Walter Franklin (1728-1780)

He was a Quaker and Senior Partner in Franklin, Robinson & Co., importers from China and the South Seas. On the outbreak of the Revolution, he was appointed a Member of New York's Committee of One Hundred and a Member of the 1st Provincial Congress of the Province of New York. In 1770, he built the substantial townhouse at 1-3 Cherry Street on the corner of Queen (Pearl) Street that would become better known as the first U.S. Presidential mansion (see images). In 1774, he married Maria, daughter of Daniel Bowne, of Flushing, Long Island. His great-granddaughter told the story of how he accidentally met a pretty milkmaid on Long Island and drove his buggy to her father's home, and "while the two were talking (Maria) came in to make tea for the city friend, with the romantic result that she 'made tea' for him ever after." They were the parents of three daughters, including the first wife of Dewitt Clinton, Mayor and Governor of New York. Six years after Franklin died his widow remarried Samuel Osgood, U.S. Postmaster-General & 1st President of the City Bank of New York.