Michael Francklin

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.

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]

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

On February 7, 1762, Francklin married Susannah Boutineau. In May of that year, 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]

He died at home in Halifax in 1782. Many Mi'kmaq attended his funeral at St. Paul's Church (Halifax).

• namesake of Francklyn Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia^[3]
• namesake of Fort Franklin, Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia (1768) ^[4]
• namesake of Mi'kmaq reserve Franklin Manor 22, Nova Scotia^[5]

• 
  Susannah (Boutineau) Franklin (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 Franklin), Uniacke Estate Museum Park

• Captivity Narratives - Nova Scotia

Endnotes

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.

• Biography of Michael Francklin
• Memoir of Michael Franklin Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society