Franklin Jones was the fifth of six boys as well as the fifth of seven children in his family. He was born to Thomas Jones and Mary Priest on September 15, 1832 in Barrington, New Hampshire. He left home at 16 and moved to Portsmouth and worked as an apprentice in his older brother Hiram's stove store. Within 3 years he owned an interest in the store and in 1854 he took it over completely. Throughout his life Jones would be active in several businesses at once, a pattern he developed early and in these early years he was also a tin peddler and a rag picker. In 1858 he became partners with John Swindell, an Englishman who had recently moved to Portsmouth to start a brewery producing ale. Franklin Jones died on October 2, 1902 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
“Jones - Franklin Jones (1832-1902),” Southwest Harbor Public Library, accessed April 22, 2025, https://swhpl.digitalarchive.us/items/show/12179.Item 16036
