Jacob Franck was born in Wachenheim an der Haardt in the wine growing district across the river, east of Mannheim. His father was a wine producer. Franck attended a Latin school in nearby Dürkheim before moving on to the prestigious :de:Herzog-Wolfgang-Gymnasium|Grammar School in Zweibrücken. He then studied Theology at Erlangen and Utrecht. After this he supported himself for a lengthy period as a home tutor at :de:Waldfischbach|Waldfischbach, also working as an assistant to the priest in a nearby village. However, he found the region over-supplied with theologians and accordingly, having been a good student during his school days, was able to switch his focus to Philology, and in 1837 obtained a junior teaching post at the newly established Latin school at Annweiler, a short distance to the south of his home region. Following a series of promotions he had become, by 1845, the school's subrector. During the 1848 Revolution Franck was politically active. Sources refer to his burning patriotism: nevertheless, he avoided coming into direct conflict with the law, and was accordingly spared from any involvement with the courts during the reactionary government backlash that followed. He became a specialist in German studies and contributed to the collection of popular sayings being gathered by his friend. The :de:Freies Deutsches Hochstift|Free German Cultural Foundatiohn granted him the title of "Master" in recognition of his deep knowledge of German literature. In 1872 Franck was appointed to the governing board of the Latin school in Landau, prior to a period of expansion at the school which became a full Gymnasium in 1874. The appointment was a royal one, and represented implicit official recognition of his exceptional scholarly abilities. In 1874 he was appointed subrector at the Latin school in Edenkoben, a position he held till his retirement in 1877. Jakob Franck contributed more than 300 biographical articles to the German General Biographical Dictionary. He was a part of the social circle that also included the historian Wilhelm Wattenbach and the scholarKarl Bartsch. He himself received an honorary doctorate from Heidelberg University. He worked for the news-sheet "Palatinate Museum" and also wrote for the literary news-sheet :de:Serapeum |Serapeum.
