Thomas B. Franklin - Relatives here have received news of the death of Thomas Baber Franklin which occurred Tuesday, December 27th, 1932, at his home in Noble, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The deceased was born and reared at Gallatin. He was a son of Dr. John Franklin and a brother of the late Mr. Ernest Franklin of Gallatin. He is survived by his wife and one son, Armfield Franklin, of Pittsburgh. There survive, also, two brothers and two sisters as follows: J. W. Franklin of Philadelphia, Rev. Hal Franklin of Chester, South Carolina, Mrs. R. S. Burwell of Davidson, North Carolina, and Miss Mable Franklin of Birmingham. The burial occurred at Noble on Friday.

Pennsylvania, Death Certificates

Name: Thomas B Franklin

Gender: Male

Race: White

Age:75

Birth Date:18 Oct 1857

Birth Place:Tennessee

Death Date: 27 Dec 1932

Death Place: Abington, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, USA

Father:John Franklin

Mother:Sarah Baber

Spouse:Harriet B Franklin

Certificate Number:

114365

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From The Philadelphia Inquirer December 29, 1932, page 21

Thomas B. Franklin

Former terminal agent, in the Philadelphia district, of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, who died on Tuesday, will be buried today at 2:30 from 1924 Arch St. He was 75 years old. Mr. Franklin entered the services of the railroad company September 25, 1886 as cashier at Wilmington, Del., later he was appointed assistant freight agent at Pier 62. Twenty-one years ago he was appointed terminal agent, the position he held until he was pensioned November 1, 1927. He is survived by his widow Harriet Beaumont Franklin and one son, with whom he lived at Noble.

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The following by nephew descendant, Terry Martin, in 2024.

Thomas Baber Franklin was probably born at his parents' home, Oakley, in Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee, on October 18, 1857. He entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1877. His mother Sarah's obituary says Thomas was in the United States Navy. Otherwise, there is no further mention, not even in his own obituary, that he was ever in the Navy. In the 1880s he became employed by the railroad and eventually became a station agent. He worked for the railroad until retirement. That his mother's obituary in 1906 says he is in the U.S. Navy might imply he is a sort of reservist.

Thomas was married twice. Helena was the mother of his two sons, Francis Barker Franklin and John Armfield Franklin. After Helena's death he married Harriet. It was also her second marriage, as she had before been married to a Yarnall. I don't believe Thomas and Harriet had children together, and Thomas' obituary mentions only John Armfield Franklin as a surviving son.

Though this memorial indicates it was created by Graves, there is no photograph of the gravestone. One person went to the designated site as shown at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA, Cemetery Plot # Moreland 743, he could not find the gravestone in order to take a photograph for me. This is interesting and adds some speculation. His first wife was buried at Greenmount Cemetery in Philadelphia, and his second wife was buried at Saint Thomas Episcopal Church Cemetery, Whitemarsh, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. (There is no photograph of any of these gravestones yet, by the way.) I am wondering if his grave got moved to be beside one or the other of his wives at some point, and that Graves created this memorial based on burial records rather than by sight of gravestone.