MIDDLETOWN, IN — It would be fair to call Henry County resident Rusty Conner a history buff.
The superintendent of parks for Middletown and Fall Creek Township for 31 years, Conner for decades has served as a volunteer chaperone for Shenandoah Middle School eighth-graders on their class trips to Washington, D.C.
Family trips have also included visits to historical sites.
In 2024, Conner and his wife, Deann, traveled to Philadelphia, where they visited Independence Hall and the nearby grave of one of the nation’s most celebrated Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin.
“When I walked into Independence Hall, I just got chills,” Conner recalled. “When you walk in there and just know …”
It’s a venue that will likely be at a center of attention on Saturday, July 4, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Conner’s 2024 visit to Franklin’s grave, in Philadelphia’s Christ Church Burial Ground, took on extra significance in recent weeks, when the Henry County resident learned he is a direct descendant of Franklin.
“I think it’s really cool,” Conner said of that family connection.
From Philadelphia to Middletown
Benjamin Franklin, who died at the age of 84 in April 1790, had a busy life.
He was, among many other things, a printer and newspaper publisher, diplomat and scientist whose experiments involving a kite flown during thunderstorms proved that lightning was a form of electricity.
His involvement with the Declaration of Independence went beyond signing it. Franklin served as an adviser and editor for the document’s author, Thomas Jefferson.
Some descendants of Franklin — and his daughter, Sarah “Sally” Franklin Bache — by the mid-19th century had made their way as far west as Kentucky.
Some settled in War Creek, a small settlement in a mountainous region about 90 miles southeast of Lexington.
In the mid-20th century, five Franklin descendants — brothers Charlie, Samuel, Stanley and Pearl Shelton, and their sister, Elsie Shelton Noble — had relocated from War Creek to East Central Indiana, largely in the Middletown area. Their move was likely motivated by employment opportunities in Indiana.
The local Shelton families grew substantially, with dozens of their own descendants — and descendants of Benjamin Franklin — now living in the area.
Family ties
If the Sheltons who moved from Kentucky to East Central Indiana decades ago knew about their ties to Franklin, they apparently didn’t share that information with local family members, at least those still living.
It came as a surprise to Rusty Conner — the grandson of Samuel Shelton — and other local family members that online sources list Nannie Johnson Shelton, mother of the Sheltons who came to Indiana, as a Franklin descendant.
Genealogical research dating back centuries can at times lead to contradictory or incomplete information.
But Rusty Conner was recently able to contact a Shelton family member in Kentucky who was familiar with their Franklin link and provided details of their lineage.
Richard Shelton, a son of Samuel Shelton who grew up in Middletown and now lives in Anderson, said upon learning of his connection to Benjamin Franklin, he thought about his ancestor’s role in harnessing electricity.
“If I could get a dollar for every lightbulb sold, I’d sure be happy,” he said with a laugh.
“We’re shocked,” said Redith Shelton Hinds, a daughter of Samuel Shelton. She said she would have made more of an effort to collect family heirlooms had she known about the ties to Franklin.
Rusty Conner’s daughter, Sara Richards, inherited a love of history from her father. She is now a government and history teacher at Lapel High School.
“I’ve always loved U.S. history,” Richards said. “That’s my favorite topic to learn about and to teach. So when my dad told me about this whole experience, it was really cool to know we have a direct line and connection.”
Going forward, she said, when teaching about the American Revolution in a government class, “I will definitely bring (Franklin) up as a Founding Father I am related to.”
Douglas Walker is a news reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Founding Father Ben Franklin has family ties to East Central Indiana
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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By Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press | USA TODAY Network
