Wesley P. Franklin
Gallatin County
History of Montana, Sanders, 1913

Possessed as a general rule, of great industry, energy and 
enterprise, the average Montana ranchman is usually loath 
to retire from active participation in the industrial 
affairs of his community, even when he has earned well-
merited rest through long years of continuous labor, but 
when he finally turns over the management of his 
operations to younger hands and moves to the nearby 
city, he invariably becomes one of its most valued 
citizens and is welcomed as a recognized addition to 
his community's population.  Wesley P. Franklin, a 
highly esteemed retired citizen of Big Timber, was 
in many years engaged in the sheep and cattle business 
in Sweet Grass County, and throughout his career was 
known as a man of the most upright principles and 
highest integrity.  He was born in Owen County, 
Indian, March 15, 1837, and is a son of John and 
Mary (Puett) Franklin.  John Franklin was a native 
of North Carolina and as a young man removed to Owen 
County Indiana where he settled as a pioneer farmer.  
During the spring of 1850 he went to McLean County 
Illinois and there the remainder of his life was 
spent in farming and stock raising, his death 
occurring when he was fifty-seven years of age.  
He belonged to the Christian Church all his life.  
His wife who was a native of Tennessee, survived 
him for a long period, attaining the remarkable 
age of ninety-nine years and they had nine children, 
of whom four are living: Elizabeth, the widow of 
Seldon M. Paine; Noah; Nelson, and W.P.

The education of Wesley P. Franklin was secured in the 
public schools of McLean County Illinois and as a youth 
assisted his father in the work of the home farm.  When 
his father died he began farming and stock raising on 
his own account and in 1886 came by way of the Northern 
Pacific to Montana and located near Big Timber, where 
he first took up a squatter's claim on Fish Creek 
about thirty miles from the town.  There he engaged 
in the sheep business with his son, Herschel P., who 
had come to the state before him and had managed the 
business since 1881.  They remained on Fish Creek 
until the fall of 1886, then removing to what was 
known as the Puett Ranch, a tract of 480 acres 
which they purchased in 1889.  To this they added 
by purchase, homestead, pre-emption and desert 
claims until they had 9330 acres when all the sheep 
were sold and they turned their attention to raising 
cattle.  They also did an extensive business in 
buying and selling cattle until 1900 when Mr. 
Franklin retired from the business and moved to 
Big Timber.  He now has large interests in the A.F. 
& K. Elevator Company, in addition to owning 4000 
acres of fine ranch land situated about fifteen 
miles from Big Timber and is known as one of the 
his city's most substantial business citizens.

On March 21, 1858, Mr. Franklin was married to Miss 
Hannah Puett who was born in Georgetown, Illinois and 
is deceased, having been the mother of four children: 
Mrs. Estella Mowdy, a widow; Herschel P., now living 
in Melville Montana, married Miss Lee of Indiana; 
Lillian, the widow of Dr. J.C. Graham and Daisy 
who married (second) to Miss Bessie Bryan, a 
native of Philadelphia.