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North Carolina's Governors
Jesse Franklin (1760-1823) of Surry County, veteran of the Revolution, came to the governor's office at the age of sixty. Born in Orange County, Virginia, he and his family moved to Surry County. Young Franklin enlisted in the regiment of his maternal uncle, Benjamin Cleveland. By war's end he had risen to the rank of major. Following the Revolution, Franklin settled in Wilkes County, in time returning to Surry, and serving both in the Assembly. In 1798 Franklin, who had served a single term in the U.S. House, returned to Congress as a senator. Concurrently, his younger brother Meshack sat in the House of Representatives. In 1816 Jesse Franklin was one of three men chosen to negotiate settlements with the Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians. On the state level, Franklin continued to represent Surry County in the upper house of the General Assembly, and for four successive terms he again served on the Council of State, under Governors William Miller and John Branch. In 1820 he was elected governor. By that time Franklin was sixty years old, overweight, and in declining health. Despite these factors, he carried out his duties conscientiously and with characteristic simplicity and practicality. Although a fiscal conservative and an advocate of limited government, Franklin contributed modestly to the nascent reform movement led by Archibald D. Murphey. His most notable contributions came in connection with the state's penal code, which under his urgings was rendered less severe and punitive. He also advocated reform of the state militia and settlement of remaining border disputes with neighboring states. Franklin returned to Surry County at the end of his first term, declining to stand for reelection. He died there following a long illness. In 1906 his body was moved to the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro.
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