Town of
FRANKLIN
Franklin County, Mississippi
FRANKLIN was a town located about 2 1/2 miles west of the present town of Meadville. It is now extinct. Franklin was appointed as the first county seat of Franklin County in 1809. In 1816 Dr. John Shaw was appointed to be post master for the town of Franklin after the (Old) Greenville (Jefferson County) post office was closed. Read the following from John William Haskey's, A History of Franklin County, MS, to 1861, page 26:"Franklin County did not have a post office or regular mail service prior to 1816. A letter from Isreal Pickens, St. Stephens, September 20, 1817, to Josiah Miegs vividly describe the mail service.
"Indeed the irregularity in one receipts /sic/ of newspapers prevents all opportunity of intelligence in any connected manner. Letters are generally brought at some time but when the mails become cumbrous /sic/ newspapers are thrown out or left...at different places along the way..."(112)
"The man selected to be post master for the town of Franklin was Doctor John Shaw. His recommendation for post master, while he was still in Jefferson County by Governor Claiborne in 1802 reads as follows. "Shaw is a proper person to be appointed Post Master, he is honest, well informed American who I believe will be faithful to his country, and to trust that may be placed in Him." (113) This old recommendation and his prior service as post master at Greenville, Jefferson County, were the deciding factors in his being appointed at Franklin in 1816. (114)"
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