Isaac Franklin
| Isaac Franklin | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Franklin by W.B. Cooper
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| Born | May 26, 1789 Sumner County, Tennessee |
| Died | April 27, 1846 (aged 56) West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Planter, slave trader |
| Spouse(s) | Adelicia Acklen |
| Parent(s) | James Franklin Mary Lauderdale |
Isaac Franklin (May 26, 1789 – April 27, 1846) was an American slave trader and plantation owner.
He was born on May 26, 1789 at "Pilot Knob" Plantation on Station Camp Creek in Sumner County, Tennessee. His grandfather Charles (1735-1769) and father James Franklin (1755-1825 or 1828) came from Baltimore, Maryland. James Franklin moved to East Tennessee as a "Long Hunter" in the 1770s for trapping and exploration. He participated in the Revolutionary War and was listed by militia leader James Robertson as one of the "Immortal Seventy" who received and was granted 640 acres (2.6 km2) of land by the state of North Carolina. Isaac's mother was Mary Lauderdale, the daughter of Scottish merchant James Maitland Lauderdale, James Franklin's employer. James Franklin prospered in Tennessee--as each of his sons reached adulthood, he presented them with a horse, a bridle and a pocket knife. Thus, when Isaac was twenty-one years old, he received his share and according to tradition used the knife to carve a ship miniature which he sold to a friend for one dollar, which in fifteen years he parlayed into a fortune.
At the age of twenty-one, Isaac went into business with his older brothers, James [Jr.] and John. His job was to transport raw products by flatboat along the Mississippi River to New Orleans where they were sold, and manufactured goods were returned to Sumner County. This introduced him to the slave trade and life on southern plantations.
The slave trade was referred to as "The Business" in the early nineteenth century. In 1808, the foreign slave trade was abolished and thus the domestic slave trade increased dramatically. Isaac formed a partnership with his nephew (through marriage) John Armfield. From 1828 (when Isaac's father James died and bequeathed land and slaves to Isaac and his brother James) to 1837, Franklin & Armfield became possibly the leading firm in the domestic slave trade. They set up their business in Alexandria, DC (today, Virginia) where they bought as many as 500 slaves at a time. After Franklin & Armfield bought slaves, they were either walked in coffles to Nashville or Gallatin, Tennessee, where they could be taken down the Mississippi River to the newly established plantations and markets, or shipped more directly to Jackson or Natchez, Mississippi where another headquarters was located. Especially from the Natchez office, Franklin & Armfield sold the slaves to southern planters. Franklin also engaged in The Business in New Orleans, St. Francisville and Vidalia, Louisiana. As their ships returned to Alexandria, they carried sugar, molasses, whiskey, and cotton.
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