Richmond Dispatch, Thursday, July 28, 1870, p. 2, col. 4

LADY FRANKLIN IN THE CITY. — A lady whose renown for devotion to the memory of a husband, nearly a quarter of a century deceased is worldwide, and has been for many years, reached our city yesterday morning, and took apartments at the Burnet House. Lady Franklin carries bravely still her many years (she’s “turned of seventy,” as she herself expresses it) and her great and long-nursed sorrow. She is a woman of medium height and full habit; seems comparatively vigorous for her age; has a full, square face, with good features—the face of a well-bred, intelligent, and kind-hearted lady—and at the same time a strong English face. As she occupies an easy chair and receives those introduced to her, one after another, she displays unimpaired perceptive faculties and more than average conversational ability. She talks fluently and readily of her travels; of peoples and countries; and of the impressions she gathers in her wanderings hither and thither—now in Europe, now in South America, then in the United States and Canadas, now again in Asia and the islands of the Pacific. She dresses in black, with white sack, full white cap, and loose white kids. She has with her three constant companions—Miss Cracroft, a middle-aged lady, niece of Sir John, who has traveled with her for twenty years now, a maid servant, and a courier. This is not Lady Franklin’s first visit to this country. She was here when the Prince of Wales visited us, and left the country through the South on the breaking up of the war. She is an almost incessant traveler on account of her health. In this last trip, she left home—for South America, stopping at Valparaiso, traveling thence, after crossing the Isthmus, by one of our Government vessels to Alaska. Unable to obtain transportation south or east from Sitka sooner, she was forced to remain there nearly five weeks. She returned by way of San Francisco, Salt Lake, Omaha, and Chicago, to this city, and will resume her journey to New York to-morrow. Her object in coming was to meet Captain C. F. Hall, the famous Arctic explorer, of this city, who is at home preparing for another Arctic voyage. She wanted to meet him and hear from his own lips about the traces of her husband that he had found, after the expeditions she had fitted out and made their reports. She wanted to hear, too, many of the minor, and to others uninteresting, details of his travels and discoveries that he has never had an opportunity to publish. In the large drawing-room of the Burnet House, yesterday afternoon, Lady Franklin and Miss Cracroft received many of our citizens, including city officials and merchants.

In the evening she was conveyed in a carriage through our beautiful suburbs, and entertained by Henry Probasco at his palatial residence in Clifton. Captain Hall is devoting his time to the party in their short stay here.

—Cincinnati Commercial.

Citation: Richmond Dispatch, Thursday, July 28, 1870, p. 2, col. 4. Source: newspapers.com image 349547889.