Francis Frederick Cammack

CAMMACK

Posted By: Tim Sylvester (email)
Date: 4/3/2004 at 04:28:06

Francis Frederick Cammack was baptised on 9th June 1828 in Benington, Lincolnshire, England. He was the fifth of six sons born to Dr Richard Cammack (1785-1868) and Elizabeth Johnson Sleight (1799-1896). They were married in Leverton, Lincolnshire on 14th Jun 1819. Dr Richard had been an Assistant Naval Surgeon in the Royal Navy from 1812 but left soon after his marriage to set up a practice in Benington, Lincolnshire.
In the 1851 Cenus of Lincolnshire, Francis Frederick Cammack is recorded as a visitor to Stephen Potterton at Lodge Hill Farm, Thornton Le Fen. Francis is described as a Farmer, aged 23 years. His birth place is given as Benington. On 26 June 1851 he married Elizabeth Ann Sharp at St. Botolph's, the parish church of Boston, Lincolnshire. Again the marriage register records that Francis is a Farmer.
Sometime between 1851 and 1857 a radical shift occurs in Fredericks life when he emigrates to America. In 1857-58 he appears in the Milwaukee City Directory [1857 & 1858 Volume 1 First Series Milwaukee: Steam Press of King, Jermain & Co. 205 and 207 East Water Street ] "CAMMACK: Francis F. at J. Plummer"
Three years later the 1860 Federal Census shows that he is living alone at Sugar Creek, Walworth, Wisconsin [M653_1434 Page: 517]. Francis is recorded as "Cammack, FF". He is aged 32, born in England and states he is a Doctor!
In 1870 Francis again appears in the census for Winsconsin but this time with a new wife Ellen, aged 35 and born in New York and four children. The oldest child Clara aged 6 was born in Wisconsin. The others were Neelie (3 yrs), Lizzie (2 yrs) and John F (9mths).
Nothing is then known of Francis until 1900, when the administration of his estate is granted in England to his wife Ellen Lorraine Cammack. The grant describes Francis Frederick Cammack as a Doctor of Clinton, Iowa and gives his date of death as 22nd March 1879.

It must be suspected that Francis had no formal medical qualifications. His brother John Cammack (1824-1917) who had been a farmer at one time, in later life became a "Chemist & Druggist" in Lincolnshire in a similar manner. Apparently, both were making a career out of what little they had absorbed from their father.