Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II, Part 93

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 800

USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 93

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Franco-American Club .- A club composed, as its name indicates, of French- American citizens of St. Louis, its object being social and benevolent. It was founded at a meeting held at the Lindell Hotel No- vember 1, 1898. Emil Karst was its first president, and Arthur S. Little, secretary and treasurer.

Nathan Frank

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FRANK-FRANKLIN.

Frank, Nathan, lawyer and ex-member of Congress, was born at Peoria, Illinois, February 23, 1852. His parents were Abra- ham and Branette Frank, natives of Germany, where they were married, and whence they emigrated, in 1849, to Hopkinsville, Ken- tucky. After two years' residence in Hop- kinsville his father removed to Peoria, which he helped to lay out and build up. There the son attended the public schools. He came to St. Louis in 1867 and graduated at the St. Louis high school in June, 1869. He after- ward attended Washington University one year, and then entered the law department of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachu- setts, where he received the degree of bachelor of laws in 1871, but continued his studies for a year afterward at Harvard. Re- turning home, Mr. Frank was admitted to the bar and devoted the first years of his practice to commercial and bankruptcy law, with which he had thoroughly familiarized himself. He compiled and edited Frank's Bankruptcy Law, published in 1874, which work became an authority and ran through four editions. For three years he was asso- ciated with Honorable John M. Krum, ex- mayor, and at one time judge of the circuit court. Subsequently he formed the firm of Patrick & Frank, afterward that of Frank, Dawson & Garvin, and more recently the firm of Nathan Frank & Seymour D. Thompson. He was a member of the Fifty- first Congress, elected as a Republican from the Central District of St. Louis, serving on important committees. Perhaps the chief incidents in Mr. Frank's congressional' career were connected with his opposition to his party in seeking to enact a national elec- tion law, and also to pass what was known as the National gerrymander bill, restricting or limiting the State Legislatures in appor- tioning the congressional districts. He was a member of the committee on the Colum- bian World's Fair, to which subject he had devoted much attention while co-operating with the leading citizens of St. Louis in the effort to locate the fair near that city. He had been one of the earliest movers in that project, in recognition of which he was ap- pointed by Governor Francis a member of the World Fair Commission. When the movement was set on foot to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the Louisi- ana Purchase by holding a World's Fair in St.

Louis, Mr. Frank at once became one of the most active promoters of the enterprise, and has rendered especially valuable services in this connection, in aiding to procure needed legislation from Congress. Notwithstanding the fact that marked independence of politi- cal dictation has always characterized his action in public life, he has occupied a com- manding position in the councils of his party in Missouri, and is recognized throughout the State as one of the ablest exponents of genuine Republicanism and clean politics. Since his retirement from Congress he has repeatedly declined to accept a renomination, or to become a candidate for any other public office, preferring to devote himself unre- servedly to the profession of which he is an able and accomplished member. He is the principal owner of the "Star" newspaper of St. Louis, which, under his direction of its affairs, has become one of the leading news- papers of the West and a journal of wide cir- culation and influence.

Frankford .- An incorporated village in Pike County, thirteen miles northeast of Bowling Green, on the St. Louis & Hannibal Railroad. It was laid out in 1831 by Solomon Fisher. It has two graded schools, Baptist, Christian, Methodist Episcopal and Presby- terian Churches. The business of the town is represented by a bank, flouring mill, a newspaper, the "Chronicle ;" two hotels, and about twenty stores, shops, etc. Population, 1899 (estimated), 500.

Franklin .- See "Pacific." Also, "Old Franklin."

Franklin, Benjamin J., lawyer, sol- dier and Congressman, was born in Mason County, Kentucky, and died in Arizona, in 1897. He was educated at the common schools in his native State, and in Bethany College, West Virginia, and after studying law moved to Kansas City, and located at Leavenworth. In 1860 he moved to Mis- souri, and in 1861 joined the Confederate Army as a private, and was promoted to cap- tain, serving to the end of the war. In 1871 he was elected circuit attorney for the Twen- ty-fourth Judicial Circuit, and in 1874 was elected from the Eighth Missouri District, as a Democrat, to the Forty-fourth Congress, by a vote of 11,546 to 3,595 for J. P. Alex-

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FRANKLIN COUNTY.

ander, Republican, and 2,920 for W. H. Powell, Republican, and in 1876 was re- elected.

Franklin County .- A county in the eastern part of Missouri, bounded on the north by the Missouri River, which separates it from Warren and St. Charles Counties ; on the east by St. Louis and Jefferson Counties ; on the south by Washington and Crawford Counties, and on the west by Gasconade County. Its length, north and south, varies from thirty-three to twenty-two miles; its breadth is more regular, from thirty-three to thirty-one miles. The area is 850 square miles, or 560,388 acres, of which about 65 per cent was in cultivation in 1899. It is ex- tremely well watered. The Meramec River, tainous. An extension of the Ozark Hills enters fromthe east, near Pacific, and extends southwestwardly into Gasconade County, and a high ridge lies in the same direction from Moselle to Sullivan. The altitude at points on these lines varies from 500 to 1,000 feet above sea level. The county is ex- treniely well watered. The Meramec River, fed by the Little Meramec, Bourbeuse and many smaller streams, drains the southern portion ; while in the northern parts the Mis- souri River receives Big Tavern, Ridenhour, Labaddie, Dubois, St. John's, Boeuf and Berger Creeks. For ten miles inland from the Missouri River the soil is a rich clay loam, and the valleys in the southeastern part are deep vegetable mold. The hills are thinly soiled, clay predominating. In the val- leys and terrace lands, wheat, oats and rye make good yields, and corn grows rankly. The thinnest land sustains a nutritious wild grass, and receives bluegrass readily, afford- ing excellent pasturage. Fruits come to per- fection wherever planted. The native woods, oak in its varieties, ash, walnut, hickory, soft and sugar maple, elm, birch and sycamore, make vigorous growth, and large quantities are shipped for railway bridges and ties and other purposes. The southern part is dis- tinctively a mineral region. Lead, iron and copper exist in quantities, a large lead smelter being in operation at Union. Zinc and barytes have been found, but remain un- developed. Near the Gasconade County line coal has been mined, but only for local use. There are fine deposits of fire clay, and com- mercial white sand, suitable for glass manu-

facture, near Pacific. The mineral region contains several natural caves abounding in curious formations. Fisher's Cave, two miles southeast of Stanton, in the Meramec River bluff, is entered by a crooked gallery one- quarter of a mile long, varying in height from five to fifteen feet, and from eight to twenty-five feet in width. At the end is found the cave, 100 feet in diameter, set with beau- tiful stalactites and stalagmites, of varying dimensions. Garrett's Cave, east of Sullivan, and Labaddie's Cave, near Union, are simi- lar, but smaller. West of Detmold is Jacob's Well, opening downward through stone. At a descent of eighty feet a large lake opens out, roofed with stone at a height of twenty- five feet.

The early settlers of Franklin met with little obstacle to home-making. When they appeared there was a village of 200 or more tepees in the Bourbeuse Valley, but the In- dian soon quietly disappeared. The first settlements were made along the Missouri Valley, under Spanish grants, and by French- men, as would appear from the names of various streams whereon they located. The first American settler was probably Kincaid Caldwell, in 1803. William M. Fullerton and John Ridenhour came soon afterward. It is believed that Ridenhour was the only man in the county killed by Indians; he was shot while watering his horse near Labaddie Creek. Moses Maupin, who has left many descendants, came in 1806. Michael Crowe came later, and died from an accident ; he left a will enjoining upon his relatives not to mourn for him, and directing that no funeral oration should be made over his remains, "as it is an idle, foolish and heathenish practice." His son, M. L. G. Crowe, one of the first born in the county, became county judge. James North came in 1818; he built the first water mill, and was drowned near it. The same year came Dr. Peter Kincaid, a Scotch- man, who had served under Napoleon; he platted the town of St. Alban's, which was swept away by the flood in 1844. In 1819 came Achilles Jeffries and family ; Robert Frazier, an Irishman, who had been with the Lewis and Clark expedition, and Robert Breck, the first teacher, all of whom settled near Labaddie Creek. The county of Frank- lin was organized December 1I, 1818, and was named for Benjamin Franklin. As orig- inally constituted it included the counties of

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FRANKLIN COUNTY.

Gasconade and Osage, and portions of Maries and Miller Counties. Gasconade was detached and organized as a county in 1820, practically reducing Franklin to its present dimensions, although its boundaries were not accurately defined until 1845.

Upon the organization of the county, David Edwards, Philip Boulware, Sr., Wil- liam Laughlin, David B. Moore and William Harrison, as commissioners, established the county seat at Newport, in St. John's Town- ship, near the Missouri River, and erected a small courthouse. In 1825, on petition of a majority of the people, the General Assembly passed an act for the removal of the seat of justice to some point near the central part of the county, and making Barnabas Stick- land, Moses Whitmore and Brackett Barnes commissioners to select a location. Union was agreed upon, and Nathan Richards hav- ing donated thirty-seven and one-half acres of land for public uses, a log courthouse was built in 1828, at a cost of $844.79, and this was occupied until a brick building was erected in 1849, which has since undergone extensive repairs and remodeling, and is still in use. The first county court term was held in January, 1821, at Newport, by Justices Henry Brown and Kincaid Caldwell, with James Kegans as sheriff and William G. Owens as clerk, when minor officers were appointed, road districts were laid out, and ferry and dramshop privileges were granted. The last session at Newport was November 7, 1826, and the first at the new seat of Union, was June 25, 1827; Henry Brown was presiding justice. About 1863, under the county court, were constructed the rock roads from Washington to Union, from Washing- ton to Campbelltown, and the Port Hudson road, the two latter costing $10,000 a mile. Another road, from Union to the St. Louis County line, there connecting with the Man- chester road to the city of St. Louis, twenty-two miles long, cost $252,000. The construction work was unsatisfactory, and costly, and led to long-continued litigation. Resort was taken to the courts to enjoin the issue of the bonds, and to nullify them after issue. Judge Owens, of the Ninth Judicial District, denied the former, maintaining reg- ularity of issue and consideration ; Judge Smith, of St. Louis, denied the latter, holding that the bonds had passed to innocent hold- ers. The latter case was taken to the United

States Supreme Court, which affirmed the decision of the lower court. Another suit was subsequently brought to nullify the bonds, and was similarly disposed of by the same high tribunal. In 1880 the debt, includ- ing interest, had amounted to about $540,000. The bondholders made a compromise propo- sition for the issue of $325,000 in 6 per cent bonds in settlement, the entire debt payable in twenty years, and this was accepted by the people in 1881. The money for payment of these bonds is now (January, 1900) on hand, and the full amount of the bonds will be paid when due.

The first session of the circuit court, under Territorial laws, was held by Judge Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, March 8, 1819. Benoni Sap- pington was appointed sheriff and Isaac Murphy clerk. The court then had also local jurisdiction similar to that of the present county court. Judge Tucker con- tinued to serve for some years after Missouri became a State. From 1855 to 1861 there was considerable disorder, and many deeds of violence, grow- ing out of violation of the liquor laws, and the angry feeling upon the slavery question. But one legal execution has occurred in the county, that of Edward D. Werrell, who, with William H. Bruff, was indicted for the murder of Basil H. Gordon, January 25, 1856. Wer- rell was hanged in June, 1857, at Union. Bruff was acquitted, and afterward shot while attempting to desert from the United States Army. In 1880 Matilda Haase was murdered by her husband, Fritz Haase, and Catherine Hoffert, a woman with whom he was inti- mate. They were both sentenced to the peni- tentiary, where the woman died. The most noted event in the court history of Franklin County was the trial of Dr. Arthur Duestrow, for the murder of his wife and child in St. Louis, February 14, 1894. The case was taken to Franklin County on change of venue ; Duestrow was found guilty, and was hanged at Union, February 16, 1897. A few cases of lynching have occurred. One grew out of the most heinous crime in the annals of the county. In 1858 William H. Hall was brought to trial for the murder of Andrew Bullock, and sentenced to the penitentiary. Two years afterward he was adjudged insane and transferred to the insane asylum, from which he was discharged in less than a year, as one whose sanity was restored. Shortly

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after returning to Washington, where he taught school, he shot and killed his sister, who was sitting at the side of their sick father, whose death ensued from the shock. The murderer was hanged to a tree in Union some days later. The political history begins with the Constitutional Convention of 1820, in which the county was represented by John G. Heath. In the First General Assembly, the same year, Philip Baulware sat in the House; James Talbott, of Washington, was Senator from the senatorial district consti- tuted by the two counties. Under the Ter- ritorial organization the county comprised the townships of Meramec, Boeuf and Gas- conade, and in 1821 Boles and Calvey were added. There were many subdivisions and changes, until 1875, when after three years' effort, the system of township organization was adopted. At the end of the first year this was abandoned. The present townships are Boeuf, St. John's, Boles, Lyon, Union, Boone, Meramec, Central, Prairie and Cal- vey.

The earliest church of which there is authentic record, was one near the site of Washington, from which has grown the Cath- olic Church of St. Francis Borgia, in that city. This denomination now has valuable churches in all the principal towns. Indian Creek Baptist Church dates to 1836, and since that time several others have been established. The parent Methodist Church was that of Mount Olive, in Calvey Township, founded in 1837. Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, at Union, dates from 1845, and was the parent of others in the county. The first Christian Church was established at New Haven, in 1856. St. John's German Evan- gelical Church, near Union, was organized in 1843, and St. Peter's Evangelical at Wash- ington, in 1845. The various Lutheran sects are strong in numbers and means throughout the county. Of early schools there is little recorded. The sale of school lands began in 1823, but school districts were not formed until 1845, and the following year a public school building was erected in Washington, and this marked the beginning of a general interest in public instruction. In 1898 there were in the county, 123 schools, 142 teachers, and 5,698 pupils, of whom 513 were colored. The permanent school fund amounted to $40,595.27. The Missouri Pacific Railway en- ters the county at Pacific, and passes near the

northern border, following the course of the Missouri River. The St. Louis & San Fran- cisco also enters at the same point, and passes through the county in a southwestwardly direction. A branch of the St. Louis, Kan- sas City & Colorado Railway connects Union and Labaddie. In 1898 the surplus products shipped from the county were: Cattle, 6,832 head ; hogs, 44,426 head ; sheep, 11,841 head; horses and mules, 225 head; wheat, 279,978 bushels; oats, 2,844 bushels; corn, 21,823 bushels ; hay, 118,200 pounds ; flour, 6,708,488 pounds ; corn meal, 2,300 pounds; shipstuff, 457,14I pounds ; clover seed, 121,919 pounds ; lumber, 1,103,100 feet ; logs, 78,000 feet ; wal- nut logs, 30,000 feet ; piling and posts, 156,- 000 feet; cross ties, 34,509 feet; cordwood, 8,813 cords ; cooperage, 74 cars ; lead ore, 640 tons ; pig lead, 240 tons ; brick, 102,500 ; clay, 4 cars ; stone, 55 cars ; gravel and sand, 2,595 cars ; tripoli, I car; ice, 2 cars ; wool, 13,715 pounds ; tobacco, 125 pounds ; melons, 1,200; poultry, 1,182,342 pounds; eggs, 887,460 dozen ; butter, 58,968 pounds; dressed meats, 25,648 pounds ; game and fish, 15,196 pounds ; lard and tallow, 39,217 pounds; hides and pelts, 86,378 pounds; apples, 2,437 barrels ; peaches, 3,429 baskets; fresh fruit, 14,595 pounds ; dried fruits, 24,648 pounds ; vege- tables, 7,710 pounds ; onions, 248 bushels ; honey, 500 pounds ; molasses, 1,915 gallons ; whisky and wine, 3,920 gallons; cider, 160 gallons; canned goods, 337,923 pounds ; nursery stock, 338,940 pounds ; junk, 37 cars ; furs and feathers, 5,229 pounds ; milk, 11,096 gallons ; stoneware, I car; cob pipes, 816,281 pounds. In 1900 the population was 30,581.

Frederick, Philip Andrew, was born in Marion County, Ohio, in 1845. His father, Simon P. Frederick was a native of Virginia, a direct descendant of the house of Hohenzollern and a son of the American Revolution. His mother was born in Ohio and was a daughter of the old Engler family, prominently identified with the early history of both Ohio and Pennsylvania. When Philip A. was four years of age his father moved from Ohio to Illinois, and at the beginning of the Civil War entered the Union Army, where he remained a soldier until honorably discharged in 1865. His service required his presence in Missouri during the greater part of the time he fought for his country. Fore- seeing the future greatness of the State, and

yours Truly. Philip Andrew Frederick

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FREDERICKTOWN.

becoming familiar with its resources, he de- termined to make it his home as soon as the cessation of hostilities would permit. Hence in 1866 he removed to Missouri and settled near Kirksville, where his widow still re- sides.

The subject of this sketch spent his early years in agricultural pursuits, and obtained his education in the common schools and at the State Normal School at Kirksville, where he graduated in 1872. He then became the principal of the academy at Lancaster, and later superintendent of the schools at Tipton and Salisbury. In 1877 Mr. Frederick was married to Miss Mary Wilmoth Woodson, daughter of W. B. Woodson, whose family has been allied with the interests of Missouri since its admission as a State. This union was blessed with an only child, a daughter, Ber- nice-a student at the University of Michi- gan in 1900.

Shortly after his marriage Mr. Frederick was admitted to the bar by Judge Burck- hartt, of the second judicial circuit of Mis- souri, and for two years represented, in a legal capacity, the publishing house of D. Ap- pleton & Company. In 1879 he entered the real estate field in Kansas City, and at once took a prominent place in that line of busi- ness. In 1881 he platted Frederick's addi- tion. The following year he laid P. A. Fred- erick's second addition ; in 1883 P. A. Freder- ick's third addition, and in 1885, Hollywood. All of these are now well built up, and are numbered among the most attractive resi- dence portions of the city. Their promoter also handled several large additions for other parties, and in this way, as well as in the transaction of a general commission and loan business, has built up a most excellent repu- tation as a property agent and realty expert.

Mr. Frederick has the highest regard for Missouri and all her interests, and is proud of his citizenship in the great middle State. He is an enthusiastic and true friend of Kan- sas City, and is identified with movements having for their purpose the promotion of important enterprises and the advancement of municipal prosperity. He is a man of pro- nounced views, and when once his opinions are carefully and conservatively formed they are not easily changed. He is a Republican of the Lincoln type and a Presbyterian of the Cumberland school.

Vol. II-33

Fredericktown. - An incorporated city of the fourth class, the seat of justice of Madison County, situated in St. Michaels township, on the Belmont branch of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway, 104 miles from St. Louis. It was laid out in 1819 and was the successor of St. Michaels, a village started by early settlers on the Lit- tle St. Francis River, at the mouth of the Saline, in 1802. In 1810 St. Michaels did not contain more than fifteen log cabins and one store, which was run by Charles F. Gain. An overflow of the Castor and Saline Creeks in June, 1814, drove the inhabitants from the place and a settlement was made a mile and a half north, called "New Village." In 1820 a Catholic Church was built there. The com- missioners appointed to locate a permanent seat of justice for Madison County purchased from Nathaniel Cook a tract of land on the Saline, opposite St. Michaels, and laid out a town which was called Fredericktown and which was named after General George Fred- erick Bollinger, of Cape Girardeau. The first stores were opened by S. A. Guignon, S. B. Pratte and Moses and Caleb Cox. Moses Baird was the proprietor of the first hotel. The town was incorporated in 1827 and the members of the first board of trustees were Moses D. Cox, Thomas Morley, Jr., S. A. Guignon, Moses Baird and Zenas Smith. A description written in 1836 gave the popula- tion of the town as between 250 and 300. There were five stores, a boys' school and a "school for females, run by nuns." Half a mile from town was a flour and sawmill run by steam power. The growth of the town was slow, and little progress was made until after the building of the railroad, which in- creased its business and population. Gradu- ally improvements were made, churches built and various business enterprises started, the town now covering the old site of St. Mich- aels and intervening grounds. The first news- paper published in the town was the "Espial," started in 1847 by James Lindsay. Other papers and the year of first publication are the "Journal," 1855, by W. H. Booth; "Con- servative," 1866, by S. Henry Smith; "Bee," 1868; "Plaindealer," 1875; "Standard," 1887, and the "Jeffersonian," "Farmer & Miner" and the "Clarion," which had a brief ex- istence. The papers of the town at present are the "Democrat News," published and

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FREEDMEN S RELIEF SOCIETY-FREEMAN.

edited by W. L. Smith and E. L. Purcell, and the "Merit," by W. H. Newberry. The town has electric lights, a telephone service, an operahouse, Marvin College, under the con- trol of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; a fine public school and school for colored children, several churches and about 100 business firms, including two banks, two flouring mills, saw and planing mills, ice plant, brick yard, steam laundry, a progress- ive building and loan association and three hotels. The Free Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and other orders have lodges with good memberships. The estimat- ed population of the town is 2,500.

Freedmen's Relief Society .- The Freedmen's Relief Society of St. Louis was an organization formed by St. Louis ladies in 1863, to afford relief to the freedmen of the South whom the fortunes of the Civil War forced to seek refuge in St. Louis and other places in Missouri. Its officers were Mrs. Lu- cien Eaton, president ; Mrs. W. T. Hazard, vice president ; Mrs. Enos Clark, recording secretary ; Mr. R. M. Dean, corresponding secretary ; Mrs. S. L, Pinnoe, treasurer ; with a board of managers. During the war large numbers of destitute freedmen from the dis- tricts in the Southern States, occupied by the Union armies, drifted to the North. Many of those who came to St. Louis congregated at Benton barracks (Fair Grounds), where they were provided with rations by the gov- ernment ; but they were destitute of clothing and other necessaries, and it was to supply them with these that the society was formed. It was a great and difficult task, but the so- ciety, with the aid of the Western Sanitary Commission, managed to accomplish it, re- lieving the necessities of the destitute freed- men in St. Louis and Missouri and sending money and boxes of clothing to those in other States also.

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II, Part 93

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n Publication date: 1901 Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors Number of Pages: 800

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 800