Butte County
Biographies
JOHN ALLEN FRANKLIN
JOHN ALLEN FRANKLIN.—The
first of the Franklin family to settle in America
were two brothers, who came from their native Scotland
and settled in the Blue Grass
State in the early days of that
state’s history. They took on the ways
of the Kentuckians and became noted horsemen, owning a string of celebrated
running thoroughbreds and following the race-courses, in which sport the
“bloods” of Kentucky led the
country. Edward Franklin, the grandfather of John Allen Franklin, and his son
George, the father of J. A., were successful riders and race-horse men. The grandfather owned many valuable quarter
and mile running horses, and a large plantation near Franklin,
Ky., where he maintained a
race-course. The grandfather and father
of our subject met their deaths during the civil War. This loss to Mrs. Franklin caused her untold
hardships and deprivations as she was left a widow with six small
children. She was in maidenhood Dicy Smith, and was born in Tennessee,
near the Kentucky line. As a result of the loss of her husband, it
became necessary for the son to strike out at an early age to give what
assistance he could to his mother and her little family. This he did at the age of ten years, when he
went to work for six dollars a month, on a farm near their home, giving his
earnings to his mother. They suffered
everything short of starvation. The
mother died when her son was only thirteen years old.
John Allen
Franklin was born o February 23, 1858, twelve miles from the town of Franklin,
near the Tennessee
line. At the age of fifteen, a child in
years, but a man from his bitter experiences, he went to work as a carpenter,
first as a barn-builder and later as a house-carpenter. He spent some time in Texas
and then came West, arriving in Los
Angeles on October 12, 1883. He found times dull there
and so came on to the Sacramento Valley that August and stopped for two years
at Willows, Glenn County, then went to Marysville, where he worked in Swayne
and Hudson’s planing mill until 1887. In the meantime business began to improve in Los
Angeles and he returned to that city and became
foreman for Beyrle Brothers, contractors and
builders. He continued with them,
receiving five dollars per day, until the boom broke, in 1889. In looking about for a location, he was
induced by his friend, Edwin Ryan, now of Chico, to come
to Durham, Butte
County, and he arrived here in June
of that year. He at once began working
at his trade, and in Chico he erected the Breslauer Building,
at the corner of Third and Broadway, in 1900, his partner being Fred Pfeifer.
Soon after coming
to Durham, Mr. Franklin bought two lots from the late
Judge Orville C. Pratt, who laid out the town of Durham. Later he purchased two hundred forty-four acres
from the estate of Charles Pratt, and this included all the unsold lots in Durham. He began to subdivide this property and sell
lots, and this section is now peopled with a thrifty class of almond-growers
and ranchers. Only a small portion of
the acreage is still in the possession of Mr. Franklin.
In addition to
his real-estate operations, Mr. Franklin has been a successful rancher and
breeder of thoroughbred horses, as were his sires before him. He specializes in full-blooded Percheron horses, and is the owner of the imported stallion
of that breed, Jaseur, grey of color, now seven years
old, a noble animal, one of the finest ever brought to Butte
County, which he uses for breeding
purposes. He also owns four full-blooded
Percheron mares and keeps these animals for breeding
purposes.
With all these
business interests, he has found time to serve his county as constable, in
which capacity he is serving his eighth year, and also as deputy sheriff. He was first appointed a deputy under Sheriff
John Webber and later reappointed by the present sheriff, W. H. Riddle. It was Mr. Franklin who apprehended and
brought to justice six hog-thieves during the spring and summer of 1917. Five of this gang stood trial and are now
serving time. This gang was a remnant of
a criminal band that had operated in Butte
County for many years and committed
crimes ranging from petty larceny to murder.
Mr. Franklin’s
marriage, which occurred in 1892, united him with Miss Ella M. Burdick, a
sketch of whose family can be found on another page in this volume. Her farm of one hundred eighty acres is being
cultivated under the experienced supervision of Mr. Franklin. Mr. and Mrs. Franklin are numbered among the
substantial and progressive citizens of Butte
County. They are the parents of two children: Fred C.,
who was superintendent of Stanford Ranch of eighteen thousand acres near Durham
and a graduate of Chico high school, and who married Ellen Henderson, of Chico;
and James Ray, who is a graduate of Chico high school and Chico State Normal,
at present principal of the Turlock schools, and who married Cora Burke, of
Chico, also a graduate of the Normal.
Transcribed 5-13-08 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 958-959, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
©
2008 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
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