Rocky Mount Telegraph, 19 May 1938.

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• Will Franklin

On 16 September 1916, Willie Franklin, 20, of Wilson, son of James and Hannah Franklin of Savannah, Georgia, married Mary Williams, 24, of Wilson, in Wilson. Free Will Baptist minister Washington Little performed the ceremony.

In 1917, Will Franklin registered for the World War I draft in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was born 5 June 1896 in Collington [Colleton] County, South Carolina; lived at 506 Gray Street; and worked as a laborer for Wilson Cotton Mills.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 425 Railroad Street, Will Franklin, 25, transfer drayman, born in Georgia; wife Mary, 27, laundress; and roomer Columbus Fergerson, 23, house mover.

Will Franklin died 20 November 1964 at State Hospital, Goldsboro, Wayne County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was born 23 December 1884 in Georgia; was a widower; resided in Wilson; and worked as a ditcher.