William F. Wood

(1854 -1922) 

William Wood was the grandson of Daniel Wood, one of Franklin's first settlers. 

In the 1870s and 1880s, he played baseball on the same team as his older brother Milton. Howard King, Will Leet and Jason Reed were Franklin boys that were part of their team as well. 

The teams were called the Franklins and the Franklin Unions. 

Games were played on the flat land of William Barnum's farm on Wellington near 13 Mile and Inkster Roads. They didn't use baseball mitts and they never played on Sunday. 

In 1876, Wood married Adelia Bush. They had two sons. Bert Wood, the eldest son was born in 1879. He became Franklin's historian. 

William and his brother Milton were farmers. They also owned the Wood Brothers trotting farm. They bred and sold trotting horses and were well-known in the area. 

William Wood is buried in the Franklin cemetery.

Otto Berger

At the age of 9, Otto Berger emigrated from Prussia to America with his family and settled in Southfield Township.

It was here that a love relationship would develop with Rachel Van Every, granddaughter of Colonel Peter Van Every, War of 1812 veteran.

Otto would enlist in the 5^th Michigan Infantry and serve four years. He fought in nearly every major battle and was wounded several times. During that time, he and Rachel would correspond.

In 1865, after the war, they married, settled in Franklin and had nearly a dozen children.