FRANKLIN CEMETERY, Fire Tower Road, GILES COUNTY TENNESSEE
Mapping the Location

The census records show Ben Franklin family as next door neighbor of the William Samuel family. Today there is an old abandoned cemetery named Franklin that is back in the woods west of the Samuel family cemetery also accessible from Firetower Road. It is highly likely to be the graves of many in the family of Ben & 1st wife Sarah including  the 2nd wife America Franklin. The graves I am told by the Giles County Cemetery book are marked only with fieldstones without an inscription. Ben Franklin is however interred in the Maplewood Cemetery and probably thus so because he was living in Pulaski with his daughter in the latter part of his 91 years.

Listing of these unmarked graves based on the census and other documents including mapping the site.

FRANKLIN, America S. Jones, 1806 - 1875, 2nd wife of Benjamin D. Franklin (Grave unmarked, Dates may not be exact)
FRANKLIN, Francis (Dorothy) Lee. 1st wife of Benjamin D. Franklin*
FRANKLIN, Unknown children (died young) of Benjamin & Dorothy Lee Franklin*

*Benjamin Franklin (the father) 1807 - 1897. (Fag#8676854) Maplewood Cemetery (according to the Obit.. Pulaski Tennessee where he is interred and has a write up.
Children that could possibly be interred here.
Sarah Francis Franklin _____
Mary Jane Franklin - 1830-1929
John Lee Franklin ______
Francis Elizabeth Franklin 1836-_____
Sarah Ann America Franklin - (my GG Grandmother - 1832-1898)

This Ben Franklin family was Family #794 in Dist 11 of Giles County 1860. This was next door to the Samuel family who were Family #795. There is an old unmarked Franklin Cemetery just west of Fire-tower Road back in the woods with stones without any inscription. Since my efforts to find more of this family listed in graveyards of Giles County have failed I have to concluded they are buried in this lost Franklin cemetery in unmarked graves. Perhaps buried there are some of the children of Ben & Sarah Franklin that died in their home in Dist 11 along with possible earlier generations such as the grandfather and parents mentioned below. Statement says that Ben came to Giles Co with his grandfather Abraham Franklin not mentioning the parents. You will see the proximity of the Samuel Cemetery and the Franklin Cemetery on the Mapping.
I searched the DG Beers property Survey in 1876 and did not find the Franklins In 1880 Ben was living alone so he was probably missed. the Samuels that show up are W.J. Samuel and Mrs R.C. Samuel. We know there are already errors here and in the Samuel family. W.J. is probably William S. Samuel and Mrs R.C. Samuel is a mystery for now so that census is inconclusive. The Franklin family may have had their home fronting the next westerly road which is Odd Fellows Hall. While today that is further away from the cemetery than Fire-Tower road there is a home place in the hollow I am sure a spring or dry branch flows out of the high ground of that hollow I will call here Franklin because it should thus be named on Topography Maps. When I went there to the modern Brick home no one appeared to be home. The family number is not so close after 1860 indicating that the census taker seperater the Odd Fellows Hall R. from Fire-tower Rd. Nevertheless that does not change the distance between the households.

This Census of 1860 document backs up my claim:

Ben and America Franklin as family #795.
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1850 Censusu of Giles Co Dist 11
Name:Benjamin Franklin
Age:43
Birth Year:abt 1807
Birthplace:Georgia
Home in 1850:District 11, Giles, Tennessee, USA
Gender:Male
Family Number:1447

Benj Franklin 43
A S Franklin 45
Sarah A Franklin 17 (Burkhart Cemetery, Racine, Newton Co., MO)
Elizabeth Franklin 14
Arkansas P Franklin 11 (New Zion Cemetery, Giles Co., TN)
John P Franklin 18
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1860 United States Federal Census
Name:Benjamin Franklin
Age:52
Birth Year:abt 1808
Gender:Male
Birth Place:Georgia
Home in 1860:Northern Subdivision, Giles, Tennessee
Post Office:Lynnville (Campbellville)
Family Number:795

Ben Franklin 52
America Franklin 52
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1870 United States Federal Census
Name:Benjamin Franklin
Age in 1870:63
Birth Year:abt 1807
Home in 1870:District 11, Giles, Tennessee
Race:White
Gender:Male
Post Office:Pulaski
Value of real estate:View image

Benjamin Franklin 63
America Franklin 70
Malissa May 30
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1880 United States Federal Census
Name:Benj. Franklin
Age:73
Birth Year:abt 1807
Birthplace:Georgia
Home in 1880:District 11, Giles, Tennessee
Race:White
Gender:Male
Relation to Head of House:Self (Head)
Marital Status:Widower
Father's Birthplace:Virginia
Mother's Birthplace:Virginia
Occupation:Farmer

Benj. Franklin 73

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This cemetery was not surveyed. It is so far off the road on private land back upon a hill and there being no marked stones I am using my research of mapping and census records the follow on as to who is interred here. Giles County Cemetery book page 137 says there are only fieldstone marked graves here. It is my hope that the Franklin family will appreciate the significance of locating where their ancestors lived and are buried. C. Wayne Austin 28 May 2016. It is my hope that someone can finish the job I am doing in locating the graves of all the people who were buried in Giles County.