I am new to the list, and in the way of introduction, I will give a general
blurb on what I am looking for.
I descend from James Franklin who was a cordwainer, who first surfaces in
records at Braintree, Mass. in 1675, during which time he was involved as a
soldier in King Philip's War; serving with Capt. Moseley in December 1675,
on the Narraganset campaign. His wife's name at that time was "Uni" based
on
a query found in the Boston Transcript. He married secondly, Elizabeth
Hammond in 1695.
Other researchers have given him different ancestries and tried to tie him
in with the famous Benjamin Franklin. I have for a few years now had a
theory that he is from Wales. I found records at the New England Historic
Genealogical Society Library in Boston that show a James Franklin as a
Portreeve in Swansea, Glamorgonshire, Wales, at about the time James would
have been born there. I have also discovered that the Bowen family of
Swansea and Rehoboth, Massachusetts, where children of James Franklin
settled, is also from the same vicinity in Wales. I have discovered that
there is a possibility that Griffith Bowen, one of the first Bowen settlers
in
Massachusetts, had a mother named Ellen Franklin.
I am not sure which county he might be from- Carmarthenshire or Dyfed or
Glamorganshire, or elsewhere. I have located one family someone is working
on which seems to fit James' birthdate which was in Carmarthenshire
(
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/AF/individual_record.asp?recid=11307
268&lds=0®ion=-1®ionfriendly=&frompage=99). The parent's names
don't
look familiar, however, as they don't show up in the family names in later
generations.
If anyone has any information about Franklins in Carmarthenshire I would be
glad to hear about it. Also any other connections from Wales to Bristol
County, Massachusetts or vicinity.
Thanks!
Terry Dean Olson in Minneapolis