It is probable that more towns and cities have been named for Benjamin Franklin than for any other person. Franklin, Connecticut is one of them. I t was originally called West Farms and its early history is part of the history of Norwich.
In 1663, one John Ayer of Haverhill, Massachusetts, bought approximately 300 acres of land from the Indians, - as much, according to legend, as he could walk around in a day. His was the first permanent settlement in the area and this land has never been out of the Ayer name, having been passed in direct male descent from father to son for ten generations. Two more generations are in waiting.