David Franks (loyalist)
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David Franks (1720 – 1794) was a loyalist in the war of the American Revolution.
He was born in New York, September 23, 1720, the youngest son of Jacob (1687‐1769) and Abigail Franks, of a large and prominent Jewish family from England. As a young man, he moved to Philadelphia, where he became a successful merchant, engaging in land speculation, shipping, and fur trading; he was also a member of the Congregation Mikveh Israel. He was elected a member of the provincial assembly in 1748. Franks, with his wife Margaret Evans (1720 – 1780) of one of Philadelphia's Christian families, was socially prominent in the city.
During the French and Indian War, he was engaged by the government to supply the army with provisions. In 1755, upon the defeat of General Braddock, he helped to raise a fund of £5,000 for the further defense of the colony. He signed the Non-Importation Resolution of 1765, but eventually his loyalist tendencies won over. During the revolution, he was the king's agent for Pennsylvania. Perceived as a threat to the security of the United States, he was jailed briefly in 1778 by order of Congress, and then imprisoned again in 1780.
He for a time owned and inhabited Woodford, a mansion in Germantown, now a National Historic Landmark.
His wife died on September 20, 1780 and is interred at Christ Church Burial Ground.
His nephew, Col. David Salisbury Franks, a revolutionary who served as aide to Benedict Arnold, came under further suspicion because of his relationship with his loyalist uncle.
In 1768, his eldest daughter Abigail married Andrew Hamilton, elder brother of William Hamilton, well-known proprietor of "The Woodlands." His youngest daughter Rebecca became the wife of then British colonel (later General) Sir Henry Johnson, and was one of the prominent young Philadelphians who attended the Mischianza Ball.
After living in England for a time, Franks returned to Philadelphia in 1783, where he worked as a merchant, but returned again to England and died at Isleworth in October 1794.
