Franklin Town Square

Franklin Town Square. Courthouse and Markethouse. A two-story brick courthouse was constructed where you are standing in about 1809. The "market house,” where farmers and vendors sold their produce and wares, stood "in close proximity” to the courthouse. For half a century human beings were also sold and traded within the market house's walls, as well as on the courthouse steps and elsewhere in the square. The Franklin Western Weekly Review often advertised the "Sale of Slaves,” and men, women, and children were sometimes sold to pay the debts of deceased owners. Families were often ripped apart. In 1854, for example, a 25-year-old woman named Mary and her children Daniel, Pryor, Ann, and an infant child were sold here., James F. Carter purchased slaves in the town square early in 1854. Carter, the son of Fountain Branch Carter, bought John and Patsy and took them to Mississippi where he lived for several years. He moved back to Franklin and died in 1859. John and Patsy were probably sent to Carter's father's farm just outside town that the Battle of Franklin enveloped on November 30, 1864. John and Patsy took the Carter surname. They and their children were residing in Franklin as free people in 1870., The courthouse was demolished early in December 1855 to make way for the new courthouse, which stands today on the south side of the square. Soon, the market house was likewise torn down. The buying and selling of people, however continued on the new courthouse steps and in the square through the outbreak of the Civil War., (captions) , Advertisement, sale of land and slaves, Sept.15, 1843 , Slave sale, 1856 - Courtesy Library of Congress , Notice of courthouse and market house demolition, Dec, 21, 1855 , Slave sale advertisement, Jan. 7, 1853