Rebecca Franks

The daughter of a Jewish father and Christian mother, Rebecca Franks was raised in privilege, as a Protestant, in Philadelphia. Despite her Christian upbringing, Franks was known by many as the “Jewish belle” of Philadelphia, though she does not appear to have experienced a great deal of antisemitism as a result of this insistence on her Jewish heritage. She was a popular socialite celebrated for her intelligence and wit. She wrote poetry and maintained correspondence with numerous important men of her era. Sympathetic to the Royalists, she and her father were expelled from Philadelphia to New York during the Revolutionary War. She eventually married a lieutenant colonel in the British army and moved to England, where in her later years, she expressed regret for her Royalist sympathies.