Adam Franks
Cite this Page
"Adam Franks," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/87.
- Position
- Valet
- Years in President's House
- circa 1794
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- White
- Presidency
- George Washington
- Biography
- Adam Franks lived in Philadelphia and married a woman named Elizabeth Brant on April 12, 1790.1 He also appeared in the Philadelphia Septennial Census in 1793, living in Philadelphia’s North Ward. No occupation was listed.2 Franks briefly worked as a valet for George Washington at the President’s House in Philadelphia in March 1794. He appeared once in household records, earning $.80 for “dress’g the President 4 times.”3 Additional information about his life remains unknown.
- “Adam Franks in the Pennsylvania, U.S. Compiled Marriage Records, 1700-1821,” Ancestry, accessed November 4, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2383/records/66564?tid=&pid=&queryId=6530901f-d4cd-4acc-9c33-22207227978d&_phsrc=OuO739&_phstart=successSource.
- “Adam Franks in the Pennsylvania, U.S. Septennial Census, 1779-1863,” Ancestry, accessed November 4, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2702/records/590264?tid=&pid=&queryId=f33c3225-de68-4b94-9ad8-11320183ed83&_phsrc=OuO743&_phstart=successSource.
- “Washington’s Household Account Book, 1793-1797 (Continued),” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1906, Vol. 30, No. 2, 167, https://www-jstor-org.mutex.gmu.edu/stable/pdf/20085330.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default:3538ab8a1197726aa250c965b5bf39cd&ab_segments=&initiator=recommender&acceptTC=1.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context