 1759 - 1822 (62 years)
-
| Name |
Isaac Franks [2, 3] |
| Prefix |
Colonel |
| Born |
17 May 1759 |
New York  [2] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Reference Number |
2250 |
| Died |
4 Mar 1822 |
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [2] |
| Person ID |
I2250 |
aojd |
| Last Modified |
11 Nov 2011 |
-
| Notes |
- "Col. Isaac Franks, a Revolutionary officer, bought the house. He was cousin to the celebrated beauty, Miss Rebecca' Franks, who married Sir Henry Johnson. Colonel Franks' wife was Mary Davidson. Judge Franks, of Reading, was his son. Col. Franks was ancestor of " some of the Jacobs of Lancaster county, and of a family named Davis, of Camden, N. J." During the yellow fever epidemic Washington rented the house of Col. Franks."
"Colonel Isaac Franks, an officer in the Revolutionary Army, and an Aide- de-Camp to General George Washington, was a cousin of Rebecca Franks. [His military record is given elsewhere.] He married Mary Davidson, arid their son was Judge (probably Mayer Isaac) Franks, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Colonel Franks rented his house in Germantown to President Washington in 1793. He was Protonotary of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1819 to 1822
Footnote 49: See J. Hill Martin's " Bench and Bar," page 25. Colonel Isaac Franks is said to have asisted in founding the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, at Montreal, Canada, in 1768. His nephew, Jacob Franks, established trading posts in the Hudson Bay Territory. Abraham Franks, another member of the same family, resided in Montreal, Canada" [4, 5]
- (Research):AJLLJ Portraits Database 5 Aug 2011
In contrast to his cousins documented in the Levy-Franks portraits, Isaac Franks supported the American cause. Only seventeen when war broke out, Franks enlisted with Colonel Lesher's regiment. He fought at the Battle of Long Island and later served three months in jail. Upon his escape, he served as a quartermaster and then as a forage-master at West Point. Congress appointed him ensign in the Seventh Massachusetts Regiment.
In 1782 he married Mary Davidson, a Christian. Indeed, Franks, though born Jewish, had been a practicing Christian for several years before his marriage. The couple had two children. After the war he became a notary public of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
During Philadelphia's yellow fever outbreak of 1793, George Washington relocated the seat of government to the relative seclusion and safety of Germantown, Pennsylvania where Franks maintained a home. And it was this very house that Washington rendered the Germantown White House during his retreat. Franks not only had the president sleeping under his roof, but holding meetings with his cabinet that included Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and Edmund Randolph. Washington came back to stay with Franks the following year once again, this time under the more benign circumstances of vacation with Martha Washington.
In 1794 Franks was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Second Regiment, Philadelphia County, and the following year began his service as justice of the peace for Germantown and Roxborough. In 1819 he came to serve as prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, a post he held until his death three years later. [6]
|
-
| Sources |
- [S285] .
- [S4] PG. 75 FRANKS I (1) (Reliability: 3).
- [S411] "Franks, Samuel Davidson," (Volume II - LXXII Series 1 & 2); digital images. (Reliability: 3).
- [S412] 66. (Reliability: 3).
- [S413] 37-38. (Reliability: 3).
- [S294] FRANKS, COLONEL ISAAC (Reliability: 3).
|
|
