William Frank

Brief Life History of William

When William Frank was born on 14 June 1730, in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England, his father, John Frank, was 31 and his mother, Elizabeth East, was 27.

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Family Time Line

John Frank
1700–1766
Elizabeth East
1702–1777
William Frank
1730–
Evans Frank
1732–
Ann Franks
1732–1777
John Frank
1735–
William Frank
1735–
Elizabeth Franks
1737–1819
Sarah Franks
1742–1815

Sources (1)

  • William Franks, "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975"

Parents and Siblings

World Events (4)

1752 · Gregorian Calendar is Adopted

Gregorian calendar was adopted in England in 1752. That year, Wednesday, September 2, 1752, was followed by Thursday, September 14th, 1752, which caused the country to skip ahead eleven days.

1754 · Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War began as a North American conflict then stretched between England and France. England, along with allies, battled France in America, India, and Europe, making it arguably the first global war. The conflict ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and England was victorious. The Seven Years' war ultimately led to discontent in the colonies and the American Revolution.

1770 · Boston Tea Party

Thousands of British troops were sent to Boston to enforce Britain's tax laws. Taxes were repealed on all imports to the American Colonies except tea. Americans, disguised as Native Americans, dumped chests of tea imported by the East India Company into the Boston Harbor in protest. This escalated tensions between the American Colonies and the British government.

Name Meaning

German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Slovenian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Hungarian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): ethnic or habitational name for someone from Franconia (German Franken), a region of southwestern Germany so called from its early settlement by the Franks, an ancient Germanic people who inhabited the lands around the River Rhine in Roman times. In the 6th–9th centuries, under leaders such as Clovis I (c. 466–511) and Charlemagne (742–814), the Franks established a substantial empire in western Europe, from which the country of France takes its name.

English (of Norman origin), Dutch, and German: from the personal name Frank (Norman French Franco, ancient Germanic Franko), in origin an ethnic name for a Frank, or from German Franke ‘Frank(ish), Franconian’ (compare 1 above). This also came to be used as an adjective meaning ‘free, open-hearted, generous’ (Middle English and Old French franc ‘free’, i.e. not a serf or slave), deriving from the fact that in Frankish Gaul only people of Frankish race enjoyed the status of fully free men. As a surname of German origin it is also found (in both possible meanings; see 1 above) in France (Alsace and Lorraine). Compare Franc and Franck .

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

Possible Related Names

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