Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/565

Rh west passage. The ships chosen were the " Ere- bus " and " Terror," which were fitted out in the strongest and most complete manner, and manned by piclied crews, amounting, officers and men, to 138 persons, with a transport-ship to convey addi- tional stores as far as Disco in Greenland. They sailed from Sheerness, 19 May, 1845. Franklin's orders were to return in 1847. He was last seen by a whaler in Baffin bay, 26 July, 1845, and passed his first winter in a cove between Cape Riley and Becchcy island. In 1848, no tidings of the expedi- tion ha\ing reached England, the anxiety of the public led to the fitting out of several expeditions in search of him. Between 1848 and 1854 about fifteen expeditions were sent out by England and America in the hope of rescuing, or at least find- ing traces of, the missing explorers. In 1854, Dr. Rae, in conducting an exploring* party of the Hud- son's bay company, found some relics of the party. After long and persistent endeavors on the part of Lady Franklin, of the British government, and of private explorers, the mystery was finally solved by the expedition of McClintock in 1859, sent out by Lady Franklin in 1857, He discovered, on the shore of King William's Land, a recoixl deposited in a cairn by the survivors of Franklin's company, dated 25 April, 1848, saying that Sir John died 11 June, 1847 ; that the ships were abandoned 22 April, 1848, when the survivors, 105 in number, set out for Great Fish river. Many relics were found of this party, who perished, one by one, on their southward journey, after leaving their vessels. Further intelligence was gained by the Stewart ex- pedition in 1854, which found shoes, cooking uten- sils, etc., among the Esquimaux, bearing the Frank- lin mark. The natives declared that the party died of starvation. It appears that to Sir John belongs the honor of being the first to discover a north- west passage, and this is awarded him in the in- scription on the monument erected to him in Wa- terloo place, London, in 1800. He attained the rank of rear-admiral. See Capt. F. Ij. McClintock, "Narrative of the Fate of Sir John Franklin" (London and Boston, 18G0) ; Capt. S. Osborn, " The Career, Last Voyage, and Fate of Sir John Frank- lin" (London, 1860); also the works of Kane, Richardson, and Inglefield. The titles of the works published by Sir John are " Captain John Frank- lin's Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, 1819-'22, with an Appendix on varioiTS Subjects relating to Science and Natural History" (London, 1823) ; and '• Captain John Franklin's Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea, 1825-'7" (Philadelphia, 1828, and London, 1829).

FRANKLIN, Thomas Levering, clergyman, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 10 April, 1822. After his graduation at Trinity, in 1841, he was ordained deacon by Bishop Meade, in Alexandria, Va., in 1844, and priest in Camden, N. J., in the follow- ing year. His charges have been Trinity church, Moorestown, N. J. ; St. Ann's, Amsterdam, N. Y. ; St. John's. Mount Morris, N. Y. ; Christ church, Madison, Ind. ; and the Church of the Evangelists, Philadcliihia, where he still remains (1887). He has travelled extensively through the United States and built churches and rectories. He founded the Jane Grey School, Mount Morris, N. Y., in 1866, and was its rector till 1870. For six years he edited the " Episcopal Register," and he has contributed to religious and secular journals. He received the degree of I). I), from Hobart in 1871.

FRANKLIN, William, the last royal governor of New Jersey, b. in Philadelphia in" 1729; d. in England, 17 Nov., 1813. He was an illegitimate son of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. About a year after his birth his father married, took the child into his house, and brought him up as a son. In his child- hood he was remarkably fond of books, and of an adventurous disposition. During the French war of 1744-'8 he obtained a commission in the Penn- sylvania forces, with which he served in one or two campaigns on the Canadian frontier, and rose to be captain before he was of age, gaining praise for his conduct at Ticonderoga. From 1754 till 1756 he was comptroller of the general post-office, and during part of that period was clerk of the pro- vincial assembly. In 1757 he accompanied his fa- ther to London, where he was admitted to the bar in 1758. He then visited Scotland, and became acquainted with the Earl of Bute, who recom- mended him to Lord Fairfax, and the latter se- cured for him, unsolicited, the appointment of governor of New Jersey in 1762, to which province he returned the next year. His appointment caused great disgust, probably from his birth as well as his time-serving conduct and courtier-like propensities, as he had been originally a Whig, but became a Tory on being made governor. In the revolutionary contest he remained loyal to Great Britain, and some of his letters, containing strong expressions of Tory sentiments, having been inter- cepted, a guard was put over him in January, 1776, by the new government, to prevent his escaj^e from Perth Amboy, and he was declared an enemy to his country. He gave his parole that he would not leave the province, but in June he issued a proclamation, as governor of New Jersey, summon- ing a meeting of the abrogated legislative assem- bly. For this he was arrested by order of the provincial congress of New Jersey and removed to Burlington. Lie was scon afterward sent to East Windsor, Conn., where he was strictly guarded for about two years, till in November, 1778, he was ex- changed. Gov. Franklin remained in New York till August, 1782, and for a short period serA'ed as president of the boa^'d of loyalists in New Jersey, when he sailed for England, in which country he continued to reside till his death. The English government granted him £1,800 in remuneration of his losses, and a pension of £800 per annum. William Franklin's adhesion to the royal cause led to an estrangement between him and his father, but in 1784 the two became partially reconciled. Dr. Franklin bequeathed to William his lands in Nova Scotia, and released him from all debts that his executors might find to be due from him, and added this clause in his will : " The part he acted against me in the late war, which is of public no- toriety, will account for my leaving him no more of an estate he endeavored to deprive me of." He -WRS the author of " A Humble Attempt at Scur- rility, in Imitation of those Great Masters of the Art," the Rev. Dr. S— th, the Rev. Dr. Al— n, the Rev. Mr. Ew — n, the Rev. D. J. D — oe, and the heroic J — n D — n. Esq., being a Full Answer to the Observations on Mr. II's Advertisement. By Jack Retort, Student in Scurrility. Quilsilvania, 1765. A defence of Dr. Franklin, by his son. Printed at Philadelphia." The initials in the title severally signify Smith, Alison, Ewing, Dove, John Dickin- son, and Hughes. Gov. Franklin also published " The Answer of his Excellency William Franklin, Esq." (Philadelphia). — His son, William Temple, d. in Paris, France, 25 May, 1823, accompanied liis grandfather to Paris, acting as his secretary. He published editions of Franklin's works (London and Philadelphia, 1816-'19).

FRANKLIN, William Buel, soldier, b. in York, Pa., 27 Feb., 1823. He was graduated at