Franklin Brown was born of immigrant parents Eva and Horst from Germany during the later years of the nineteenth century. Having americanized their family name they decided to name their firstborn son after a famous American historical figure, and so it was that Franklin Brown got his name.
A rather timid but curious character, Franklin lived in very modest conditions in New York City but was soon to be sent back to his parents' home continent when the united states entered the Great War and Franklin was drafted.
Too timid and small of build to be a good front line fighter, Franklin was selected to drive a truck, and spent a couple of years driving munitions to the front and dead bodies back from it. That was until the convoy he was in was caught in a rapid change of the front and shelled. The barrage destroyed most of the trucks and killed many of the crew, and the ones that weren't killed then were killed in the subsequent German attack. That is all except for Franklin who alone made it back to friendly lines.
Sadly, being of German descent noone believed his story of how he had outran the attacking soldiers and then hid, sneaking back after dark and killing three enemy soldiers along the way. Especially since one American sentry was found dead from a shotgun wound, and Franklin had been armed with one during the event.
Facing trial as either a coward or a spy, he somehow managed to get away with just a dishonourable discharge and sent home.
Back home he found himself no longer feeling very at home in New York. He found a job as a traveling salesman and very quickly began to supplement his income by transporting more than socks...