Last Royal Governor Featured on New Website

by Division Of Archives and Records Management

The State Archives has created a new website featuring New Jersey's last royal Governor, William Franklin. Now part of the Archives’ Documentary Treasures area, the site focuses on Franklin’s 1762 appointment by King George III. The exquisite, engrossed parchment was presented to New Jersey Governor Charles Olden in 1861 by the Crown of Great Britain after its discovery in a London bookseller’s shop. William Franklin, natural son of patriot Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, remained loyal to the crown until he was deposed in 1776. He spent his last years in America in exile in Connecticut and in British-occupied New York. At the close of the war, he removed to England, where he died in 1813.

We hope you will take a few minutes to peruse our site, starting with the new page for royal governors:

http://www.njarchives.org/links/treasures/oaths/royal.html

Click on the link to the William Franklin Appointment to read more about the history of our last royal governor and to see the manuscript, letter of transmittal from the Crown to Governor Olden, and full transcriptions of both documents. This is the first colonial governor’s commission to be posted to the “Appointments and Oaths of Office” area of the State Archives’ Documentary Treasures site. The state governors’ oaths of office from 1790 to the present were posted in January 2007.

For others Documentary Treasures, please consult the following URL:

http://www.njarchives.org/links/treasures.html