13, 1880, Ira H. Evans, an attorney with the Texas Land Company, in reply to a request from county officials for a land donation, signed a contract deeding to Robertson County "alternate business lots and residential blocks in the old town of Morgan," which was located on subdivisions and of the north half of a survey made in the name of Francis Slauter, and a like subdivision in the name of R. S. Glass and the Texas Land Company.

The map of the new town as filed with the county clerk showed 88 blocks of lots, two town squares, one on each side of the railroad, and the streets and avenues were named to honor neighboring towns and some of the first citizens in the community. A five-acre plot was marked off for a community cemetery. Alternate lots, the squares, and the cemetery were deeded to the county. The Land Company and Glass kept the remaining property to offer for sale.

The shape of the town was rectangular, running from the northwest to the southeast. The railroad cut through the center of the town, from west to east; there were seven northwest to southeast streets and fourteen ran from the southwest to the northeast. All the long streets, except Main and Glass, came to a "dead end" at the railroad. The streets that ran parallel to the railroad were called "short ones" and the intersecting avenues were called "long ones." Some of the families honored by having streets named for them were Cavitt, Overall, Wheelock, Lewis, Carter, Morehead, Gay, Decherd, Grant, Simmons, Griffin, Giraud, Jones, Hearne, Calvert, and Ripley.

The first meeting of the commissioners court in Franklin was held March 8, 1880. Judge T. J. Simmons presided and was authorized to sell lots and blocks belonging to the county. At this meeting I. R. Overall was authorized to select the location for the erection of a jail "on the courthouse square."

The contract for the construction of the jail was let to Captain James Smith. R. E. Ruffini was employed to serve as architect for the project. The jail was completed in due time and it was considered a fine example of modern architecture. Its frontal width was forty-nine feet and its depth twenty feet. It was a two-story structure and the cells in the prison were "7'x8' wide and 7' high." The installed interior was of hardened iron and steel, some of which came from the old Calvert jail. The walls were of grooved stone, smooth on top, with close joints and the exterior was finished masonry.

The court paid Smith $862.00 for his work and issued a voucher to Ruffini in the amount of $302 for his supervision of the project. Commissioners, including the two Negroes in membership, were so pleased with the jail they authorized Smith and Ruffini to prepare plans for a courthouse that would not cost more than $30,000.00.

In January, 1881, John E. Crawford succeeded Simmons in office as county judge. Two months later, on March 16, 1881, a contract was let to Smith and Ruffini for the erection of the courthouse and the work was completed on January 7, 1882. When the court met in March, Judge Crawford insisted that the records show the gratitude of the people to the men who had built "the most handsome and splendid structure in the State."

The minutes of the commissioners court read as follows:

It is ordered by the court that we express our entire satisfaction with the said building considering it one of the most handsome and splendid structures in the State. We heartily recommend F. E. Ruffini as one of the most accomplished architects in the State of Texas.

In reference to Captain Smith, the Judge wrote:

Be it ordered and resolved that the court extend to Captain J. B. Smith a vote of many thanks and to recommend him to the public as a gentleman in whom the utmost confidence can be placed as a builder of rare ability.

After extolling the abilities of the architect and builder, Crawford liked the sound of his words and proceeded to praise an official of the railway in the following resolution, which he read, and which was adopted by the spellbound commissioners.

In view of the generosity and magnanimity Colonel H. M. Maxie extended the County in furnishing transportation for the materials used in the construction of the courthouse, thereby bringing citizens under lasting obligation to him . . .it is hereby ordered that we return to him many thanks for his unparalleled liberality and we will ever remember him kindly as one of the greatest, most magnanimous, and liberal railroad men of our age, and wish him great prosperity and success in life.

The flowing words of Judge Crawford transfixed the citizens of the new town and his orations were but a beginning. He remained in office through 1886 and his influence, both constructive and disturbing, remained for a generation. Even after his tenure as county judge he served in the State Legislature (1902-1903) and there was deep controversy then and for years thereafter.

The county seat had been at Franklin two years before the courthouse was completed. In that time, lots were sold by both the court and the landowners who had kept sections for themselves. An Austin newspaper reported in the fall of 1882, "Franklin seems to be a promising town, people are moving there daily, and they are building many stores and homes."

E. A. Decherd built the first two-story building in 1880, and shortly thereafter three hotels were constructed. Dr. G. M. D. Patterson moved his home to the town before the court house was completed and by 1882, there were at least fifty homes in the town.

In January, 1881, officials occupying offices in the town of Franklin included F. J. Miller, district clerk; A. M. Rushin, county clerk; commissioners, R. G. Collins, Ferman Moore, A.J. Springfield, and J. C. Roberts. The sheriff was W. Q. Wyser and the tax officials were J. G. Reagan and Daniel Payne.

The temporary courthouse was a frame building on a hill where the Central Church of Christ is now located. James I. Galloway became the tax assessor-collector in 1881; J. J. Carter and Lawson Woods were elected commissioners; and Collins and Moore were replaced on the county commissioners court by R. L. Moody and Frank Pickett.

The Rushin Hotel, built in 1881 by A. M. Rushin was sold to R. M. and Mary West (1884), and West later sold it to I. R. Overall and his wife Martha. The Overalls discovered mineral water on the property and, having learned from the spa enterprise at Wootan Wells of its value, Franklin became a health resort.

I. R. Overall was a leading citizen of Franklin and an able attorney. His first wife died in 1888, and thereafter he married Ella Buckstrom who operated the mineral water enterprise. The business brought people to the town in great numbers and bottled water was shipped over the state. When the demand for the water declined the Overalls closed the business.

R. H. and Minnie Rucker built the second hotel in the town somewhat removed from the courthouse square in 1881, and later built another across the street from the railway depot. The first was called the Farmers Hotel and the other was The National.

The 1880's hotels were fashionable. A number of successful men resided in the places and many of the townspeople ate their meals in their spacious dining rooms. One of the early "star boarders" at The National Hotel was Abe Silverman, who accumulated great wealth in land buying and selling before the time of his death. In later years, after Rucker's death, his wife continued to operate the hotel until, finally she sold it to Bob Reeves, who converted it into the Pioneer Motel.

In the first two years of Franklin's history three churches were built and two more were organized in the first decade. Through the leadership of Elias Reynolds the Christian Church was built on Block 85. Under the guidance of the Reverend Joe Tumer, and Reverend Robert Crawford, the Methodist congregation erected their first place of worship in 1881.

There were sixteen members of the Baptist Church in Franklin in 1880. Their church had been established in 1877, at Englewood, and was moved to Franklin when the town was laid out. The Reverend S. C. Thorton was the pastor. Rev. J. A. Bell read the "Articles of Faith" when the white frame sanctuary was dedicated in 1881. The attractive church remained for thirty-three years and was replaced with a modem brick structure on Gay Street. Reverend J. L. Wallace served the church as pastor for thirty-three years.

The Franklin Catholic Church was dedicated in 1892. It was on land donated by H. D. Gode, and it withstood the ravages of time until the savage windstorm of 1913. Afterwards, the damaged building was allowed to remain in a state of disrepair. It was located on Glass Street, and finally removed and never replaced; the location is still known as Catholic Hill.

The churches experienced a common fate in the windstorm of 1913. Four structures had been built almost a generation before, and the wind that rose to over one hundred miles per hour damaged or destroyed them all.

The storm over Central Texas struck on December 1, 1913, and lashed out in all directions. It rained fifteen inches in one evening and practically every public building in Robertson County was damaged. This was the second severe storm to visit Franklin, for another in 1899 had been equally severe.

Indeed, a terrible flood did strike Robertson County in 1899. It came in June, when forty-two inches of rain fell in three days, and the commissioners entered the following report in their records:

The court did not convene on the account of heavy rains over the county, measuring 42 inches from Tuesday to Friday. Every bridge in the county was washed out and every road leading to Franklin was impassable, either by buggy or horseback. The highest water ever known was in every creek branch and river. Water was from one to fifteen feet deep over the land, all the railroads were washed away, carrying ties and rails 200 feet from the bed. Many persons were drowned and the damage to farms and crops is unestimable. Houses are washed away and there is no communication with the outside world be cause telephone and telegraph lines are gone. The loss of life and destruction of property cannot be estimated at this time. Tom Taylor, County Judge, June 30, 1899.

When the Christian Church was destroyed in 1913, the congregation joined the Church of Christ. Their place of worship had been on the corner of Bremond and Englewood Streets, and in later years an attractive sanctuary was built there. The old Church of Christ building on Center Street was vacated. The Church of Christ remains today with the combined congregation.

In 1882, the population of Franklin reached 250 residents, and the north side of the square was complete with stores and shops. Merchants and professional men continued to move to the county seat, and homes were built in all areas of the town.

The first doctor in the town was G. M. D. Patterson, who moved his home from Englewood in 1880 and remained through the early years of settlements. Dr. Patterson and Dr. John Thomas operated a drug store and R. M. Duffey was the firm's pharmacist. Other doctors came as the population of the town grew, including J. A. Bedford, J. M. Vance, H. B. Passmore, J. C. Holman, G. M. Abney, and T. J. Curry.

Lawyers are leading citizens of a county seat town, and there were many who visited and worked in the Robertson County courthouse after 1882, and in the following years. Some were distinguished men including district attorneys J. N. Johnson, W. W. James, J. C. Scott, V. B. Hudson, J. M. Rolston, J. F. Lane, and W. C. Davis.

District judges serving the county between 1888 and 1921 included F. M. Adams, C. F. Cohron, Joe Henderson, W. G. Taliferro, J. C. Scott, and John Watson. Fifteen men served the county as county judge after 1886, including C. S. Brigance, G. R. Dunn, O. D. Cannon, Tom Taylor, J. W. Woods, W. C. Perry, J. L. Goodman, W. M. Johnson, Joe Reid, J. Y. McNutt, C. B. Carter, Sam Rogers, Henry A. Bush, A. G. Scott, and G. D. Reagan.

Other attorneys of record included J. H. Sharp, W. O. Campbell, R. W. Priest, C. W. Kinard, J. R. Nalley, Frank A. Woods, W. M. Johnson, Knox Gilmore, Ben L. Parten, Scott Field, W. T. Bartholomew, J. W. McNutt, W. W. Holland, and men licensed to practice law in later years.

In 1912, Ben C. Love established the first abstract office in Franklin. He began work while serving as county clerk and afterwards made the abstract business his full occupation. Love died in 1948, and since that time the company has been owned by Gus T. Bogan and it operates under the name, The Love Abstract Company.

In the town's first decade the open range and great cattle drives ended, and barbed wire fencing divided the prairies into small farms. The 1890's ushered in a period of central Texas growth and change. Railroads attracted settlers and inventions improved life on the farm. Commissioners built farm roads and bridges, resulting in the development of rural communities along mail routes. Franklin became the political, social, and trade center for the eastern half of the county. Families living at Henry Prairie, Owensville, Camp Creek, and like settlements considered the county seat their home town.

Cotton farming, the mainstay of rural life in the Franklin area through the first thirty years of settlement, received a severe economic blow in the early 1920's. Prices dropped from forty cents per pound of cotton to less than six cents in a period of months. Merchants lost their holdings, and banks, having loaned money on anticipated high prices became insolvent. The economic depression reduced merchants and farmers alike. Their struggle back to solvency required years and the full cooperation of the business and farm community.

Some of the cotton farmers in the area were W. W. Smith, Frank Carter, Dee Smith, J. B. Seigler, John Brooker, O. P. Sandifer, J. J. Marshall, A. Mauk, Buck Gilstrap, D. M. Reagan, Hugh McMillan, W. W. Sandifer, W. F. Grant, C. P. Haygood, J. R. Gilstrap, P. C. Reagan, Dan Morris, W. E. Bishop, R. M. Tynes, R. W. Cole, George Brown, Richard Hicks, D. D. Bishop and others.

Some of the early business establishments in Franklin included Easter and Kellogg, R. S. Glass and Son, Wyser and Calvert, Bartholomew and Brown, McMillan and Maris, Mitchell Brothers, The Franklin Furniture and Hardware Store, and others.

In 1881, John, Marsh, Henry and Kate Mitchell moved to Franklin from Wheelock. In partnership with E. A. Decherd, they operated a general merchandise store and a private bank. J. J. Carter, with his young wife, came to Central Texas from Houston in the same year and finally settled where they, with S. J. Maris, operated a lumber company. M. D. Sharp also combined private banking with business and it was not until 1905 the First National Bank of Franklin was chartered. The First State Bank was established in 1913.

At the turn of the century the children's playground at Franklin was the railway depot. There, agents kept cool water and benches for visitors. Young people played on the grounds and adults greeted friends and watched to see what was passing through the country. L. A. Gray and Bill Holder, among the first agents, were popular citizens.

J. C. Mitchell Sr. was the first postmaster in the town. His post office was a railway box car that had been sidetracked by International Railway officials. After a short time, Mitchell resigned his position to devote full time to selling, and Elias Reynolds replaced him.

Reynolds was a distinguished man with many interests. He helped J. A. Keigwin publish the town's first weekly newspaper, operated a store, and he was a civic leader. A second newspaper was established in 1884, under the editorship of Charley Gordon, who had been a publisher in Calvert. An article written by Reynolds in Gordon's "Central Texan" in 1885 read as follows:

When Franklin became a town the population of Robertson County was 23,000, almost equally divided between white and black people. The town had three hotels, two livery stables, two schools, a railway depot, a newspaper, two banks, three churches, a theater, several lawyers, three doctors, a funeral home and of course, the courthouse and jail, not to mention two drug stores and at least three saloons.

In the spring of 1882, the people of the county were shocked by the murder of Addison Wyser, the brother of the county sheriff. Years later the sheriff's daughter, Genevieve Broderick wrote the following account.

Addison Wyser, Sheriff W. Q. Wyser's brother, was the jailer in Franklin and often took meals to the prisoners. . . . On one occasion he delivered food to Fred E. Waite, and when he was leaving, Waite struck him on the head and killed him. Mrs. Wyser was so angry over the murder she insisted on attending the execution of the murderer. She went to the hanging and remained in her buggy until the blindfold was placed on the prisoner's face, but she left before the trap was sprung, leaving the scene in panic.

The death sentence pronounced on Wyser's murderer read as follows:

Sentence of the law which is death by hanging is hereby pronounced on the defendant that he may be by the Sheriff of Robertson County conveyed to the jail of said county and there be securely kept until Friday, the 23rd day of March 1893, at which time, between sunup and sundown of said day, said Sheriff or proper officer shall hang the defendant, Fred E. Waite, by the neck until dead, this to take place on the courthouse yard.

Executions were carried out on the courthouse lawn. The sheriff used an open scaffold and the public was invited and urged to attend. Mrs. Lena Nettles, whose parents resided at Englewood about the time Franklin was made the county seat, and who attended school in Franklin described the execution of George Freeny:

He had murdered his stepson and was hung on a scaffold built on the courthouse yard. School was dismissed for the children to see the hanging.

I shall never forget it. The Sheriff and several officers took him up the thirteen steps and he proclaimed his innocence at first. His hands and feet were tied and a black cap was on his head and neck and the rope with a hang man's knot was adjusted. The Sheriff pulled the trap door the prisoner was standing on, and he fell dead, other Negroes put his body in a wooden coffin and took him off for burial.

The sheriff presiding at the hanging was J. W. White. He was a veteran of the Civil War and was always addressed as Captain White. He was one of the more colorful peace officers of that time and had a reputation of catching cattle thieves.

There are many stories of White's interesting experiences both as a lawman and individual citizen. Two accounts are told more often than others, illustrating both his forcefulness and his "softness of heart toward helpless people." His stubbornness was demonstrated by his reaction to the refusal of the commissioners court to allow him to rebuild a kitchen to the jailhouse where he resided. The following is the story as told by Captain White's granddaughter, Mrs. Lucy Maris:

The first jail did not have a limestone kitchen; the old wooden lean-to which served as a kitchen burned. The wooden kitchen which burned was the personal property of Captain White, so he asked the commissioners court to add a new kitchen to the jail. Permission was refused, so Captain White then asked permission to rebuild the kitchen with his own funds, which was also refused. Then Sheriff White sent the court the message that construction of a new kitchen would begin the next day, and that he would be on hand to entertain any and all objectors. Captain White was a one-armed man, and sat in a chair on the jail porch with a shotgun in the crook of his only arm. There were no objectors.

The other story is about Captain White's feelings toward George Freeny, whom he hanged:

George Freeny was hanged for the murder of his step son. Since he had a daughter, he feared for her life; and his last request to Captain White was that he take his daughter, Mary, aged eleven, and care for her. This Captain White did, and Mary Freeny lived with the Whites until she was a grown woman.

The Masonic Lodge at Franklin was first organized at Owensville in 1872, and was moved to the county seat in 1880. The first Master of the Lodge was J. H. Robinson and others who followed in that position were A. D. Duncan in 1876; H. P. Kellogg, 1886; Tom Hillier, 1888; C. W. Gordon, 1893; and J. E. Crawford in 1895. Throughout the history of the county, Masons have been active and influential. In later years, the Franklin Lodge (No. 359 A.F. & A. M.) was joined by men from the Bald Prairie Lodge, and in 1929, the famous old Wheelock Lodge, Gillespie No. 55, where Sam Houston and other great Texans visited at times, combined its membership in the Franklin fraternal body.

Like other towns, Franklin has its historians of merit. In 1967, Mrs. Johnnie Brooker Stegall and Mrs. Katherine Thompson Galloway wrote an article titled "Early History of Franklin" which has become a handbook. In recent times Mrs. J. C. Mitchell and Mrs. Asa Nickelson have appeared on programs, both in clubs and on television stations, to tell the story of their town.

In these and other accounts, and from letters and documents, and more particularly from records available to Mrs. Galloway, who is now serving her twenty-second year as the county clerk of Robertson County, the story unfolds. The following brief article was prepared for a television show beamed over Central Texas in 1969:

Robertson County can be justly proud of its sheriffs through the years. There have been eighteen since 1880, and among them have been great lawmen who have gained reputations of honor. W. Q. Wyser was a fine citizen in every way; J. W. White was one of the most strikingly interesting and colorful of men; W. E. Thompson served in the "roaring twenties" when lawlessness was on the increase in the state, and gained the respect of Rangers and government officials for his cooperation in the enforcement of law.

Guy Townsend, Will Rushing, George Davlin, V. C. Box, and W. A. Nickelson were honored men, and Bob Reeves who served the county from 1936 until 1950, is remembered by an historical marker by his grave. Howard Stegall and E. P. "Sonny" Elliott, serving in recent times, rank high among officers of the past and present. There are interesting stories in the lives of all of these men.

The local historians have paid tribute to many of the merchants and professional people. They list among them, J. H. Alsobrook who had a hardware store in 1881, and became expert in working with metal. He specialized in carriages and "wagon-work supplies." This list also included:

J. J. Carter and S. J. Maris - Dealers in Lumber
R. S. Glass & Son - Real Estate and Groceries
Easter & Kellogg - Dry Goods
Wyser & Calvert - Dry Goods and Liquor
Bartholomew & Brown (1885) - Groceries
McMillan & Maris - Drugs and Jewelry
Dr. J. F. Van Pelt - Dentist
Franklin Furniture Store - Furniture and Coffins
James Gilland (1896) - General Store
Miller Bradbury - Petroleum Products
R. M. Duffey - Drugs
Bode Jackson - Jeweler
W. E. Ferguson - Watch and Clock Repair
J. A. Stegall (1916) - Mercantile Business
James B. Truett - Dry Goods
F. D. Andrews (1913) - Bakery
Eli Cobb - Restaurant
Joe Morgan - Blacksmith
Herman Gode - Saloon
Ben Love - Abstracter
Bob Hodge - Barber
Tom Hawkins - Livery Stable
Pierce Davlin - Livery Stable
W. I. Shaw - Cotton Gin
Henry Lumpkin - Dance Hall and Movies
Mary Jane Lane - Nurse
J. P. Truett - County Farm Manager

The first board of school trustees in Franklin was composed of H. P. Kellogg, I. R. Overall, W. C. Pierce, I. B. Ellison, G. M. D. Patterson, T. P. Calvert, A. Griffin, and S. J. Lipscomb.

The first school building was a frame structure built in 1881. The teachers in 1882 were G. F. Cohron, principal, Mamie Burns, Nina Jamison, and Mrs. Annie Cohron. The philosophy of the school was published as follows: "We believe pupils should be taught taste and refinement, and in view of this, neither means nor pains have been spared to make our building pleasant and attractive, as well suitable for scientific thought." The school was on Greenwood and Center Streets and the building was two stories, furnished with the latest improved furniture and apparatus.

Notices were sent to parents on student conduct, such as:

Students will be kept in strict discipline, firm and parental, rather than tyrannical. Pupils attending dances or visiting saloons will be summoned before the trustees, subject to expulsion. Only those who desire to improve themselves are invited to our seats, while those seeking pleasure would do well to go elsewhere where amusements are more varied. This school is a model one. All apparatus necessary for the development of either mind or body has been purchased, and great care will be taken to prepare students for teaching in the free schools of the state. For simplicity in dress and economy to parents, so far as is practicable, pupils are required to wear uniforms.

Among the pupils on the honor roll in 1885, were Thomas Smith, James L. Goodman, Champe Langford, Jasper Moncrief, Ludenia Lansberry, Lula Ellison, Maggie McMordie, Annie West, Bettie West, Sula Easter, Clara Easter, Rhoda Galloway, G.O. Gallaway, Lillie Grant, Alonzo Joyce, Lucy Smith, Sallie Patrick, Alice Brooker and Addie Brigance.

The school building burned in 1894, and another was erected on the corner of Owensville and Decherd Streets. The gray frame building served the needs of the district until 1924, when the present brick building was erected. After Professor Cohron left the schools, others served as superintendents in the following order: W. C. Crane, J. A. Poston, M. B. Autry, Mr. Brown, W. L. Spradling, W. E. Collins, S. B. Graham, F. A. Davison, Roland Reynolds, R. T. Adams and at present Joe L. Hedrick.

Some of the early teachers of Franklin and Robertson County are remembered for their many years of service: W. T. Lipscomb taught in rural schools until his death in 1912; his daughter, Mrs. Louise Stegall, is now a teacher in the Franklin Public School. Mrs. Stella Yardley Cole taught the first grade for more than thirty years; Frank Scott, who was educated to become a lawyer, came to Robertson County after the Civil War and saw the need for rural teachers, he taught for 51 years.

Starting in 1884, a controversy developed that would there after be referred to as "the school affair." It kept people confused and angry for years and the town was divided for a decade. Its origin was in the office of County Judge John Crawford, and before it ran its course two county superintendents of education were killed.

In June, 1885, Dr. G. M. D. Patterson published a report accusing Crawford of deliberate refusal to certify trustees and engaging in a conspiracy to "destroy the high school at Franklin." Patterson claimed Crawford's motive was to prevent the employment of Professor Cohron, whom the county judge disliked. H. P. Kellogg and I. R. Overall had been elected with Patterson, and they joined in the condemnation of Crawford.

The controversy continued long after the trustees were out of office and Crawford was removed from the scene. In 1893, G. W. Beard, the first county superintendent of education elected by the people of the county was killed and many attributed the cause to a continuation of the conflict. O. D. Cannon, elected county judge in 1890, was then in office.

In 1899, Cannon killed W. A. Gray, who had replaced Beard as county school superintendent in 1893. Judge Cannon was charged with murder, removed from office, tried and sentenced to life in prison.

To restore order in local government, the county commissioners appointed a respected citizen, Tom Taylor, to replace Cannon as county judge. During Taylor's administration, from 1900 through 1903, relations between the two offices improved greatly.

Judge Cannon went to the state penitentiary at Huntsville in 1900 and remained there thirteen years. In 1913, he was pardoned by Lieutenant Governor Mayes and when his citizenship was restored he practiced law in Houston. In later years, he left his law practice, operated a woodyard, and started writing a book about the Bible. He talked freely about himself and the number of men he had killed while living in Robertson County.

Cannon was more a victim of the tragic time of his adulthood than of his character. He wrote, "The second man I killed almost killed me before he fell mortally wounded. I shot his Adams apple off, but he shot me through and through. I killed three and wounded one and I ain't seen no ghosts."

In the spring of 1898, war was declared with Spain and a number of Franklin men served under Lieutenant Theodore Roosevelt. The war was short and the number who served from Robertson County were few; however, it was a sobering experience to the new generation.

In the twentieth century, Franklin continued as an important town. The old brass band that provided music in the 1890's kept spirits high. The mail wagon driven by Bob Jackson continued on its rounds. People came to town in wagons drawn by mules, and heavy loads of cotton were pulled through the streets for all to see. The saloons operated by S. P. Hurley and Mr. Gode were popular places.

A rather interesting essay written about Franklin by a teacher whose parents were early settlers in the area is descriptive:

It is a steeply little town, Franklin, county seat of Robertson (Booger County), Texas. It was little in the beginning but not sleepy. It was wideawake then, a court house in the center and all.

In the beginning it was a colorful town; so colorful, indeed, that, in modem parlance, the main street was off limits to ladies on Saturday. That was before local option; in the days of five cent cotton; in the days when a man had only enough money in his pocket to get half drunk.

In those days, men ate in the saloon across from the courthouse, and drank whiskey and cussed; chewed Brown Mule tobacco, and spit; argued and fought, and sometimes killed. The trouble in a killing might have been over a boundary line, or a hog, but most often it started over politics.

Those were the post pioneer days when the nation was flexing its muscles. They were the post war years when society was fluid, on the go, ever changing. They were the days when the Studebaker Wagon, the crosscut saw, the Georgia Sweep, the middle buster, and the team of mules were here. They were the days of the nation's adolescence.

The Carnegie Library was built in Franklin in 1913 and Mrs. Emma Decherd became the librarian. There, in the basement of the building the band played and chautauquas were held. Emil Hohertz operated an ice cream parlor in the town. Tent shows came to the county seat and medicine shows sold "snake oil" as a cureall. Mollie Bailey was the main attraction for a number of years. The first picture show in the town was an open air theater operated by Henry Lumpkin.

Franklin has through the years been a central meeting place for veterans of wars. In 1883, descendants of the heroes of San Jacinto met in the Franklin courthouse and three widows of participants were present. For thirty years after 1882, Civil War veterans assembled on the streets of the town for parades and public meetings. Veterans of the Spanish American War met in the county seat until 1930.

In reference to the Civil War, the following article appeared in the Franklin newspaper in 1919.

Year after year we watched the Rebels march with pride through our town. They were heroes of battles and wore their colors of distinction. In earlier years they were bold, outspoken, energetic men ... then as the years took the spring from their strides and so many were laid to rest, their meetings were fewer and their ranks became thin.

Walter Washington Williams, who came to Texas in 1870, and later settled on a twenty-acre farm at Eaton on the Shiloh road southeast of Franklin, was reported to be the last surviving soldier of the Civil War. According to the records of the family, Williams was born in 1842, and died on December 19, 1959.

He was a Mississippian by birth. In 1949, Frank X. Tolbert, Sr., a feature writer for the Dallas Morning News, set out to visit the last three survivors of the War Between the States and drove to Robertson County to interview Williams. Tolbert found the old gentleman on his front porch where he was asked for his formula for living over a century, which was as follows:

I never et much. I get up for breakfast, turn around for dinner, and go to bed for supper. When I was riding up the Chisolm Trail the range cooks sort of held it against me because I was a light-eating man. I've always drunk lots of coffee, chewed plenty of tobacco, and haven't tried to avoid any of this good Texas weather.

In the last ten years of Williams' life he became an interesting personality. Radio and newspaper reporters interviewed him and public relations men made good copy of his opinions. He was taken on airplane rides, dined in fashionable places, and given special honors by various groups.

He was addressed by honorary titles. Some called him "Trooper Williams," others referred to him as "Honorable Colonel," and still others addressed him as "Five Star General Walter Washington Williams." When he died in 1959, at the age of 117, the government observed official days of mourning. Funeral services were conducted at Mount Pleasant and he was buried there, taking with him the answers to questions that had been asked about him.

Whether "General Williams" was actually the last veteran of the Civil War to die, and whether he was 117 years of age or "only 104," even whether he actually served as a forage master under General Hood, or served at all, now seems relatively unimportant. Indeed, one is inclined to agree with the research director for Texas historical markers who wrote:

I recall that the Texas Civil War Centennial Commission reviewed the census data in 1963, and came up with the conclusion that the claim had received worldwide notice and could not be undone so far as fame and notoriety were concerned. Even if the cemetery gate inscription were to read, "Site of the grave of the noted Gen. Walter Williams, reputed to have been the last of the survivors of the enlisted men of the Civil War," there would be historical value in the marking for future generations will seek the grave, authentic or not be the last survivors claim.

Walter Williams was indeed an interesting man. He had been married to his second wife over sixty-five years and at least twelve children survived him. He once stated that his father had lived to the age of 119 years, and his ambition was to reach 120.

Like in other places, the people of Franklin enjoy reading of distinguished men and women who were citizens in their area of the county in past years. Some of them were residents of the town and others lived in the communities removed from the center of the county.

James Rufus Gilstrap came to Texas at the age of 30 and settled in the Henry Prairie community. His ancestry dated from the 1700's, when Oglethorpe settled a colony in Georgia. Gilstrap died in 1923, at the age of 81. As a young man he had served the South in the Civil War and after coming to Texas in the 1870's, he operated a large farm and gin. J. R. Gilstrap and his wife, Tennessee Patton Gilstrap, were survived by ten children.

William Lipscomb, born in 1821, settled in Englewood in the late 1860's. Lipscomb's son, W. T. Lipscomb, was a respected Robertson County teacher, and another son, S. J. Lipscomb, owned extensive land; he sold the trustees of the Franklin Corporation the land on which the public school at Franklin is built.

William Wesley Hurley, born in 1818, married Mary Anne Pettigrew in 1850, and the couple moved to Texas and settled on Duck Creek in Robertson County. Hurley fought in the Civil War, during which time his wife, assisted by Wash Riley, worked eighteen slaves on the family plantation. After the war, Major Hurley moved his family to Owensville, where he operated a store until the time of his death, by yellow fever, in 1873.

Hurley's daughter, Emma, married Dr. R. S. Glass, a pioneer teacher and physician who later became the first president of the First National Bank in Franklin. Another daughter, Jessie, married J. S. Scott, who was a farmer. A son, Jeff, lived in the Ridge community; and Edgar, who married Ethel Mauk, served for fifty years as a steward in the Franklin Methodist Church before his death in 1961. The story of a "Hurley Store in the Franklin area," covers a century; the first at Owensville, then at Ridge, and finally, at Franklin. Several of the, Hurley family are buried at Owensville.

Benjamin L. Parten, Sr., a graduate of the University of Texas in law, moved to Franklin from Calvert in 1921. He was a native of Madison County, Texas, the son of Oscar Asa and Mary Bord Parten. Parten was a distinguished attorney, a former county attorney, a Methodist and a Mason. He was married to Mary Lucille Wiley May 23, 1917. They had one son, Ben L. Parten, Jr., who joined his father in the law firm of Parten & Parten in 1950. Mr. Parten died May 29, 1958 and is buried in the Franklin cemetery.

Robert Cole settled in Robertson County shortly after the Civil War, farmed for a time, and married Margaret Graham. When Franklin became a town in 1882, Cole became its first mayor. A son of Robert and Margaret Cole, Robert Wyles Cole became a prosperous Robertson County rancher; his wife was Elizabeth Taylor Cole and they had six children. Robert Cole, Jr. organized the Franklin Telephone Company and Margaret Cole was a civic leader of the community.

Of the six children of the Cole family, Dr. Robert Taylor Cole is a professor of social science at Duke University; Dr. Thomas C. Cole is a physician in Huntsville, Texas; Frank E. Cole is a former state senator in Louisiana; Dr. Fred C. Cole, a former president of Washington and Lee University, is associated with the Ford Foundation; Luther Cole, of Franklin, is a rancher; and Margaret Cole, the only daughter of Robert W. Cole, is the wife of Marion Elliott of Sonora, Texas.

William "Ace" Nickelson, Robertson County sheriff from 1933 to 1935, was born in 1884 and came to Texas with his parents, W. H. and Sally Louise Nickelson, in 1896. The Nickelsons first settled in the Shiloh community near Franklin. Nickelson learned the land buying and selling business while employed by the South Dakota Texas Oil Company and later accepted residue deeds for "small and scattered parcels not transferred to regular buyers." In later years, Nickelson purchased other land and developed a sizeable ranch which is still owned by the family.

W. A. Nickelson and Ruthie Jane Mauk were married in 1905 and to that union six children were born. A son, Lad Nickelson, has served for more than twenty years as county school superintendent; two sons, Ranzell and William Ace Nickelson II, operate the Franklin Lumber Company; and Jeff Nickelson is vice-president of Southwestern Life Insurance Company. A fifth son, Dayton, died while attending the University of Texas; and the only daughter, Baby Ruth, who was married to Brooker Stegall, died in 1958.

J. A. Stegall, 1879-1932, moved to Franklin to engage in the general mercantile business in 1916. His wife was Laura Teer Lane, and his family consisted of Mrs. Stegall's daughter by a former marriage, Bobbie Lane, and two sons. Bobbie Lane married Morgan Harlan, who served as district clerk of Robertson County from 1942 until 1963. Stegall's older son was J. V. Stegall, born in 1903, who became a partner in his father's business and later developed a herd of registered Brahman cattle. The other son, Howard Stegall, served as Robertson County sheriff from 1950 until 1964.

Albert W. Mauk and his wife, Mary Walker Mauk, came to Texas in 1850. Mauk came to America from Germany as a young man and lived in Tennessee in the late 1840's, where he was a mathematics teacher. In Texas, the couple had twelve children, one of whom was John Samuel Mauk. J. S. Mauk married Terissa Ann Neely in 1879, and they had five children.
Alexander Calvert, 1821-1889, lived in Franklin for a number of years after having built the Owensville jail in the 1850's. Calvert's wife, Elizabeth, died in 1869, and was buried at Franklin. There were many other men who lived in or near Franklin, including Dr. J. M. Moore, 1833-1891, who was a respected "country doctor." John T. Forson, 1851-1925, was an influential citizen and served as county commissioner at Franklin.

P. O. Goodman, 1847-1910, a veteran of the Civil War who lived in Franklin and paid the town a high compliment in his will which read, in part, as follows:

I direct that if I die within three hundred miles of Franklin, that I be buried in the Franklin Cemetery; other wise I desire to be buried in a place convenient to my relatives . . . but in no event do I desire to be buried in an out-of- the-way place where graves are uncared for and unkept. I do desire to be buried in a cemetery where Christian people take an interest therein, I also direct that I be buried in a Christian-like manner. If buried in Franklin, which is my desire, I request that a tomb stone be placed at my grave . . . and placed thereon the following inscription: P. O. Goodman from 1847 to 19 ....... EX-CONFEDERATE SOLDIER COMPANY B, 2ND N. C., REG. INFANTRY.

G. W. Gordon lived in Franklin from 1883 until 1900, and was an attorney-at-law. He was also editor of the Central Texan, an early newspaper in the county.

The probate records at Franklin are of great interest to the people of Robertson County, not only for their factual information but also for the little human interest notes that can be found. Many expressed desires and opinions add color to the history of the towns and communities of the area. Just one example is that pertaining to the death of W. G. Reagan on November 25, 1892. Reagan was a Confederate veteran and a neighbor to James I. Galloway, whom he named as his administrator. In Galloway's notes may be found the following: "My best friend, W. G. Reagan, died today. He was deputy District Clerk of Robertson County under J. C. Renfro in 1888."

The town government of Franklin is the mayor council type. The Texas Telephone and Telegraph Company has served the community for years and the Missouri Pacific Railway Company sends its trains through the town daily. The old depot, where children played in the 1880's, is now a freight station.

Through the years of World Wars I and II, Franklin sent many of its young men to foreign fields, but most returned to the town. The postwar years made little difference to the people for their county was a farm and ranch community and there were fields to work, cattle to tend and families to care for.

At the present, Franklin is still the county seat. Its square and remodeled courthouse are reminders of a past generation and some of the first homes in the town are as stately as they were eighty years ago. The churches are attractive and the school is a modern institution with its records in sports and educational achievement. Fast trains pass through the area, rushing between large cities. The offices of ASC, Soil Conservation, and Rural Electrification are new.

The automobile and pickup truck, with gunracks and all, have replaced the mule-drawn wagons and carts of the past, and homes have television and all the comforts of modern life.. The people still have diversion; their Sundays are "church days" and their Friday evenings, in the fall, are for "football at the high school."

The people of Franklin have refused to think of becoming a large city, preferring a relaxed environment of good homes, churches, schools, and friendly neighbors. James Knight, Central Texas editor of the Waco News-Tribune, remarked as follows about the town in 1955:

Franklin is the friendliest town I have ever known. It is the only place in Texas where a man can have car trouble on the road and a passerby will not only stop to help him ... he will stay with him until repairs are made, or if it takes too long to fix his car, the Franklin man will take him home with him and feed him and, if necessary, invite him to remain through the night as his guest.

At one time the population of the town reached 1600 in habitants, but during the past ninety years it has averaged one thousand. The community is peopled by law-abiding, and for the most part energetic citizens. Stock raising and truck farming have remained its leading economic activities. There are registered cattle and fine quarter horses in the fields; however, moneymaking stock has always been the common breed. Truck farming is principally in watermelons, tomatoes, and plums. Chickens and turkeys are raised by the hundreds of thousands, and egg production is a profitable enterprise.

The territory to the south and east of Franklin is a hunter's paradise. The people take great pride in deer, fish and wild game available to sportsmen who lease land. Two thousand and seven hundred deer were killed in 1968.

Indeed, to a stranger, Franklin may seem "a sleepy little town," but it is not sleepy. "It is a wide awake town, a courthouse in the center and all." In the beginning it was a colorful town and the color is still there. The saloons are gone and the stills in the woodlands are forgotten . . .but as the Chamber of Commerce declares, "Franklin is a friendly town with good churches and schools, water, natural gas and lights ... it is a good place to live."

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