The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]
Mr. George Franklin
Mr. George Franklin, who has been connected with Turakina for nearly forty years, has been a member of the Lethbridge Town Board almost since its inception. Born in 1830 in London, where he was educated, and brought up to a mercantile life, he came to Wellington by the ship “Maori” in 1853. Two years later Mr. Franklin settled in Turakina, and in 1857 he founded the business, which he has since conducted, with the exception of four years spent as a farmer on Fern Flats. In 1893 he enjoyed a trip to the Old Country, after completing forty years of colonial life. Mr. Franklin was married in 1867 to a daughter of the late Mr. G. Jackson, of Knaresborough, Yorkshire. Mrs. Franklin died in 1892, leaving four sons and a daughter.