Isaac Franklin

Isaac Franklin was an american slave trader and planter. He was born on May 26 1789 at "Pilot Knob" Plantation on Station Camp Creek in Sumner County, Tennessee.

Father was Capt. James Franklin of Baltimore, Maryland and mother was Mary Lauderdale, the daughter of James Maitland Lauderdale, James Franklin’s employer. James Franklin moved with Mary to East Tennessee as a “Long Hunter” in the 1770s for trapping and exploration. He participated in the Revolutionary War and was listed by General James Robertson as one of the “Immortal Seventy” who received and was granted 640 acres of land by the state of North Carolina. [Kenneth C. Thomson, Jr., “Isaac Franklin was a Well-Liked Slave Trader,” In Gallatin Examiner, Thurs. May 13, 1976.]

This land was prosperous for James Franklin and upon his death in 1828; he left his family with a sizable legacy. James Franklin held that as each of his sons reached “his majority, he presented them with a horse, a bridle and a pocket knife.” [Kenneth C. Thomson, Jr., “Isaac Franklin was a Well-Liked Slave Trader,” In Gallatin Examiner, Thurs. May 13, 1976.] When Isaac was 21 years old, he received his share and with the knife, he carved a ship miniature which he sold to a friend for one dollar. According to Kenneth Thomson, that was how he made his first dollar and 15 years later he would be a millionaire. At the age of 21, Isaac entered the business world with his older brothers, James [Jr.] and John. Isaac’s job was to transport raw products by flatboat to New Orleans where they were sold and the processed goods were returned to Sumner County. During this position, Mr. Franklin was introduced to the slave trade and life on southern plantations.

In 1812, Isaac Franklin served in the war with a rank of major.

From 1812-1841, Isaac Franklin acquired an estate valued at more than one million dollars. His large holdings were first made in Sumner County and in 1832, he built his estate of “Fairvue” at a cost of $10,000. To furnish the house, Isaac spent another $10,000. Once Fairvue was finished he turned towards Louisiana where he purchased six plantations called “Bellevue”, “Killarney”, “Lochlomond”, “Angola”, “Loango” and “Panola”. Along with these purchases, he gathered thousands of acres of land in Texas. As he acquired his wealth, he also gained holdings in a turnpike he owned, bank stock, and a third interest in the Nashville Race Course.

Franklin and Armfield

The slave trade was referred to as “The Business” in the early 1800s as Isaac Franklin began to cut his teeth in the trade. In 1808, the foreign slave trade was abolished and thus domestic slave trade increased dramatically. Isaac Franklin formed a partnership with his nephew, through marriage, John Armfield. From 1828 to 1837, they became the leading business in domestic slave trade. They set up their business in Alexandria, DC (today, Virginia) where they bought as many as 500 slaves at a time. “Many slaves requested that they be sold to this firm because they were always assured of excellent treatment.” [Kenneth C. Thomson, Jr., “Isaac Franklin was a Well-Liked Slave Trader,” In Gallatin Examiner, Thurs. May 13, 1976.] Also, Franklin and Armfield held high regard for the family ties amongst the slaves they bought and sold. As a result, they often lost money in transactions where they tried to keep slave families together. [Wendell Holmes Stephenson, "Isaac Franklin, slave trader and planter of the Old South". Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, 1938.]

As slaves were sold from Franklin & Armfield, there were shipped to Natchez, Mississippi where the headquarters of their business was stationed. From Natchez, Franklin & Armfield sold the slaves to southern planters. As the shipping vessels returned to Alexandria, they carried sugar, molasses, whiskey, and cotton. Business was good for Isaac Franklin when in 1835 he eased out of active participation in the business and by 1841 he was completely out of the slave trading business.

“When he died in 1846, he owned 10,000 acres of land in Louisiana and over 600 slaves.” [Kenneth C. Thomson, Jr., “Isaac Franklin was a Well-Liked Slave Trader,” In Gallatin Examiner, Thurs. May 13, 1976.]

At the age of 50, Isaac Franklin engaged and married Miss Adelicia Hayes in 1839. Adelicia was the daughter of Oliver Bliss Hayes and Sarah Clemmons Hightower. At the time of their marriage, Oliver Hayes was a lawyer and a Presbyterian Minister. Isaac and Adelicia had four children together: Victoria, Adelicia, Emma, and Julius Caesar. All died in early childhood.

Retirement

After he retired from his business with Armfield, Isaac Franklin concentrated his efforts on the management of his Tennessee and Louisiana plantations. From his point of view, the Tennessee plantation, “Fairvue,” was his home. By early April 1846, the Franklins were living in one of the West Feliciana Plantations in Louisiana. It was there that Isaac Franklin passed away April 27, 1846. His body was preserved in the contents from three barrels worth of whiskey. Once preserved, his body was then shipped to Tennessee for burial.

Legacy

After the death of his widow, Adelicia Cheatham, leased and later sold the plantations in Louisiana to Samuel James who leased prisoners from the state to run them. The state acquired the merged plantations under the name Angola in 1901 and they form the core of the Angola Prison. [Peter Kolchin, "American Slavery", New York: Penguin Books, 1995, p. 97]

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