![]() ![]() Many of Thomas’ descendants were non-conformists, handy craftsmen, voracious readers, talented writers, and lovers of learning. ![]() This strain of subversion, inventiveness, and freethinking lived on in subsequent generations. ![]() ![]() He created a compartment on the underside of a stool that could be readily hidden in the event that a nosy civil servant happened to check in on the family. When Mary Queen of Scots reinstated the authority of the Catholic Church in England, Thomas Francklyne insisted on holding on to his own Bible to read and interpret for himself. His reputation for rejecting arbitrary political and religious authority became something of a legend among the Franklins, and almost got him in trouble at times. The earliest record of Benjamin Franklin’s forebears dates back to his great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Francklyne, born in the mid-1500s in a hamlet near Ecton. The Franklins were recognized by their independence. In those days, nobility would use their realm as a last name, whereas laborers and craftsmen identified themselves by their profession, like Smith or Taylor. They were not loyal to a lord or bound to a plot of his land, but were known as “frankeleyns” or freemen. They were neither nobility nor peasants, but they were wealthy and owned land. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, a new demographic began to emerge in rural England. ![]()
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