This is my FRANK family that immigrated from Germany to America, arriving November 25, 1740 on the ship "Loyal Judith" from the Port of Rotterdam to the Port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Henry Frank(1725-1790), my 5th Great-Grandfather, and his father, Johannes Hanias Frank(Frenk)(1705-?), my 6th Great-Grandfather, came and are suspected to have originally settled at a location fifty miles north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Henry married a girl named Catherine(1725-?).

About 1745, Henry then moved to the Mohawk Valley area called German Flatts, Tryon County(from 1722-1784),(1784-1791 Montgomery County),(after 1791, Herkimer County), New York. This was a settlement established by the English New York Governor William Burnet(1688-1729) in 1721 for the many displaced Palatine Immigrants from the German Rhine Valley.

On November 12, 1757, a surprise raid was made on German Flatts by a French and Indian war party. Henry Frank was a settler, farmer and soldier who participated in the French and Indian War(1754-1763). During the raid, Catherine and six of their seven children were taken prisoner and marched to Montreal where they remained until after the war.

The French and Indians continued to harass the German Flatts area until finally a fort was built(1758 to 1762), in the present town of Rome, New York called Fort Stanwix(later called Fort Schulyer).  

Henry Frank's son, Henry Frank(1752-1840), my 4th Great-Grandfather, married Gertrude Clapsaddle(1751-1798) in 1769. Henry, as a resident of German Flatts, enlisted in Captain Garret(Tare)Putnam's(1751-1826) Company, Colonel Marinus Willett's(1740-1830) 5th Regiment, in April 1777 and served nine months as a Private. He fought in the Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777 which ended in a stalemate, after which the Iroquois Indians withdrew from the British Army and Barry St. Leger(1733-1789) was forced to retreat to Canada. This battle was said to have marked the turning point in the Revolutionary War(1775-1783).

In the summer of 1778 Henry served five months as a Private in Captain Mark Demuth's(1730-1790) Company, Colonel Peter Bellinger's(1726-1813) 4th Regiment, Tyron Company Militia. He was on guard for three months in 1779 as a guard for the Frontiers of Herkimer. In 1780 news was brought of the approach of Indians, and in the flight three of his children drowned in crossing the Mohawk River.

Henry(1752-1840), his wife and two sons, Jacob(1798-1868), and Andrew(1792-1870/1880) moved from the German Flatts and Frankfort area in 1816 and were among the first settlers to Ashford Hollow, Cattaraugus County, New York. My 3rd Great-Grandfather, John H. Frank(1775-1859), arrived from Frankfort before 1822.

This area became known as Franktown. Some of my cousins still live around this area, now called Ashford, Ashford Hollow and West Valley.