The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Author: La Verne Palmer Blowers
Patriot Henry Frank, Jr. [1752-1840] is my third great grand-father. His father, Henry Frank, Sr. [1705-1790] came from Germany to America with his father Johannes Hanias Frank [1705-1764] arriving November 25, 1740, on the ship Loyal Judith from Rotterdam to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Shortly after arriving, Henry, Sr. married Marie Catherine Grotetendt in 1741 and they became early settlers in Somerset, about fifty miles north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1745 the Frank family moved to the Mohawk Valley to an area called German Flatts, Tryon County [1722-1784, Montgomery County 1784-1791, and Herkimer County since 1791]. This was a settlement established by the British Governor of the New York Province William Burnet [1688-1729] in 1721 for the displaced Palatine immigrants from the German Rhine Valley. Henry, Sr. was a settler, farmer and soldier who participated in the French and Indian War [1754-1763]. On November 12, 1757, a surprise raid was made on German Flatts by a French and Indian war party. The raid resulted in Catherine and six of their seven children marched off as prisoners of war to Montreal –where they remained until the end of the war. The French and Indians continued to harass the area until Fort Stanwix [1754-1762] was built [now Fort Schulyer in present town of Rome, New York]. Our Patriot married a young lady, whose Hess and Clapsaddle ancestors had similar pioneer experiences as the Frank family, Gertrude [“Polly” Gertrout] Clapsaddle on November 20, 1769, in Stone Arabia, Palatine, Montgomery, New York. Henry, Jr., as a resident of German Flatts, enlisted in the Tryon County Militia under Captain Garret (Tare) Putnam’s (1751-1826) Company, in Colonel Marinus Willett’s (1740-1830) 5th Regiment, in April 1777 and served nine months as a Private.
On August 6, 1777, he fought in the Battle of Oriskany during the siege of Fort Stanwix as a part of the Patriot relief force of 800 men under General Nicholas Herkimer that was attempting to raise the siege. British commander Barry St. Leger (1733-1789) called for an intercept force consisting of a Hanau Jager detachment, Sir John Johnson’s King’s Royal Regiment of New York, Native allies from the Six Nations and Seven Nations of Canada and Indian Department Rangers totaling at least 450 men. The battle cost the Loyalists and Natives about 150 dead and wounded, but the Patriots suffered nearly 450 causalities, including a mortally wounded General Herkimer. Even though the Battle ended in a stalemate with the Natives withdrawing from the British Army and which forced Barry St. Leger to retreat to Canada. This battle was said to have marked a turning point in the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) by thwarting Burgoyne’s plan to divide the colonies by conquering New York.
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. For three months in 1779 he stood 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 while crossing the Mohawk River.
Henry (1752-1840), his wife and two sons, Jacob H. (1798-1868), my second great-grandfather, 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.
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