Michael Francklin or Franklin (6 December 1733 – 8 November 1782) served as

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

from 1766 to 1772. He is buried in the

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

St. Paul's Church (Halifax) St. Paul's Church is an evangelical Anglican church in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, within the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island of the Anglican Church of Canada. It is located at the south end of the Grand Parade, an open sq ...

Early life and immigration

Born in

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Francklin immigrated to

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

in 1752. He worked as a trader and merchant, initially in association with Joshua Maugher.

Capture

During

Father Le Loutre's War Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the Briti ...

, Michael Francklin was captured by a

Mi'kmaw The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the nort ...

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.

Political career

Governor's House, Halifax, Nova Scotia (inset) by Dominic Serres, c

Francklin represented Lunenburg County from 1759 to 1760 and Halifax County from 1761 to 1762 in the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

. On February 7, 1762, Francklin married Susannah Boutineau. In May of that year, he was named to the

Nova Scotia Council Formally known as "His Majesty's Council of Nova Scotia", the Nova Scotia Council (1720–1838) was the original British administrative, legislative and judicial body in Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Council was also known as the Annapolis Counci ...

. 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 The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the des ...

after the

Expulsion of the Acadians The Expulsion of the Acadians, also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Expulsion, the Great Deportation, and the Deportation of the Acadians (french: Le Grand Dérangement or ), was the forced removal, by the British, of the Acadian pe ...

by guaranteeing Catholic worship, land grants and a promise that there would be no second expulsion. He established the Shubenacadie reserve in 1779.

Death

He died at home in Halifax in 1782. Many Mi'kmaq attended his funeral at

Legacy

*namesake of Fort Franklin,

Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia Tatamagouche (Mi'kmaq: ''Taqamiju’jk'') is a village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Tatamagouche is situated on the Northumberland Strait 50 kilometres north of Truro and 50 kilometres west of Pictou. The village is located along ...

(1768) * namesake of Mi'kmaq reserve Franklin Manor 22, Nova Scotia File:SusannahBoutineauFrancklin.JPG, Susannah (Boutineau) Franklin (1762) by

John Singleton Copley John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. Afte ...

(wife of Michael Franklin; grandchild of

Peter Faneuil Peter Faneuil (June 20, 1700March 3, 1743) was a wealthy American colonial merchant, slave trader and philanthropist who donated Faneuil Hall to Boston. Childhood The eldest child of one of three Huguenot brothers who fled France with considerab ...

Uniacke Estate Museum Park Uniacke Estate Museum Park is the historic home and preserved estate of Richard John Uniacke at Mount Uniacke (c.1813). The Uniacke Estate is part of the Nova Scotia Museum system. History The estate was built as a country residence for Richard J ...

File:SusannahBoutineau.JPG, Susannah Boutineau by

Robert Feke Robert Feke ( 1705 or 1707 1752) was an American portrait painter born in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. According to art historian Richard Saunders, "Feke’s impact on the development of Colonial painting was substantial, and his pictures ...

(1748), (mother-in-law of Michael Franklin),

References

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.

External links

Memoir of Michael Franklin Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society
1733 births 1782 deaths Governors of the Colony of Nova Scotia English emigrants to pre-Confederation Nova Scotia People from Poole Nova Scotia pre-Confederation MLAs Captives of Native Canadians People of Father Le Loutre's War {{Canada-viceroy-stub