Histories

The maiden name of Nettie Franklin Brandt has been problematic with inconsistencies in years of written documents and records. A reevaluation of the written records, combined with autosomal DNA tests of her granddaughter and great grandson, offers evidence her father was Benjamin Franklin Martindale and that "Friend" was a father's name of social convenience, not genetic relationship.

Nettie Franklin was born while Mary R McKaughan and Benjamin Franklin Martindale were married and had been for almost four years. He married another woman when Nettie Franklin was six weeks old. Mary married two more times before we find written note of Nettie's name. That is in the 1900 Federal Census, where she and her sister are both given the last name of "Friend" and are described as step children of George Webb, HOH. As an adult before marriage, she used "Nettie Franklin Friend" as her name. After marriage she used "Nettie Franklin Brandt." Note that "Franklin" was also Benjamin Franklin Martindale's middle name.

Descendants believe DNA findings support the conclusion that Benjamin Franklin Martindale was Nettie Franklin Brandt's biological father. This is consistent with the time of her mother's marriage to Benjamin Franklin Martindale and the time of Nettie's birth. This suggests that John K Friend was a socially convenient father name for Nettie, after Benjamin abandoned both Nettie and her mother when Nettie was six weeks old. That close family members knew the truth of Nettie's biological father is demonstrated by her name "Nettie Martindale" on a descendants's Death Certificate.