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Facts and Events
References
- Many websites claim that Elizabeth was a sister, or cousin, of Benjamin Franklin. Those two cases can be conclusively ruled out. Benjamin's father Josiah emigrated to New England in 1685. His daughter Elizabeth, b. England 1677, married twice with no children. Her second husband was a Mr. Dowse. She was too old to be this Elizabeth. The only sibling of Mr. Franklin to come to New England was his brother Benjamin, who came in 1715. All his children died without issue in England except his son Samuel who married around 1719, too late to be a father to an Elizabeth who married in 1733. There were a couple of families by the name of Franklin in Boston at the same time, and "no relationship can be traced between any of these families and that to which Dr. Franklin belonged" (from The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 1, p. 539, "Remarks on the Origins and Genealogy of the Franklin Family".
As far as nieces are concerned, Benjamin's older half brother Samuel Franklin who m. 1705 Elizabeth Tyng, but his daughter Elizabeth m. (1) --- Compton, m. (2) John Carlile. Of his full brothers, only Peter Franklin who m. 1714 Mary Harman married soon enough to have a daughter old enough to marry in 1733, but she pretty much would have had to have been his first daughter. Unfortunately, Peter's children are uncertain. At least one source (Source:NEHGR, p. 11:19), says there are none.
There is also recorded in Boston, an apparently unrelated David Franklin "of Hull" who m. 1713 Elizabeth Ayers. Source:Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States. Boston Births from A.D. 1700 to A.D. 1800, p. 97: "Eliza. daughter of David Frankling and Eliza. his Wife [born] 15 June 1714." This Elizabeth is the right age to marry in 1733, and seems a more reasonable candidate (no proof yet).
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