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JOHN B FRENTRESS. Delaware county has many enterprising and
successful farmers of whom she is justly proud, but there are
none of all her excellent citizenship, whose efforts, in an
unpretentious way, have added more to the substantial wealth of
the county, or who are more highly esteemed, as a citizen, than
the gentleman whose name heads this biographical notice. John
B. Frentress is a native of Jo Daviess county, Ill. He comes of
pioneer stock and blends the blood of the Puritan with that of
the cavalier in his veins. His father, Eleazer Frentress, was a
native of North Carolina, and a descendant of one of the early
settled families of the old Palmetto State. He was a pioneer,
filled with the spirit of adventure, of a sturdy, independent
character, industrious and successful, far beyond the average
man. Father Eleazer Frentress was a Quaker and old line Whig in
politics. He married in December, 1823, and started West shortly
afterwards in search of his fortunes, settling in Jo Daviess
county, Ill., in 1824. He worked for some years in the lead
mines about Galena, served in the Black Hawk war, of 1832-3,
began farming soon after that date and followed mining and
farming in the vicinity of Galena till his death, which occurred
in December, 1853, he being then in his fifty-third year, having
been born April 18, 1800. At the time of his death he owned an
estate of one thousand one hundred acres of land in Jo Daviess
county, Ill., nine hundred acres in Iowa and one hundred and
sixty acres in Wisconsin, besides a large amount of personal
property, all of which represented the labor of his own hands
and brains, he having been quite as fortunate in his investments
as he was energetic in disposition. He always lived in Jo
Daviess county, after settling there, and he gave to that county
the labor of the best years of his life. He built the first
house that was ever built between Galena and Dunlieth, which is
now East Dubuque, and drove the first team that ever passed
between the two places, and ran the first ferry boat from
Dunlieth, now East Dubuque, to the mouth of Catfish creek.
The mother of the subject of this notice bore the
maiden name of Diadama Bowles, being a daughter of John and
Lucy (Dunham) Bowles and a native of Vermont. Her parents
immigrated to Monroe county, Ill., and still later to Jo
Daviess county, that state, where they became first settlers and
identified with the early growth and development of that
county. The father was a prominent man of his locality,
possessing that strong, progressive disposition and bold and
independent way that marked him everywhere as a
natural leader. He served in the Black Hawk war of 1832-3, as
chief of transportation. He crossed the plains in 1846, with an
ox team and made his way to the Pacific coast, being one of the
first who ever accomplished that difficult undertaking. He was
in California when gold was discovered there and there died in
1849, when the gold fever was at its height. Mr. Frentress'
mother continued to reside on the old home place after the death
of her husband, keeping together the large estate which he left.
She was born October 22, 1807, and died December 13, 1887. There
were thirteen children born to Eleazer and Diadama Frentress, of
whom the subject hereof is the second living, the others being:
Thomas W., born 1824; Ensley H., the first white male child who
was born in Jo Daviess county, Ill., born 1833, died 1876.
Frederick N., born 1835; William M., born 1837; Henry N., born
1842; Mary, born 1844, married T. J. Prouse; Lucy, Caroline and
Charles, each of whom died at about the age of two, and Eleazer
and two others who died in infancy.
The subject of this notice was born February 18, 1829. He
was reared on his father's farm and was trained to the habits of
industry and usefulness common to farm life. He resided on the
old homestead in Jo Daviess county, Ill., till he was of age. He
then started, in 1850, for the Pacific coast, crossing the
plains by team and meeting with all the adventure and hardships
which an overland trip by team meant in those days. He
remained in California for four years engaged in mining and
ranching. In 1854 he returned to his native place where the
following year he married and settled down to farming. He farmed
on the old home place till 1860, when his mind turned again to
the West and he came that year to Iowa, settling in Delaware
county, where he has since lived. He settled on a tract of land
which his father had taken up years before while in this county
with the government surveyors who laid out the public
lands of the county. The place consisted of one hundred
and twenty acres which, when he settled on it, was in an
unimproved condition. He has added to this by purchase and now
owns in one body two hundred and eighty acres. He also owns a
fine farm in Jo Daviess county, Ill., consisting of one hundred
and thirty acres. His Delaware county farm is one of the
handsomest places in this part of the state. It lies in Honey
Creek township about six miles north of the county seat,
Manchester; a large part of it is under plow, has a good
orchard, a large artificial grove of evergreen interspersed with
natural trees, a handsome two story brick residence and
substantial, commodious and well-kept barns and
out-buildings. The land lies well and the buildings occupy a
pleasant site, everything on the place bearing a neat and
thrifty appearance makes it a sight worth seeing. Mr. Frentress
has a splendid silver service which was presented to him by the
Delaware county Agricultural Society for the finest farm in the
county, a valuable souvenir and one well bestowed. His place is
know as Evergreen farm, and strangers passing in that vicinity
never miss an opportunity to see it. Mr. Frentress has given his
whole time to agricultural pursuits since coming to the county,
and to stock-raising, being one of the most successful farmers
and stock-growers in the county. He has a large number of graded
stock on his place, and he is giving more attention each year to
the raising of his grades and improvement of their strains.
Mr. Frentress has a most pleasant home, and an interesting
family. He was married September 2, 1855, taking to share his
fortunes Miss Laura Mead, then of Lafayette county, Wis., but a
native of St. Clair county, Mo., having been born May 14, 1834.
She is a daughter of Philander and Amy Mead, who were born,
reared and married in Chautauqua county, N. Y. The father died
in his native state about the year 1836, and the mother
subsequently moved to Wisconsin with her children, where she
died in 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Frentress have had born to them a
family of seven children, five of whom are now living, the full
list being: Eleazer P. and Oscar F., now of Portland, Ore.;
Jennie, widow of Victor Esty, of Mitchell, Dak.; Josephine, wife
of William Raus, of Honey Creek township, Delaware county, and
John E., still residing with his father. The two deceased ones
are Lenora, who died in Jo Daviess county, Ill., in 1858, and
Charles T., who died in this county, in 1870, both infants.
Mr. Frentress has never aspired to any public positions,
but has filled the usual number of township offices and has
discharged his duties in these offices with credit to himself
and satisfaction to his neighbors. He is a republican in
politics and a man well informed on the general political issues
of the day and possesses also a large fund of information on
other topics of general interest. He is a pleasant, genial
gentleman, and possesses that greatest of all domestic virtues,
genuine, unstinted hospitality. |
