Franklin County

The county is generally believed to be named for Benjamin Cromwell Franklin, though the act creating it does not say so. Born in Georgia in 1805, Franklin fought at San Jacinto as a private and was sent to Galveston Island on April 23, 1836 with news of the victory. As judge of the Republic's Second Judicial District he held his first court at Brazoria on March 27, 1837, a post that also made him a member of its Supreme Court. He moved to Galveston in 1839 and died there on December 25, 1873.

What the plaque says

Franklin County Formed from Titus County, created March 8, 1875; organized April 30, 1875. Named in honor of Benjamin C. Franklin, 1805-1873, hero of San Jacinto, district judge of the Republic of Texas, member of the Legislature. Mt. Vernon, county seat. (1936)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Bob Sandlin State Park — 12 mi
  A 1987 state park on a 9,000-acre reservoir, where a Republic of Texas stockade called Fort Sherman stood in 1838 and the Caddo lived from A.D. 800 to 1860, now with fishing piers, trails and cabins.
• Cooper Lake State Park — 27 mi
  Two units on Jim Chapman Lake, a Corps reservoir proposed in the late 1930s, stalled by a lawsuit until 1984 and dedicated in 1991, with a 10.5-mile equestrian trail and wildlife land around it.

More markers nearby

• Franklin County Courthouse — 0.8 mi
• Joshua Foster Johnson — 1.2 mi
• Ripley Massacre — 4.8 mi
• Gray Rock Cemetery — 6.4 mi