DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and what a story it is to tell. Now, some houses just sit there. This one has been keeping secrets since 1886.
The Franklin-Wandless House in Galveston rose up that year to replace a house that hadn't survived the great Strand fire. Robert Morris and Sarah Franklin made it their home, and right away you sense this was a family with a certain weight to its name. Robert Franklin was born in 1839, lived all the way to 1923, and he was the son of Benjamin C.
Franklin — a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto, the man for whom Franklin County was named. So the pedigree runs deep. Robert himself was an attorney and a judge, the kind of man you'd expect to find behind a bench or a law book.
But before all that came the Civil War, and Robert Franklin did not sit it out behind a desk. He fought at the Battle of Galveston as what they called a horse Marine — a Confederate cavalryman who found himself aboard a makeshift cottonclad battleship. Cavalry on a ship.
You let that settle for a moment. And then, the day after that battle, as officer in charge of a captured Federal ship, Franklin single-handedly captured a man the marker describes as a notorious Confederate deserter and Union spy known as Nicaragua Smith. Single-handedly.
The day after the battle. There are lawyers who argue cases their whole careers and never have a story half that good. The house itself was probably designed by Nathaniel Tobey, a noted Galveston architect whose work included the Galveston Opera House.
Tobey built in the Italianate style, and this house wears it proudly — pedimented doors and windows, corbelled eaves, a double gallery porch with chamfered posts and bandsawn brackets. It is, as the marker puts it, imposing. That word was chosen carefully.
Now, if you know anything about Galveston, you know what's coming next. The 1900 storm. According to family history, the house survived — but survival here means three feet of water inside the downstairs rooms.
Three feet. And yet it stood. And Robert Franklin, for his part, was actively involved in the planning of the seawall that followed.
Decades pass. In 1931, the house moved into a new chapter. John F.
Wandless, born in 1879 in New Brunswick, Canada, and his wife Vernonica — known as Vera, born in 1896 — bought the house from the Franklin heirs. John Wandless was a veteran of the Boer War and World War I. Before coming to Galveston in 1921, he had worked as a mounted policeman and a journalist.
The man had range. Then came World War II, and this house on a Galveston street quietly became something else entirely. John Wandless served as a key Gulf Coast security and intelligence officer for Great Britain.
While he did that work, Vera ran the popular local British Allied and Merchant Navy Club. Two people, one house, both of them quietly holding a piece of the war effort together. John and Vera achieved United States citizenship in the 1950s.
John lived until 1961. Vera until 1977. The Franklin-Wandless House has stood through a great fire's aftermath, a cavalry officer's improbable naval career, a spy's capture, a catastrophic storm, a world war, and a quiet naturalization ceremony.
It is still standing. Still imposing. Still keeping that double gallery porch and those corbelled eaves pointed right at you, daring you to walk past without looking up.
What the marker says
Built in 1886 to replace a house destroyed in the great Strand fire, this was the home of Robert Morris and Sarah Franklin. Robert Franklin (1839-1923) was the son of Benjamin C. Franklin, the Battle of San Jacinto veteran for whom Franklin County was named. An attorney and judge, he had taken part in the Civil War Battle of Galveston as a "horse Marine," a Confederate cavalryman aboard a makeshift "cottonclad" battleship. As the officer in charge of a captured Federal ship, Franklin single-handedly captured notorious Confederate deserter and Union spy "Nicaragua" Smith the day after the battle. The house probably was designed by noted Galveston architect Nathaniel Tobey, whose works included the Galveston Opera House. According to family history, it survived the 1900 storm with three feet of water inside the downstairs rooms. Franklin was actively involved in the planning of the seawall. John F. Wandless (1879-1961) was born in New Brunswick, Canada. He was a veteran of the Boer War and World War I, and worked as a mounted policeman and journalist before coming to Galveston in 1921. John and his wife Vernonica "Vera" Wandless (1896-1977), bought the house from the Franklin heirs in 1931. During World War II, John Wandless served as a key Gulf Coast security and intelligence officer for Great Britain, while Vera operated the popular local British Allied & Merchant Navy Club. They achieved U. S. citizenship in the 1950s. The Franklin-Wandless house is an imposing example of the Italianate style. Hallmark features of the style include pedimented doors and windows, corbelled eaves and the double gallery porch with chamfered (beveled) posts and bandsawn brackets. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1999