William Franklin, the last royal governor of New Jersey, an illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin, born in Philadelphia in 1729, died in England, Nov. 17, 1813. It is not known who his mother was. About a year after his birth his father married, took the child into his house, and brought him up as his son. In childhood he was remarkably fond of books, and of an adventurous disposition. During the French war (1744-'8) he obtained a commission in the Pennsylvania forces, with which he served in one or two campaigns on the Canadian frontier, and rose to be captain before he was of age. From 1754 to 1756 he was comptroller of the general post office, and during part of the same period was clerk of the provincial assembly. In 1757 he accompanied his father to London, where he was admitted to the bar in 1758. In 1762 ho was appointed governor of New Jersey, to which province he returned the next year. In the revolutionary contest he remained loyal to Great Britain, and some of his letters containing strong expressions of tory sentiments having been intercepted, a guard was put over him in January, 1776, to prevent his escape from Perth Amboy. He gave his parole that he would not leave the province, but in June he issued a proclamation as governor of New Jersey summoning a meeting of the abrogated legislative assembly.

For this he was arrested by order of the provincial congress of New Jersey and removed to Burlington. He was soon after sent to Connecticut, where he was strictly guarded for upward of two years, till in November, 1778, he was exchanged for Mr. McKinley, president of Delaware, who had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Gov. Franklin after his liberation remained in New York till August, 1782, when he sailed for England, in which country he continued to reside till his death. The English government granted him £1,800 in remuneration of his losses, and a pension of £800 per annum. William Franklin's adhesion to the royal cause led to an estrangement between him and his father, which continued after the revolutionary contest was over. Dr. Franklin bequeathed to William his lands in Nova Scotia, and released him from all debts that his executors might find to be due from him, and added this clause:The part he acted against me in the late war, which is of public notoriety, will account for my leaving him no more of an estate he endeavored to deprive me of."