The Frohock and Atkinson, Lowe and Chadwick Families
Truncated and Illustated Version of 19 February 2008
Most of this information was provided by my father, Russell Martin Chenoweth Sr. (1909-1989), in a document dated February 28, 1978, and in his letters and writings from the past fifty years. They were marked as “ready for RMC Jr” and were clearly censored to some degree. I’ve done some additional editing. “I”, “me”, “my”, and “our”, unless in quotes or otherwise noted, is generally my voice. I’ve added some information from the 1880 Census on the LDS (Latter Day Saints) database, other named sources, and my own experience. I have ended this public document with my grandparents. Please correct any of this you know to be wrong, and add material of your own. -- RMC Jr.
Composing a family history is like putting together a very old jigsaw puzzle. Pieces have been lost, others are barely decipherable, and a few may have been intentionally altered. The following brief account of Frohock Family history demonstrates that, if you don’t keep good records, you can’t tell the full story.
Tracing the Frohock name back a few generations is an entertainment. We are told that any biological connection is so diluteed after a few generations as to be meaningless. What real connection other than human interest do our children have with any one of the 256 great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents they share with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of other descendents? A genealogy based on mothers: Evelyn, Emily, Maria, etc. would look quite different.
There may be still more facts and legends buried in my father’s writings which I will hope to unearth. To go back farther in time may be difficult and perhaps impossible. What would be the point of a list of names without at least some account of their lives?
The Frohock name is unusual and, therefore, easy to trace. We believe that all Frohocks in the United States originated from one of two Families. One Family lived near Gilmanton N.H. and migrated to Maine, settling around Lincolnville Beach. This Maine Family apparently began with Thomas Frohock, of England. That Family is not directly related to the family descended from John Frohock, Sr. who arrived in Bucks County, Pennsylvania between 1720 and 1730. - J. Robert Black. (See appx. below.)
The line considered here is:
1) Thomas Frohock (1744 or 1749-1805)
2) Thomas Frohock (1785-1853)
3) Jonathan Frohock (1818-1888)
4) Millard Maurice Frohock I (1851-1928)
5) Maurice Atkinson Frohock (1880-1953)
6) Evelyn Lowe Frohock (1911-2005)
Andrew Frohock+(?) or Jonathan Frohock(1721)+Anne Swain(1724)
-------------------- |
Thomas Frohock(1749)+Catherine Kelley(1760)
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Thomas Frohock(1785)+Mary Ray(1791) Joseph Atkinson+Ann Campbell
-------------------- |---------------------------------------------|
Jonathan Frohock(1818)+Jane Easton(1825) Joseph Atkinson(1825)+Elizabeth Miller(1830) Samuel Lowe+Ann Morely Alan Chadwick+Mary Firth
-------------------- |------------------------------------------------------- |-------------------------------------------------------- |----------------------------------------------- |
---------- Millard Frohock I(1851)+Sada Frances Atkinson(1857) ----------------------------------------- Samuel Lowe Jr.(1846)+Maria Chadwick(1846)
---------------------------------------- |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Maurice Frohock(1880)+Emily Lowe(1880)
------------------------------------------------------- |
--------------------------------------------------------- Evelyn Frohock(1911)+Russell Martin Chenoweth(1909)
1) Thomas Frohock (1744 or 1749 or 1750 -1805 ) – great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather of my children and my sister's.
From the LDS Ancestry Database:
Thomas Frohock b. 1743 London - Christening 11 Jul 1744, St. Andrew, Holborn, London - d. 1806 - father Andrew Frohock - married Catharine Kelley
Thomas Frohock christening 11 Jul 1744, St. Andrew, Holborn, London - father Jonan. Frohock, Mother Ann
Thomas Frohock b 1 Sept 1749 England, d. 3 Oct 1805 - married Catherine Kelley (b. 1760 Gilmanton, d. after 1807) on 28 Nov 1776 at Gilmanton, N.H. They settled in Meredith, N.H.
There are several versions of the birth and parentage of Thomas Frohock (d. October 3, 1805, Meredith, Stratford, New Hampshire). In one version, Thomas Frohock was born July 11, 1744, in St. Andrews Parish, England, the son of Jonathan Frohock (b. about 1721) and Anne Swaine (b. about 1724.) In another, Thomas Frohock was born September 1, 1749, the son of Andrew Frohock.
Thomas Frohock was reportedly pressed into service in the English Army at age 17 and came to the American Colonies with the British Army in the time of the American Revolution, (or, alternatively, about 10 years before the war). He deserted, and fought on the American side. His military record is outlined in the Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder, Vol. IX, No. 5, May 1898, p.129f., and in The American Revolutionary War Records:
Notes in Revolutionary War Rolls concerning Thomas Frohock:
Thomas Frohock was one of twenty men under command of Capt. John Moody who joined Washington’s Army and marched to New York—was in service at this time 3 months and 8 days.
Thomas Frohock was one of the soldiers who marched from Maine to Canada in the winter season subjected to every exposure and privation which a soldier could endure in Col. Benedict Arnold’s Detachment.
Thomas Frohock was one of the soldiers in Lieutenant Eastman’s Detachment sent to throw up entrenchments on Breeds Hill the night before the battle. Here the men entered upon the work with great energy. The rule adopted was, that there should be a relief every two hours, but Frohock was one of those who refused the relief and continued digging until the dawn of day, when the redoubt was completed.
Thomas Frohock, age 26 of Gilmanton, N.H., laborer, late Reg. 7th. Starks Co. 6th, private, received 2 months wages, £4.
Thomas Frohock in Pay Roll of Capt, Dearborn’s Co. Col. Arnold’s Detachment for Canada, Sept 1, 1775. 3 mos, 23 days, wages per mo £2. Amount £7-10-8. Coat and blanket 1-16. miles travel @ 1d. whole amount 9-12-11. He was also given a large tract of land in Meredith, New Hampshire. Here he married Katherine Kelley. Three of their sons moved to the Waldo County, Maine area in the early 1800's
Thomas died in 1805 and appears to have been buried in Gilmanton, New Hampshire: Frohock, Thomas – McCoy Cemetery, Old Lakeshore Road, Old Gilmanton, Gilford , N.H. 28. Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots, vol. 2, p. Serial: 8985; Volume: 2. – Check Gilford Library, 2 Belknap County Road; Meredith Public Library. -- On the other hand, Millard Frohock Jr. was told in 1986 by a Gilmanton local historian that all of the old graves in the area had been recorded, and there was no record of Thomas or Catherine. Others have said they were buried in Lincolnville but have not seen their graves.
In 1970, Evelyn and Russell Chenoweth and Emily Frohock visited Lincolnville to find, among other things, the graves of Uncle Put and great aunt Aunt Evelyn Frohock. The postmaster told them of two cemeteries, or “yards” and remembered his father speak of Putnam Frohock. They didn’t find the graves. – Great aunt Evelyn Jane Frohock [II] died as a child in 1891 and may be buried in Orleans, Mass. Evelyn Jane Frohock [I] (1848-1865) was the daughter of Jonathan and Jane Easton Frohock.
Wilber M. Frohock, Ph.D., a Harvard professor of romance languages, wrote in 1973: “The Thomas who came to America may have been a scapegrace, since he was impressed in the Navy c. 1783, and the Press preferred taking sleepy drunks to sober men who might be harder to handle. He jumped ship while on a water party off the Isles of Shoals and later turned coat to serve in the Continental Army, which is why he got the land grant from the Continental Congress after the Revolution, in Meredith, N.H., where he met Kate.” -- Clearly this date does not square with other accounts.
Marriage of Thomas Frohock:
Thomas Frohock married Catherine (or Kate) Kelley (or Kelly) (b. May 1760 at Epping, Rockingham, New Hampshire; d. January 25, 1845, Gilford, Belknap, New Hampshire.) Catherine was reportedly a strong woman who peeled potatoes with her fingernails. [Hot or cold?] They had 14 or 15 children.
Children of Thomas and Catherine Frohock:
1. Anna, b. 1779, (or 16 Nov. 1777) m. Joseph Bryant; 2 children
2. Solomon, b. 1781, m. Nancy (Drinkwater); 14 children, lived in Searsmont, ME
3. Jonathan, b. Aug. 17, 1783 in Gilmanton, N.H.; m. Lydia (Ray or Rea) Jun 2, 1807; 11 children,
4. Thomas, b. Jul 26, 1785 in Gilmanton, N.H.; m. Mary (Ray or Rea) sister to Lydia, Mar. 7, 1808; 13 children
5. Nancy, b. 1787; m. ------- Grant; 1 child
6. Daniel, b. Aug. 12, 1787, in Gilmanton
7. Job, b. Jun 11, 1789, d. age of 5 years
8. Jane, b. 1790, m. -------- Davis; 2 children
9. Comfort, b. Mar 16, 1792, m. Daniel Bean; 7 children
10. William, b. Mar 8, 1794, m. Sarah Chase, Sep. 1817; 8 children, m. ------- Toothaker; no children, lived in Belfast, ME
11. Catharine, b. Apr 14, 1795, m. Otis Smith; 4 children.
12.Betsey, b. Apr 28, 1796, m. Arthur Libby, m. Benjamin Jordan; 1 child, lived in Belmont, ME
13. Richard, b. Mar 12, 1798, m. ---------; 1 child
14. Polly, b. Oct 3, 1800, m. Daniel Davis; 9 children
15. Lucy, ---- no more known
From Vol. 10, Probate of Strafford Co, March 17, 1806. - “...10 acres of land, bounded as follows. Viz. Beginning at the N.W. corner bound of lot N. 6 in the fourteenth range of 100 acre lots, thence southerly on the [?] about 63 rods [rod=16.5’] to a stake and stone, 40 rods northerly from the [?] bounds said lot, thence easterly parallel to the line of said lot, 33 rods to a stake and stone by the road, thence northerly by said road about 64 rods to the bounds first mentioned. Together with the holdings standing on the same. Also one other piece of land on the southerly side of said lot and of the easterly side of the road, counting 9 acres....
2) Thomas Frohock (1785-1853)
From the LDS Ancestry Database:
Thomas Frohock, (b. 26 July 1785, Gilmanton), married Mary Ray (b. Oct 1791 Lincolnville, d. 1871) in 1822 in Maine.
Mary Ray, b. 8 Oct 1791 at Castine, Hancock, Me, father Benjamin Ray, mother Lydia Putnam, married Thomas Frohock (1785-1853) on 8 March 1808. ]
The 4th child of Thomas and Catherine, also named Thomas Frohock, was born July 26, 1785, in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, and died in1853, in Lincolnville or Searsmont, Maine.
Marriage of Thomas Frohockk and Mary Ray:
Thomas married Mary Ray (or Rae), daughter of Benj. and Lydia Ray (and sister of Lydia, wife of Thomas’s brother Jonathan), on March 7, 1808. Mary Ray was born October 8, 1781 (or 1791 or 1788) in Castine, Maine and died in 1878. They had 13 children. Thomas and Mary are buried in Beach Cemetery in Lincolnville.
Children:
1. Hannah, m. Edw. Fields of Lincolnville: 8 children
2. Thomas (.b 1811) , m. Elizabeth Hurd of Lincolnville: 3 children
3. Joseph, m. Olive Calderwood of Rockland: 10 children
4. Jonathan (b. 8 May 1818), a Seaman/Fisherman of Lincolnville, Me.; m. Jane Easton of Lincolnville: 8 children; Jonathan died Apr. 2, 1888. See below.
5. Arthur, m. Abbie Hall of Lincolnville: 1 child
6. Jeremiah (b. 2 May 1823), a Sailor/Ship Carpenter/Sea Captain, b. May 2, 1823; m. Henrietta Easton of Linconville, ME.; 7 children
7. Oliver, d. unmarried
8. John, m. Francenia Rodeau: 3 children, then m. Grace Bullock: 2 children (Herminus Allen and Horace A.)
9. Putnam, m. Jane Ward of Lincolnville: 3 children
10. Sarah, d. young
11. Richard, m. Emma Dickson of Lincolnville: 1 child
12. Daniel, m. Adelia Monroe of Lincolnville: no children
13. Warren, m. Julia Duncan; Moved West
3) Jonathan Frohock (1818-1888)
From the LDS 1880 Census:
Jonathan Frohock b. <1818> ME - age 62 in 1880 - Produce Dealer - married – wife Jane Frohock is Head of Household {was Jonathan at sea?} - Father’s BP NH, Mother’s BP ME - b. 8 May 1818, Lincolnville, Waldo, ME - d 2 Apr 1888
Jonathan Frohock b. 10 May 1818 Searsmont Waldo ME, d. 24 Apr 1888 - father Thomas Frohock, mother Mary Ray. He married Jane Wiley Easton about 1848 in Lincolnville,
Mary Ray b. 8 Oct 1791 Castine, Hancock ME - father Benjamin Ray Mother Lydia Putnam - spouse Thomas Frohock married 8 Mar 1808
Thomas b 26 Jul 1785 Gilmonton NH - d 26 dec 1853
Jonathan Frohock 1818- age 62 - Produce dealer FBP NH MBP ME
Head of Household Jane Frohock age 54, bp NB - Keeping House- Father’s BP Scotland Mother’s BP NB
Daughter Blanche, age 19 BP ME - at home – Father’s BP Mother’s E MBP NB
son : Horatio, age 23 BP ME - Produce Dealer – Father’s BP ME Mother’s BP NB
son: Llewellyn, age 16 pb ME Produce dealer Father’s BP ME, Mother’s BP NB
Presumably the other children were no longer at home.
Jonathan Frohock, the 4th child of Thomas and Mary, was born May 8, 1818, in Searsmont, Maine, and died April 2, 1888. He is buried in Beach Cemetery in Lincolnville. Very little is known about Jonathan Frohock. His son, Millard Maurice I, said his father was a sea captain and not a kindly man. He was also called a fisherman and Master Seaman, which evidently can mean the captain of a merchant ship.
Marriage of Johnathan Frohock and Jane Wiley Easton:
Jonathan married Jane Wiley Easton (b.18 Nov. 1825 in New Brunswick, d. 17 June 1888 in Lincolnville, Maine, and buried in the Beach Cemetery). Jane was the daughter of John Easton, blacksmith, (b. 11 May 1799 in Greenock, Scotland, d. 26 Nov 1879 in Lincolnville, Me.) John Easton is in the town records as “John Eaton”. He is buried in the Mountain Street Cemetery, Camden, Me. Data from census, Lincolnville records and Arthur Easton mss.
"Jane Wiley EASTON, b. 18 Nov 1825 in New Brunswick, d. 17 Jun 1888, buried in the Beach Cemetery in Lincolnville, ME. She married Jonathan FROHOCK (son of Thomas FROHOCK and Mary RAY of Lincolnville), b. 8 May 1818, d. 2 Apr 1888, also buried in the Beach Cemetery. He was a fisherman and master seaman. Children:"
+25 i. Ellen Delphia FROHOCK. +26 ii. Millard M. FROHOCK. +27 iii. Sylvanus Everett FROHOCK. 28 iv. Horatio E. FROHOCK, b. 1857. 29 v. Abraham L. FROHOCK, b. 1859. 30 vi. Blanche O. FROHOCK, b. 1861. 31 vii. Llewellyn FROHOCK, b. 1864.
John Easton’s father, also named John Easton, was born in Scotland. According to Arthur Easton, he may have been the John b. 1770, son of George Easton who married Elizabeth Young. George's family came from Antrim County in Ireland about 1644 and settled in Lanarkshire, Scotland, according to a letter from Janet Gosior of Edmonton. That emigration from Ireland followed the 1641 massacre of 30,000 Protestants in Ulster (Belfast, Antrim, etc.). The Easton family may thus be of Irish origin; however, in the time of Elizabeth I, England settled Scottish Presbyterians in Ulster; if that group included an Easton, the family may have been of Scots origin and the move from Antrim to Lanarkshire may have been a matter of returning homeward.
John Easton married Elizabeth Stinsom on 25 May 1821 in St. Andrews, N.B. The daughter of James Stinson (son of James, a Penobscot Loyalist, and Margaret Stuard, both of Georgetown, Me.), she was born on 9 Apr 1805 in St. Andrews, NB, and died on 2 Aug 1865 in Lincolnville, Me.; buried Mountain Street Cemetery in Camden, Me.. James' wife may have been a Mic-Mac Indian. Buried at Beach Cemetery. -- This goes on a bit long, but it would be worth it to suggest some possible Native American ancestry for the Frohocks.
Children of Jonathan Frohock and Jane Easton:
Jonathan Frohock and Jane Easton Frohock had 8 (or 10?) children:
1. Evelyn Jane [I] (1848-1865);
2. *Ellen Delphia (8 Mar1849-?);
3. Millard Maurice (1851-1928);
4. Sylvanus Everett (1855-?);
5. Horatio E. (1857-?);
6. Putnam;
7. Abraham L. (1859-?); and
8. Blanche O. (1861-?).
9. Llewellyn (1864-?);
10. Everett ?
*Ellen Delphia Frohock, (b. 8 Mar 1849 in Lincolnville, Me.), resided in Boston after her marriage to Randall Ellis Young (son of Moses and Charlotte Young) on 9 Jun 1872. They had five children (portraits in Lincolnville records volume).
Jonathan died in 1888. Jonathan and Jane are buried in Beach Cemetery in Lincolnville.
4) Millard Maurice Frohock I (1851-1928)
Millard Maurice Frohock I was born Feb. 3, 1851 at Lincolnville, Waldo Co. Maine, probably the 3d child of Jonathan and Jane. He died at Damariscotta, Maine, May 28, 1928 in Bremen, Maine and is buried in the Glidden Cemetery, Newcastle, Maine. As he was unhappy at home, Millard Maurice Frohock I ran away to sea when he was 12. He eventually became the captain of a fishing boat.
First Marriage of Millard Maurice Frohock:
Millard married Lydia Ella French (or Ella L. French) of Lincolnville on 20 Nov. 1872, at the residence of Captain Eben French, probably in Bremen, Me., where Oriana Walker’s Maple Lodge was later built. Millard bought Lydia a furnished house and then went to sea. As the story goes, Lydia sold the house and furniture and moved back with her mother. When the captain returned, he told his wife he would buy her one more house. As soon as he was out of sight of land, his wife broke up housekeeping and moved back with her mother. Millard and Lydia were divorced in Belfast, Me. in 1878.
There were two daughters from this marriage, Jennie (1875-?), and Millie (1877-1948). Millie Frohock married a man whose last name was Thomas and lived and died in Rockland, Maine. They had a daughter named Corice. Corice married, but her married name is unknown. She had no children. The name of the other daughter is unknown, but she lived in Thomaston, Maine and was married.
Second marriage of Millard Maurice Frohock:
In 1879, Millard Maurice Frohock I married Sada (or Sarah) Francis Atkinson Cole, who was born April 2, 1857 in Sackville, Westmoreland, New Brunswick, Canada and died in St. Petersburg Florida, May 11, 1949, at 93. (Marriage license No. 2528)
"While in Boston, Evelyn Chenoweth and her husband found the marriage record of Millard Frohock to Sada Frances Cole in 1879. Moreover, this marriage took place late that year (his divorce from Ella Frohock (nee French) of Linconville, Maine not being granted until after "the third Tuesday" of October that year.
Millard's obituary as it appeared in the Boston Globe, May 29, 1928. It is datelined "Special Dispatch to the Globe, Damariscotta, ME" and says, "... In September of 1875 he quite the sea, went to Boston and became a conductor on the old Highland Street Railway, remaining there till 1881, when he became a passenger brakeman on the old New York and New England Railroad. On Nov. 5 of that year [he] was appointed to the Boston Police Department as a patrolman ... He was married in 1880 to Miss Sada F. Atkinson." Millard, the grandson, has felt certain that the facts contained in this "dispatch" were supplied by Sada so that in the record she wanted to present in 1928. There was no mention of any of Millard's children in the Obit."
From LDS 1880 Census:
Joseph Atkinson - b. 1826 NB, age 54 - Member Mariner (Master Mariner?) - married – Head of Household was father, Byron A. Atkinson – Father’s BP Nova Scotia, Mother’s BP Nova Scotia - Census Place: Boston
Joseph Atkinson b. <1827> NB, age 54 - Master Mariner - married – Ethnic Origin: English – Head of Household Joseph Atkinson - religion C C Baptist - Census Place: Sackville, Westmorland, NB
Joseph Atkinson b about 1824 NB - Married Elizabeth Miller (b. about 1828) in about 1849 in NB
Sarah F. Atkinson, b. 1856 Sackville, Westmorland, NB - father Joseph Atkinson, mother Elizabeth A. Miller. {this is Sada Frances Atkinson, or “Nan”}
Joseph Atkinson, b. about 1776, Sackville, NB - married Ann Campbell 18 Oct 1809
Husband name: Joseph Atkinson b. about 1776, Sackville - Married 18 Oct 1809.
Wife's name: Ann Campbell (b. 1780 Sackville) Father Peter Campbell, mother Martha Patton
Joseph Smith Atkinson b. 6 June 1810, Sackville, S Jn, Ne – d. 5 Apr 1873, Bayfield Westmorlend, NB Father Christopher Atkinson, mother Nancy or Ann Smith. Marriages: spouse Mary Thompson Allen , 15 June 1837, Botsford Parrish, Westmorland, NB. Spouse Ann Campbell
Joseph Atkinson - father Robert Atkinson, mother Hannah Brown - marriage: Ann Campbell 18 Oct 1808, Sackville
Byron A. Atkinson b. 1852, Sackville, NB, age 28 - Furniture Dealer - married – Head of Household is self. – Father’s BP NB, Mother’s BP NB. Census Place: Boston. Father Joseph Atkinson, mother Elizabeth A. Miller ]
Sada Frances Atkinson was the 4th child of Captain Joseph Atkinson* (b. 1825; d. March 14, 1904), a sea captain or Master Mariner, which means captain of a merchant ship, who sailed out of Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. Captain Joseph Atkinson married (7 Aug 1849, in Amherst, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia) Elizabeth Putnam Miller of Brunswick, Georgia (b. ca. 1830; d. 3 May 1885). Elizabeth is said to have been a direct descendent of General Putnam and General Prescott of Revolutionary fame.
*Captain Joseph Atkinson was the son of Joseph Atkinson and Ann Campbell, daughter of Lieutenant Campbell who fought at Waterloo. This Joseph was the son of Robert Atkinson, from Yorkshire.
Sada Frances had first married a Captain Cole on 3 June 1877. Oriana was probably his child, rather than Millard’s, but she always denied this. Captain Cole may have been “lost at sea”, as there is no mention of Sada Frances being divorced.
Sada Frances had a number of brothers and sisters: Bryan, Joseph, Anna, Jean, and others unknown. Jean, or Josephine Eugenia Atkinson (b. ca. 1870; d. 13 May 1958; buried Damariscotta), is “Aunt Jean” or “Aunt Josephine”, who stayed with Aunt Oriana in her old age, flipped pancakes on the floor for Peepee (actually Pedo) the dog, recited “Captain Jinks and the Horse Marines” at great length in her dotage, and is buried in Damariscotta, Me., alongside Eugene H. Walker and Oriana Frohock Walker.
Sada Frances’s brother, Byron Atkinson, opened a furniture factory in Boston. Sada Frances came to work for him at age 18. It was here she met Captain Millard M. Frohock I. After his divorce from Lydia (or Ella) French, Millard and Sada Frances were married in Boston. Millard called her “Fanny,” her grandchildren knew her as “Nan.” The fact that Sada Frances married a divorced man upset her mother so much she said never wanted to see her daughter again. Whether she ever did is not known.
After their marriage, Millard Maurice Frohock I left the sea and worked as a railroad conductor. He didn’t care for this job and soon joined the Boston police force. He was well respected, despite not being Irish, and retired as a lieutenant. The Boston City Directory of 1893 notes: “Frohock, Millard M., Sergeant, Police Station 7 – Home, 1057 Saratoga St. Boston.” He died in Damariscotta, Me., May 28, 1928. A “Millard M. Frohock” was baptized on 28 May 1928 in Bremen, Me. EFC remembers him as very gentle and with a thick Maine accent. Sada Frances, “the pirate queen”, was not gentle but loved her husband and children
Children:
1. Oriana Frohock Walker (1879-1968)
The first child of Sada Frances and Millard Maurice was Oriana (1879-1968). She is more likely to have been a child of Sada Frances’s first marriage to Captain Cole, although Oriana claimed to have been born August 31, 1879. Oriana Frohock and Eugene H. Walker of Biddeford, Me., were married in Boston (date unknown). Eugene Walker became the owner of a Boston Stock Exchange brokerage and the Paymaster gold mine in Upper Porcupine, Ontario. Walker also acquired an interest in several gold and copper mines in the West. Evelyn Frohock inherited a pair of gold dice from Aunt Oriana which we have. “I wonder how many widows and orphans went hungry to pay for this?” my father asked. “Why do you assume Gene Walker came by this gold dishonestly,” Evelyn replied. “Because there is no record anywhere that Gene Walker ever performed an honest act in his life.” He did acquire them during the hey-day of his Florida land boom operations. He owned land in Maine and Florida. The Florida land became the multimillion dollar Palmasola Bay Building Development Company, which made a considerable profit. He bought Palmasola Park for a million, put in a few roads, and recoded the choice lots as dummy sales, giving the appearance of a land boom. He then put out word that he was desperate for money and was willing to sacrifice Palma Sola. He sold the rest of the land for two million, and then through Uncle Joe Frohock sold all the choice lots back to the purchaser. The land development then collapsed. There is another story that he faked the sinking of his yacht and lived for some years in Switzerland with his mistress to avoid the IRS. His fortune dwindled over the years but remained sizeable. Eugene Walker died in 1953. Oriana died in 1968. They are buried in Damariscotta, Me. They had no children Our Indian rugs came from Aunt Ori.
I remember Sada Francis Frohock, or “Nan,” quite well. As a very small child, and to my mother’s displeasure, I was served Boston baked beans for breakfast at Nan’s house at Wells Beach, Maine. I remember her sitting in a large rattan chair in my Aunt Oriana Frohock Walker’s huge living room in Bradenton, Florida. Oriana was Nan’s daughter, possibly by Millard Maurice I, but more likely by Captain Cole. When I knew her, Nan was small, round, very old and wore long black dresses with many buttons and a white lace cap. She always preferred men to women, particularly to her daughter Oriana, and gave me her ViewMaster and collection of slides of the national parks. When Sada Frances died in 1949, Oriana burned all of her diaries and writings, stating, “There’s no telling what that old lady wrote.”
2. Maurice Atkinson Frohock (1880-1953) See Below.
3. Evelyn Jane Frohock (1886-1891), always called “Dear Evelyn,” the “second” Evelyn Frohock, died at the age of five and is supposedly buried in Orleans, Mass. We have yet to look for her grave.
4. Joseph Frohock (1895-1959)
As a young man, Joseph Frohock (Joe) (1895-1959) became a partner with his brother-in-law in a Boston brokerage. In St. Louis he once sold bad stock to an acquaintance of his brother Maurice, which caused some embarrassment. Around 1928, he bought a large cattle ranch near Bradenton. Its value collapsed in the 1930’s, and he went to work for the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. He was known on his radio program as “Sunshine Joe.” Joe married three times: Carolyn, Mildred, and Joanne, and had a son from each of his first two wives: Joe Jr. (1914-1887) and Kent (4 Nov 1917-Jun 1972, ssn 267-14-4871 FL). Joe Jr. had daughters, and Kent had several children. Joe Jr. lived most of his life in Florida. Kent lived in Florida and Alabama. Kent had an M.S.W. and worked in the prison system. I believe his wife was an artist. Kent was six foot six, and bearded. In 1970 Evelyn received a letter from Kent complaining that Aunt Ori’s estate hadn’t been settled, not that there was much left in it. He was heavily in debt, he and his family had recently totaled four cars, then two more cars were wrecked, and his son ran over a drunk and killed him. Then his oldest son came for a visit and broke his neck in a car accident. -- I met Kent and his wife at least once at my parents’ cottage in Maine and thought them both quite nice.
"Joseph Atkinson Frohock (b. 1895 Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts) m. (1) ?, (2) Carolyn ?, (3) ?. From the marriage of Joseph and Carolyn they produced Kent Smith Frohock. Kent (b. 4 Noc 1917 Ontario - d. Jun 1972 Birmingham, Jefferson Co., Alabama) was married twice. First it was Pat ? then there was an Edith Mary Harker. Kent and Edith produced five children. They were Michael Kent, Joseph Henry, Mary Carolyn, Jonathan Lyman, and Martha Elizabeth."
Supposedly Kent and Joe were both in prison briefly in Georgia and on the chain gang. Kent had the reputation of being a very good person. Joe had a reputation as something of a rascal, but my mother was always quite fond of him.
5) Maurice Atkinson Frohock (1880-1953) Also known as “Dad” or “Daddy Maurice,” and “Morrie” to his friends.
Maurice Atkinson Frohock was the second child of Millard Maurice I and Sada Frances Atkinson Cole Frohock. He was born August 14, 1880 at 631 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts and died October 4, 1953, at St. Petersburg, Florida. He attended Boston Latin School, where he was an excellent student and won the Latin Prize! This certainly sounds impressive. As a young man, Maurice swam 5 miles every morning in Boston Harbor.
Marriage:
Sometime in 1896, Maurice met Emily Lowe, (b. August 10, 1880, at Suncook, or Pembroke, New Hampshire; d. at Rahway, New Jersey. April 9, 1965).
Emily was the 5th child, and the first born in the United States, of Samuel Loew, Jr. (b. 7 Dec 1846, in Liverpool or Blackpool, England; or EFC says “Manchester area.” Perhaps Stalybridge?; d. 11 Feb 1905 in East Boston); father Samuel Lowe Sr. (?->1873); mother Ann Morley (?->1902), m. 27 Dec 1846, St. James Church, Didsbury, Lancashire, England, and Maria Chadwick (b. 9 Oct 1846 in England; d. 2 Feb1934 in Melrose, Mass.), father Allen Chadwick (?<1864), cotton spinner; mother Mary Firth (1822->1880.), m.11 Dec 1842, Glossop, Parish of Glossop, Derbyshire, England. -- Maria (Chadwick) Lowe was living with her Son-in-law, Robert Fairbanks and daughter Hannah Elizabeth (Lowe) Fairbanks at the time of the 1930 US Federal Census.
Samuel had been a machinist at T. A. Harrison's Mill (cotton and wool), at Stalybridge, England and became a Master Mechanic at the China Mill in Suncook, New Hampshire. It was the China Mill that sponsored the emigration in June1869 of Samuel Lowe Jr. and his family to the United States. Samuel was naturalized 13 October 1882 at Boston. He became Superintendent of the Atlantic Works (ship repair/heavy machinery works), East Boston, and, after his retirement a bar keeper, presumably at the Stranger’s Rest.
According to EFC’s handwritten account: Maria Chadwick, aka “Grandma Lowe”, sang in a church choir. She was poor and not particularly socially acceptable to the Lowe’s. Samuel and Maria were married in England around 1865 and came to the U.S. in June 1869. Emily said they had money when she was growing up. Her father had a good job, and her mother Maria ran the “Strangers Rest,” a hotel for passengers from the Cunard Line who were en route to the West. At age 16, Samuel’s brother, William, came to live with Samuel and Maria and was in charge of the bar at the hotel. After Samuel’s death at 50, William continued to live with Maria and her mother until his own death at 65. He wanted to marry her, but they never received Aunt Lizzie’s permission, only Emily’s. Why this mattered is not known. EFC says, “Uncle Bill was the only grandfather I knew, and better than most, and he truly loved my grandmother.”
Millard Frohock writes: I, too, always thought "Uncle Bill" was William Lowe, Ma's uncle. He is the one who took my father to England sometime before WWI. "The story" that she refers to is my understanding of something your mother told me--i.e. after his brother died, it was suspected that William and Grandma Lowe were unusually close.
The Lowes and the Frohocks lived near each other on Saratoga Street in East Boston. Evelyn says: Grandma Lowe ruled Aunt Lizzie’s home, and her husband and children, because she owned the house and had the money. Sam, Flossie, and Robert Fairbanks had reason to resent her. Bob Fairbanks always had comfortable furniture in his house, because at the house in Melrose, the furniture was stiff and hard. Bob never ate lamb, because Grandma Lowe had lamb every Sunday. She called Evelyn “Luv”. Maury and Evelyn went to see their houses in 1992 and found them in good condition.
Samuel and Maria are buried in the Lowe Family Burial Plot in the Edison Cemetery in Lowell, Mass.
The second child of Samuel Lowe Jr. and Maria Chadwick was Hannah Elizabeth Lowe (“Aunt Lizzie”) (b. 9 April 1869, in England). Lizzie married Robert Fairbanks in Boston. They had three children. 1. unknown 2. Florence “Flossie” never married but reportedly had a love affair with a certain Frances who went off to WWI and came back and married someone else. 3. Robert Stanley Fairbanks married Ruth Tutin of Boston in St. Louis, Mo. They had two children: 1. Nancy Ruth Fairbanks, (born in St. Louis, Mo.. 1933.) Nancy married William C. Herndon, and lives in El Paso, Texas, where William retired as Head of the Chemistry Dept. at UT El Paso. Cousin Nancy (one of the “four cousins”) was my friend and playmate as a child. She is a prolific mystery novelist, under both “Herndon” and “Fairbanks.” We have corresponded. They have two sons. 2. Robert Fairbanks, Jr. “Bobbie”, b. St. Louis, Mo., married Sue. They have one child.
Maurice and Emily were married in Nashua, New Hampshire, October 23, 1897 after it was discovered that Emily was pregnant. Emily finished high school. Morris left the Latin School to go work. Emily lost this baby (or, EFC suggests, may have had an abortion), and had her first child, Millard M. II, 3 years later.
Maurice worked as a ticket seller for the Boston, Revere Beach, and Lynn Railroad (EFC says the Boston and Maine Railroad, but I have a coat button from the BRB&L, though I don’t know where it came from) from November 1897 until 1903. In 1903 he got a job with the Paper Products Co. of New York as an accountant. In 1906, he went to work for the R.F. Simmons Chain Co. as assistant manager. In 1908, he started work for the Fred A. Kerry Systems Co. For the next three years, he traveled a great deal, as he systematized the Spengel Furniture Co. and the Kuner Pickle Co., both in Denver. In Cleveland, he worked with W. Taylor and Son Co., in Milwaukee with T.A. Chapman Dry Goods Co., in St. Louis with Hargadine-McKittrick Dry Goods Co., and in Pittsburgh with Spear Furniture Co.
In 1911, he worked at the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in St. Louis. Mr. Edward Mallinckrodt was so pleased with his work that he offered him a permanent job. During the years he worked at Mallinckrodt, Maurice was Chief Accountant, sales manager, and retired on January 1, 1943, at 62 as Vice-President.
On January 12, 1943, Maurice and Emily moved to 3232 7th Ave. North, in St. Petersburg, Florida, a pleasant, modest two-story house with a cathedral living room and one of the first air conditioners in the den room. There were a number of orange and grapefruit trees in the back yard which steadily produced fruit. Maurice died in St. Petersburg, October 4, 1953, and is buried there in Memorial Park, where Russell M. Chenoweth Senior was buried in 1989 and Evelyn F. Chenoweth in 2005. Emily came to Westfield, New Jersey to live with her daughter Evelyn Chenoweth. Emily died in Rahway, New Jersey April 9, 1965 and is buried in Memorial Park in St. Petersburg. – Evelyn and Russ Chenoweth moved into the Frohock house on 21 Hereford in Ferguson on January 15, 1943
I was very fond of my grandfather, who I remember as a large man who always wore a fine 3-piece suit, smoked big cigars, and looked important. He was important, a successful businessman with many friends, including perhaps a few lady friends, a member of the Missouri Athletic Club and St. Petersburg Yacht Club. He and Emily came near to separation once but stayed together. He loved to travel, and he and my grandmother took me for a 7,000 mile, 6 week auto tour of the West in 1947 when I was 12. I know he was quite fond of me and my sister. I was sorry she didn’t get her tour of the west before his death. In his later years he frequently said, “It’s a great life if you don’t weaken.” I thought it was an original saying and was quite impressed. In his retirement, he played golf and bridge, listened to the radio, and read the newspaper. Sadly, for a highly intelligent man, he read little.
The large T. Bailey painting of a large sailing ship which now hangs in our living room is a link with Oriana, Maurice, and my father. It was painted in about 1890 by an artist of the Maine school of T. Bailey which produced many such paintings. Oriana and Eugene Walker bought a number, and this is one of the largest and best. It hung in the Walker’s Cove Acres estate in Maine and was saved when the house burned. It then hung in Maple Lodge in Bremen, Me. until Oriana gave it to her brother Maurice to hang over the fireplace a 21 Hereford, Ferguson, Mo. It was there in 1929. In 1932 Maurice added a 30 foot living room to his house. Maurice practiced chip shots in this room, and the painting which hung over the fireplace took a beating. It became quite dirty and Maurice scrubbed it clean with kitchen cleanser. The pitiful result went to the attic. My father salvaged it in the early 1940’s and after considerable study, repainted all the erased parts, especially the ropes, sails, and upper part of the ship. It hung at 337 Roberta, and when Maurice retired to Florida in 1943 again hung over the mantel at 21 Hereford. It went to Jackson Heights, N.Y. in 1947, to 720 Harding Street, Westfield, N.J. in 1984, to 1140 Tice Place in 1953. It hung at 550 Colonial Avenue to 10 years and then to the Colony House in New Brunswick, then to 1140 Drake Road Somerville. In 1959 it went to Tamarack-by-Sea, Pinellas County, Florida. A professional named Mr. A. Laura considered it at this point and said he would repaint it for $200. So once again My father cleaned and repainted much of the painting. Since the 60’s it has been washed occasionally with Woolite and coated with Damar varnish. It was sent to us in Oreland in August 1984.
My grandmother was very sweet. I spent a lot of time with her when I was young. She was intelligent and good company but seemed to have little intellectual curiosity.
Children:
1. Millard Maurice Frohock II (1900-1959)
The first child of Emily Lowe and Maurice Atkinson Frohock was Millard Maurice Frohock II, born August 7, 1900 in Boston. He was 11 when his family moved to Saint Louis. He attended school in St. Louis and had entered the University of Illinois when the First World War began and he left to volunteer. The war was over before he saw action, but he didn’t return to the university. He married Ruth Stege of St. Louis and moved to Boston where he took a job with S.S. Pierce Co. Millard and Ruth lived in Melrose, Mass. Several years later, they returned to St. Louis, where Millard worked with Langan and Taylor Warehousers. On December 13, 1942, Millard Maurice Frohock II left Langan & Taylor and became a captain in the U.S. Air Force. He worked as a traffic control expert with Allis Chalmers Co. and in September 1943 was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. After the war, he stayed with Allis Chalmers. [I thought he worked for Cluet Peabody at some point.] He died in October 1960 [The SS Death Index says Sep 1959, ssn 494 09 6129 MO], in Loudenville, New York. Millard and his second wife, Marguerite, are buried in Colonie, N.Y.
In the 1920’s, there was an estrangement between Maurice Atkinson Frohock and his son Millard Maurice Frohock II. Maurice was very proud of his eldest son, who was handsome, highly intelligent, an excellent student, and well behaved. Maurice was a generous man, but he had a fearful temper. [I experienced it once during our tour of the west in 1947.] He blew his top over a misunderstanding and said many unfortunate things Some years before Maurice’s death in 1954, he and Millard were reconciled. Millard attended Maurice’s funeral.
After five years of marriage, Millard and Ruth were divorced. Ruth married a man named Meyer. Millard married Marguerite Naylor of St. Louis. Millard and Marguerite had two sons.
2. Lawrence William Frohock (Larry) (1904-1969)
The second child of Emily and Maurice was Lawrence William Frohock (Larry), born in New York City, on May 1, 1904. He went to St. Louis schools and graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in engineering. At the University, he met Madine Feland of Higbee, Mo. (b. 13 Mar 1905, d.7 Apr 1992, ssn 509-24-8018 KS.) They were married in Jefferson City, Mo. (date unknown). Larry continued his education at Rolla School of Mines in Rolla, Mo. He was once offered a job in Brazil, but his wife talked him out of it. He worked for many years as an engineer for the Town of Ferguson. As a young man, Larry was a fine swimmer and swam competitively. They had one daughter.
Larry worked as a civil engineer for St. Louis County and later for the City of Ferguson, Mo. He died in May 1969 [SS Death Index says June 1968, ssn 491 18 3005 MO] and is buried in Normandy, Mo. Madine is buried in St. Louis. They were good friends of Enos Slaughter, who hit 52 doubles for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1939.
3. Evelyn Lowe Frohock (1911-2005) See below.
6) Evelyn Lowe Frohock (1911-2005)
The third child of Emily and Maurice was Evelyn Low Frohock, born February 25, 1911 on Bennington Street in East Boston, Mass., Dr. Plumber in attendance. Plumber was said to be a drinking man and failed to register the birth. In order to get a passport, my mother had to get a note (dated 31 March, 1958) from The Rev. Philip Authes, Rector of St. John’s Church, Episcopal, 85 Lexington St. in Boston, certifying that she was baptized April 30, 1911, by the Rev. Charles E. Jackson, sponsors Stella Goosetray and Frank Goostray. The family moved to St. Louis in 1911, when Evelyn was three months old, first to Forest Park Blvd., then to Holly Avenue, to Page Blvd., and finally to a new house at 21 Hereford Avenue, Ferguson, Mo. – There is a picture of Evelyn at the age of 7 or 8, ca. 1918, dancing on a float advertising War Bonds, with her lifelong friend Marion Towne.
Evelyn attended school in Ferguson through two years of high school and then went to Hosmer Hall, a private girl’s school in St. Louis. She was a “running center” on the basketball team (at 5’ 1”). She graduated from the University of Missouri in 1932 with a degree in Public Administration.
Marriage: 3 April 1932, Booneville, Mo.
Evelyn met Russell Martin Chenoweth Sr. (Russ) (b. 9 March 1909 in St. Louis, Mo., d. 3 Dec, 1989, in Dunedin, Fl.) at the University of Missouri. They were married in Booneville, Missouri, April 3, 1932, a late-night elopement. The best man was drunk and later arrested as a member of the Pendergast Gang, and the officiating Baptist minister was subsequently carted off to a mental institution. It was a good marriage.
After working briefly as a gas station attendant, Russ Sr. got a job, through his father-in-law, selling insurance for Lawton-Byren-Bruner Insurance Co. He sold policies to his father’s friends and for Mallinckrodt’s fleet of trucks.
Evelyn worked in St. Louis as a much appreciated social worker (she handed out money), until the birth of their first child, Russell Martin Chenoweth, Jr., (Russ Jr.) born August 7, 1935, in St. Luke’s Hospital, St. Louis. The hospital is no longer in existence.
Russ Sr. next worked in the factory of Mallinckrodt Chemical works, first picking black specs out of a white salt, then shoveling sulfur into a furnace. He was well paid but lost 30 pounds and was ordered by his wife to quit. His next job was in the Bond Department of the Mercantile Bank and Trust Co. Here he was allowed to go into the correspondence archives during lunch and began his collection of American stamps. His stepfather, Paul R. Chenoweth, got him a job at Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co., on Folsom Avenue in South St. Louis., in May 1936. He badgered the company for nearly a year before they took him, the first person hired since 1931. He worked for L&M for 32 years. He never liked being a business man, but he did his job well, became the Corporate Secretary of L&M, and took long lunch hours in NYC to visit museums, libraries, and bookstores and to see foreign films. He read constantly, all his life.
Evelyn and Russ lived in an apartment on Clements Avenue in St. Louis from 1933 to 1935. Just before the birth of their first child, they moved to a flat on Vivian Avenue in St. Louis. They lived there for one year (6 months?) and then moved to 337 Roberta Ave., Ferguson, Mo. in January 1936. Evelyn and Russ Chenoweth moved into the Frohock house on 21 Hereford in Ferguson on January 15, 1943. Russ was transferred to the New York office of L&M in September 1947. The family moved to an apartment on 82nd street, near Northern Boulevard, in Jackson Heights, Queens. On April 5, 1948 they moved to a house at 720 Harding Street, Westfield, New Jersey. In November 1950 Russ visited the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. One day, exiting his building at Rockefeller Center, he crashed into the Duke of Windsor, who apologized profusely. He worked hard at a job he never liked and became corporate Secretary of Liggett and Myers. He mildly enjoyed the perks of office but took even more pleasure in long lunch hours. He retired in 1968, after a serious heart attack. -- My mother died July 13, 2005, in Dunedin, Florida, at 94. Her ashes were put with my father’s coffin at Memorial Park in St. Petersburg, Florida. She was been a wonderful mother, loving, supportive, and realistic. She was a people person, and one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever knew. She was a good teacher and administrator. Born a half century later, she would very likely have become CEO of a large corporation. My father was a remarkable man, but that’s another story. Their 57 year marriage was a happy one. They were quite different people in many ways, except that both of them were kind and honest, but they made the effort to become a team. They had two children.