Part Of

Morris Norman collection

Franklin family legal documents series

Level

Series

Fonds

22

Series

2

Material Format

textual record

Date

1856-1958

Physical Description

38 cm of textual records

Admin History/Bio

Abraham Franklin (ca. 1844-1905) and his wife Frances "Fanny" Franklin (ca. 1844-1908) came to Canada from Germany in 1865, via the United States. Together they had seven children: Jacob ("John"), Henry ("Harry"), Hyman ("Herman"), Annie (m. Robinson), Simon ("Sam"), Dora, and Katie.

Abraham began as a picture frame dealer on York Street, later becoming, with his wife, the owner of a second-hand clothing store on Queen Street West. By 1890, Abraham had established a jewellery store named Franklin Brothers, with his sons Jacob and Henry, and by the early 1910s also owned A. Franklin & Sons. The two businesses continued to operate simultaneously as a pawn shop, a jewellery store, and even a bicycle repair shop.

The Franklin family owned many large plots of valuable land in downtown Toronto, which they leased out to individuals and businesses, including Eaton's. Their land was located on the north side of Albert Street from James Street to Bay Street, along Gerrard Street from Yonge to Elizabeth Streets, and along Walton Street from Yonge to Elizabeth Streets. Later, the children inherited the property held by their parents, which had extended around the Queen Street West and Portland Avenue area.

In 1916, stemming from family concerns over her upcoming marriage to Elias Robinson, Annie Franklin transferred ownership of her portion of the inherited Franklin estate to her brothers—Henry, Hyman, and Simon—for a cost of $25,000 to be held in trust for her.

Scope and Content

This series contains residential and commercial leases between various members of the Franklin family and the building occupiers, as well as deeds of land documenting the purchase or transfer of land. Also included are statutory declarations, mortgage papers, and some family legal documents.

The documents have been arranged into files by property and have been described at the file level. There is also a separate file for the family legal documents and for a set of invoices submitted by the Franklin family barristers.

Accession Number

2002-5-1

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

David Pinkus fonds

Kensington Market series

Level

Series

Fonds

138

Series

2

Material Format

textual record

cartographic material

graphic material

Date

1854-[ca. 2016]

Physical Description

5 cm of textual records and other material

Scope and Content

Series consists of records documenting David Pinkus’ Kensington Market activism and his research on the Kensington neighbourhood. Included are walking tour speeches, brochures, booklets, historic maps, programmes, copies of historic newspaper clippings and photographs, research notes, correspondence, articles, a list of local businesses, printed copies of web sources, and plans of building lots of the Belle Vue estate. Also included are records relating to Kensington Market Working Group, including committee member lists, meeting minutes and agendas, reports, and an Offer to Lease. In addition to the sites within Kensington Market, such as the College Street Fire Station, Spadina, Hebrew Men of England Synagogue, Kensington Community School, Bellevue Avenue, Denison Square, and Bellevue Square Park, this series also features sites on the periphery of the Kensington neighbourhood, including Palmerston St. Synagogue, University Settlement, Toronto Athletic Club (the Stewart Building), Central Technical School, and Baldwin Village.

Notes

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION NOTE: Also included are 6 maps and 4 photographs (printed copies).

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

The Shuls Project fonds

Reference series

Level

Series

Fonds

64

Series

5

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

architectural drawing

Date

1859-1980

Physical Description

35 cm of textual records

10 photographs

41 architectural drawings

Scope and Content

Series contains reference materials created by and written about the synagogues. Primary records include commemorative booklets, a small number of newsletters, brochures, and programs from special events. There are also newspaper clippings and copied articles providing histories of synagogues. There is a small number of photograph prints and negatives, but many of the files also include photographs from books, magazines or photocopies. The series is arranged in alphabetical order by city, then by synagogue. Not every synagogue the project team researched has a reference file, and there may be reference files for shuls for which no photographs survive.

Subjects

Synagogues

Repro Restriction

Copyright is not held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.

Source

Archival Descriptions