Biography:

He was born in New York, 23 September 1720, the youngest son of Jacob Franks (1687‐1769) and Abigail Franks, of a large and prominent Jewish family from England. As a young man, he moved to Philadephia, where he became a successful merchant, engaging in land speculation, shipping, and fur trading; he was also a member of the Congregation Mikvah 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. He became a loyalist in the American Revolution.