Editing Franklin, Connecticut (section)

==History==
[[File:Franklin CT Map 1811.png|thumb|left|Map of Franklin's pre-1861 borders.]] Europeans first settled in what would become Franklin in 1663 as part of the larger division of the town of [[Norwich, Connecticut|Norwich]].<ref>Woodward, Ashbel (1870). ''A Historical Address Delivered in Franklin, Connecticut, October 14, 1868, on the Two Hundreth Anniversary of the Settlement of the Town and the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of its Ecclesiastical Organizations''. New Haven, CT. Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor. p. 15</ref> The residents of what would become Franklin first petitioned for an ecclesiastical society in 1710, but were denied. Six years later, their petition was granted and they formed the second ecclesiastical society of Norwich, also called the West Farms .<ref>Woodward, Ashbel (1870). p. 25</ref><ref>Caulkins, Frances Manwaring (1866). ''History of Norwich, Connecticut: From its Poessession by the Indians, to the year 1866''. Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood & Brainard. p. 429</ref>

During the [[First Great Awakening]] the society was shaken by controversy, partly over the location of the meetinghouse, but mostly fueled by conflict between the [[Old and New Lights]] in the society. The minister, Henry Willes, retired in 1749 as a result and in 1758 permission was granted to the eastern portion of the society to be formed as the Eighth, or Pautipaug, society of Norwich. The boundaries between the two societies would not be set until 1761.<ref>Woodward, Ashbel (1870). p. 36-38</ref>

The West Farms and Pautipaug societies were incorporated together as the Town of Franklin in 1786.<ref>Woodward, Ashbel (1870). p 40</ref><ref>Caulkins, Frances Manwaring (1866). p. 429-434</ref><ref name="Magazine">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qoEyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA332 | title=The Connecticut Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly | publisher=Connecticut Magazine Company | year=1903 | page=332}}</ref> The town is named after [[Benjamin Franklin]].<ref name="Magazine" />

Until 1861 the town's borders extended east to the [[Shetucket River]] and included the early village of [[Baltic, Connecticut|Baltic]]. That year, the town of [[Sprague, Connecticut|Sprague]], was incorporated from the towns of Franklin and [[Lisbon, Connecticut|Lisbon]], which gave Franklin its present boundaries.<ref>Caulkins, Frances Manwaring (1866). p. 446</ref>