Guillermo Frank

Guillermo Frank (born abt. 1835) was German-Puerto Rican civil engineer living in Lajas, Puerto Rico.

Guillermo was born in the German Confederation sometime around 1835. According to oral family history, he was born in "Preslau", which may be either a variant of Breslau, the German name for Wrocław, Poland, or perhaps a corruption of Prenzlau, a town in Brandenburg, Germany. In one record, he is stated as being from Hamburg, Germany, but this was a century after his death and may have been simply the port he left from. His mother's maiden name is listed as Kempler in various records. The surname Schorder is also sometimes given, but this might be due to a confounding with a local Dutch family by that name.

Sometime in the 1850s, Guillermo and his wife, Charlotte Ruppin immigrated to Puerto RIco, where he was contracted by the Spanish government to construct bridges throughout the island, then still a Spanish colony. Charlotte however died either in the journey, or shortly thereafter.

Guillermo remarried in 1858 to María Vitalia Rosas del Toro and they went on to have five children: Jorge (1859), Luisa (1864), Enrique (1866), Isabel (1869), Guillermo (1870), and María Amalia (1872).

It's been suggested that Guillermo may have been Ashkenazi Jewish, on the basis of his family surnames being very common amongst Jews (Ruppin, in particular), his likely origins in Wrocław, Poland, a city with a historically large Jewish population, and the fact that he was an early settler in Lajas, a town founded by Majorcan Jews.

Notable descendants

• Jaime Frank Paganacci

Notes

On June 17, 1858, the ship manifest for the SS Daniel Webster lists an American clerk by the name of William J. Frank, traveling to New York from Guayama, Puerto Rico. It very likely, however, that the passengers, all American, only docked in Puerto Rico as a wayport from elsewhere, perhaps California. Compare the voyage of a Jacob Frank in 1851 aboard the same ship.

Sources

1. Gazeta de Puerto-Rico. volume (None) 1806-19??; Publication Date: 28 Sep 1867; Publication Place: Puerto Rico; Headline: Villa de Mayaguez; Text: Suscricion á favor de las personas que quedaron en la indigencia con motivo del incendio ocurrido - en esta villa la noche del 26 de Mayo de 1867. San German: Don Guillermo Franque.
2. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank; Event Date: 12 May 1888; Event Place: Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Vital Status: Deceased; Spouse: Vitalia Rosa; Grandchild: Pedro Arturo Carbonell y Frank.
3. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank; Event Date: 6 Jan 1890; Event Place: Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Spouse: Vitalia Rosas; Grandchild: Luisa Esteban Delfina Carbello y Frank.
4. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank; Event Date: 6 Jun 1892; Event Place: Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Vital Status: Deceased; Spouse: Vitalia Rosas; Grandchild: Jose Ramón Carbonell y Frank.
5. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank y Schorder; Event Date: 10 Dec 1892; Event Place: Lajas, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Vital Status: Deceased; Spouse: Vitalia Rosas y Toro; Grandchild: Marigarita Antonia Frank.
6. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank y Schorder; Event Date: 1 Feb 1896; Event Place: Lajas, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Vital Status: Deceased; Spouse: Vitalia Rosas y Toro; Grandchild: Luis Francísco Frank y Paganacci.
7. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank; Event Date: 24 May 1896; Event Place: Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Vital Status: Deceased; Spouse: Vitalia Rosas; Grandchild: José Ramon Pascasio Carbonell y Frank.
8. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank y Schorder; Event Date: 30 Sep 1897; Event Place: Lajas, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Vital Status: Deceased; Spouse: Vitalia Rosas y Toro; Grandchild: Josefina Frank y Tió.
9. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank; Event Date: 6 Oct 1897; Event Place: Lajas, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Vital Status: Deceased; Spouse: Vitalia Rosa; Grandchild: Aida Luisa Froilana Carbonell y Frank.
10. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank y Schorder; Event Date: 28 Oct 1897; Event Place: Lajas, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Vital Status: Deceased; Spouse: Vitalia Rosas y Toro; Grandchild: Rosa Julia Frank Paganacci.
11. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank y Kempler; Event Date: 9 Dec 1898; Event Place: Lajas, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Vital Status: Deceased; Spouse: Vitalia Rosas y Toro; Grandchild: Clemente Niciscio Frank y Torres.
12. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Franck y Kempler; Event Date: 5 Mar 1899; Event Place: Lajas, Puerto Rico; Spouse: Vitalia Rosas y Toro; Child: Isabel Frank y Rosa.
13. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Franck; Event Date: 23 May 1899; Event Place: Lajas, Puerto Rico; Spouse: Vitalia Rosas; Child: Isabel Franck y Rosas.
14. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank y Kempler; Event Date: 3 Aug 1899; Event Place: Lajas, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Vital Status: Deceased; Spouse: Vitalia Rosas y Toro; Grandchild: Celso Benjamin Frank y Torres.
15. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Guillermo Frank Kempler; Event Date: 30 Oct 1935; Event Place: Lajas, Puerto Rico; Birth Place: Alemania (Germany); Spouse: Vitalia Rosas; Child: Enrique Frank Rosas.
16. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Name: Jorge Frank; Event Date: 2 Jun 1984; Event Place: Homacillo, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico; Place of Birth: Hamburgo, Alemania (Hamburg, Germany); Spouse: Amelia Tió; Child: Rosa C Frank Tió.
17. http://www.yosoylajas.org/resources/libros/cronicas-de-mi-pueblo-ma...
18. http://yosoylajas.org/resources/Planos-Pueblo/Las-calle-de-mi-puebl...
19. http://www.yosoylajas.org/resources/libros/lajas-ya-no-mas.pdf