Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,084. The county seat is Carnesville. On February 25, 1784 Franklin and Washington became Georgia's eighth and ninth counties, with Franklin named in honor of patriot Benjamin Franklin. In its original form, Franklin County included all of the territory now in Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Jackson, Oconee, and Stephens counties, and parts of the modern-day Gwinnett, Hall, Hart, and Madison counties, as well as three counties that are now part of South Carolina.