The Franklin Fifteen: An Introduction (Part 2, 1890-1899)
September 20, 2019
Although Annie's age was listed as nineteen on their Marriage License, she was in fact only fourteen. William's age was also written incorrectly as he would have been only twenty-one, not twenty-three, on 20 February 1890. Their first child, William Henry Franklin, was born less than three months after their union on 4 May 1890.[1] This means that Annie was over five months pregnant at the time of their marriage. It is impossible to tell exactly how religious William and Annie were but they had their baby boy baptized over a year later on 22 July 1891. In the St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church, William Henry Franklin was baptized with his grandmother Cathrine acting as a sponsor. It is easy to imagine the family and friends of William and Annie sitting in the wooden pews to celebrate and witness the happy occasion.[2] The original building no longer exists as it was extensively remolded in 1894; however, the current building stands on the same foundation.
After the heartbreak of losing two children in a row the birth of their third child, Rosa C. Franklin, must have been met with some trepidation and hope. Rosa C. Franklin was born on either 19 November 1894 or 1895. Several conflicting records exist that show her birth year as being 1894, 1895, or 1897. An obituary lists her birth year as being 1894, however, her baptismal record lists her birth as being in 1895. Yet another source, a Social Security death index, lists her birth year as being 1897. Being that Rosa appears in a baptismal record in 1896 it is impossible for her to be born in 1897. Her previous siblings were baptized a year after their births which makes it more likely for her to be born in 1895, however, either year, 1894 or 1895, is plausible.[5] Rosa was baptized on 18 July 1896, and like her eldest brother William she would survive to adulthood. William and Rosa's next sibling, Elizabeth, would not be so lucky.
Elizabeth Franklin was born in about 1896 and does not appear in baptismal records between the baptism of Margaret Franklin, in 1893, and 1900.[6] The parents of the now family of four must have had bright hopes for the future and if they were religious they most likely would have prayed to God to let them keep this fourth child. Unfortunately, tragedy would strike the small family once again. According to family tradition, young Elizabeth fell off the porch one day and never woke up. This suggests some kind of head trauma, which would have been a death sentence for any individual, especially a small child, without the life saving technology we have today. If she was truly born in 1896, and most children walk around one year of age, she most likely would have died after 1897 as she does not appear in the 1900 United States Census.
Another child was born on 29 January 1898, and William and Annie named their sixth child Minnie Franklin.[7] Minnie was not baptized like her previous siblings and the couple would not have any of their future children baptized either. The reasons for this are unclear, however, after loosing three children in such a short amount of time it is possible the family became disillusioned with religion. Another possibility is that William Franklin was raised Methodist, not Catholic, and no longer approved of his children being baptized in the Catholic religion. During the span of 1890-1899 one can only imagine what Annie went through as a mother. She gave birth to her first child at only fourteen years of age and by the time she was twenty-four she had lost three children. However, the mother of now three angel babies was a strong women and moved forward the best she could with her now three surviving children. For William and Annie though, things in Cairo were about to become very dangerous, in more ways than one, as the 20th century arrived. - Social Security Administration, "United States Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014" database Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com accessed 18 September 2019), entry for William Franklin, 1969, SS no. 327-18-1270.
- Illinois, Diocese of Belleville, Catholic Parish Records, 1729-1956, images, FamilySearch, Cairo, Alexander, Illinois, "1886-1906 Baptisms," image 13; citing Register of Baptisms, p. 13, entry for William Franklin.
- No known records exist to prove Andrew Franklin's birth. However, knowledge of this child's existence was shared by Edith Irene Franklin Tinker in a family bible.
- Illinois, Diocese of Belleville, Catholic Parish Records, 1729-1956, images, FamilySearch, Cairo, Alexander, Illinois, "1886-1906 Baptisms," image 18; citing Register of Baptisms, p. 18, entry for Margaret Franklin.
- Illinois, Diocese of Belleville, Catholic Parish Records, 1729-1956, images, FamilySearch, Cairo, Alexander, Illinois, "1886-1906 Baptisms," image 25; citing Register of Baptisms, p. 25, entry for Rosa Franklin. Social Security Administration, "United States Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014" database Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com accessed 18 September 2019), entry for Rosa Yates, 1983, SS no. 332-03-4357. "Tribute," The Southeast Missourian," 13 Nov 1983, column and page number unknown.
- Information on Margaret's birth appears in Edith Irene Tinker Franklin's family bible.
- Social Security Administration, "United States Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014" database Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com accessed 18 September 2019), entry for Minnie Calbert, 1898, SS no. 310-07-3428.
3 comments
Thanks for sharing! I couldn't imagine getting married at 14 years old and to have a child at that age too. It is hard to hear about families who have lost children because so many parents lost children before the increase in technology. Their story is inspiring to me to keep moving forward in life even when you keep getting hit down.
ReplyDeleteAnnie I am sure was a strong woman. She may have only been a girl at the outset of her own family's journey, but she kept moving forward. They may not have attended any church, but I believe she did not lose faith in a reunion with her angel children. How else could she have kept going. She is an inspiring person and a great example of perseverance.
ReplyDeleteToday, with all of our advances in health and child care, it is so rare and thus shocking to loose children. To look back to a time when loosing children was more common and sometimes mere teenagers were experiencing such tragedy is so beyond us. How terrible to loose a baby and go into another pregnancy with no guarantee of a better outcome. Our ancestors have a keep moving forward ethic I think we lack in many ways today. We all find ways to cope and can almost always move through tragedy, but their thresholds were so regularly pushed beyond our own that we really cannot help but love them when we get to know them. One of the great blessings of genealogy is to meet incredible people beyond time and space.
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