Broughton Store Receipt

The Broughton name is a familiar one in the community. Anyone who has secured a permit or paid a tax bill has made a visit to the Broughton house our village offices.

Daniel, Herb’s father and the whole family lived in this house. The Broughton carriage house was opposite the home located where the post office is now.

Herb was a farmer as well as a merchant in the old Bullock tavern built around 1830. Although store fronts have changed, some things have remained the same.

In the basement are the original hand- hewn logs used for support. Some of the bark still exists on the logs. Carved into the logs are names of people from Franklin’s past.

A burglary occurred at the Broughton store sometime before 1900. Intruders stole shoes, cigars and other goods. They were able to escape in a stolen horse and buggy from the Joseph  ickering farm located on 13 Mile Road, east of Franklin Road. Ironically, the Pickerings were Herb Broughton’s in-laws.

Herbert J. Broughton

Daniel Broughton and Susan Bailey lived in the Broughton house (village offices) with their two- year old son, Thomas Edward “Eddie” when a second son, Herbert J. was born in 1867.

Not only was Herbert born in this house, he was also married here on March 24, 1887. His wife was Lizzie Pickering, the daughter of Joseph Pickering and Mary Ann Turner. The couple raised two sons, Turner and Tracey.

On March 24, 1978, their grandson, also named Herbert J., the son of Tracey Broughton, was married in the Broughton house. They were wed in the village council room. They could hear the wedding chimes played from the tower of the Franklin Community church.

Herbert senior spent most of his life farming in Bloomfield, Michigan. For a time, he was also a merchant. In 1926, he contracted the measles and passed away. Six years later, his wife Lizzie died. Both are buried in the Franklin cemetery.