52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Week #49 theme is "New Horizons".

As our families arrived on the Atlantic Coast, some as early as the 1640s, they must have been anxiously waiting for the view of the new land on the horizon. They were so brave and ready for new experiences. 

Choosing just one of these many early families, I would like to chronicle our Frost family through more than two centuries of seeking "New Horizons."  The immigrant John Frost, our 9th great grandfather, was born 1614 in England. He came first to New York with his father, John, and then to New Haven CT by 1660s.  His son, John, married Mercy Paine there, and was the father of our 7th gt grandfather, Samuel Frost.  (We will find the surname of Paine again in this family line.)  But first, three generations of "Grandpa Samuels" lived in and around New Haven. They would have lived through the struggles of clearing lands and surviving the elements of a new world, including the French and Indian Wars.   Then in 1754, our 4th gt grandfather, Isaac Frost, was born.  His father fought in the Revolutionary War, and they saw the new nation on the horizon.

Soon after the war, a Connecticut investment company made plans to populate the Western Reserve which would include the new city of Cleveland, Ohio.  Isaac and his family would be among the first to make this venture.  In fact, we believe that one of Isaac's sons, Elias, surveyed the plats for the city of Cleveland. Another son, Johnson LymanFrost, our 3rd Gt Grandfather, married Oriana Paine, daughter of Seth Paine (see, I told you that name would show up again). Oriana Paine Frost was the first teacher in the Brecksville, OH area, and her name shows up in streets and institutions. Oriana’s mother, Hannah Nash Paine, descended from a most interesting line including Canada Waite, born in captivity in Canada when her mother was kidnapped by Indians.

Old Isaac, and sons, Elias, and Lyman helped establish the town of Olmstead, OH.  The Frost name is still seen in the area. But even further horizons beckoned, and in 1820, Johnson Lyman and family are found in St. Clair, Michigan. Both Elias and Lyman had studied medicine, and although Lyman was not a doctor, he used his knowledge to assist a doctor there. Then in 1830, he and his family, including our 2 Gt Grandfather; Elias Carlos Frost, have moved further into the frontier to Lacon County Illinois, near Peoria.  As a side note here, while in Lacon County, the Frosts lived about a mile from the Graves family who went west as part of the Donner party.  New horizons were difficult if not impossible to conquer for many in that era.

When the wilds of Iowa opened for settlement, Lyman, whose wife had died in Illinois, took his children, and traveled to Iowa City.  As we look back, it had been 200 years since the first Frost immigrants had arrived in North America, and they had lived in 6 states, always moving westward.  Iowa in the 1840s was a new frontier, with forts and Indian confrontations. Many settlers came with very little furniture and belongings, as they had to travel by wagons pulled by oxen. But Iowa City grew up quickly into an area of businesses, a militia, and academics. The University and debating societies were established by 1847.

It was in Iowa City that our Frosts, Herringtons, Shafers, and McGills came together through marriage. In the 70s, Elias and family, including daughter, Eva, who married Daniel McGill, moved on to the western part of the state. Our grandma, Harriett “Hattie” McGill, and her siblings were born in Audubon County.  According to family lore, farming was difficult due to the weather and the plague of locusts or grasshoppers.  And at one point, the general store in Audubon County, owned by Elias (also called Carlos) was robbed by the "Crooked Creek Gang".

The brother-in-law of Elias (D.P. McGill's foster father), Daniel Shafer, had helped to survey the state line of Nebraska; so Elias and Lucinda, along with the elderly Lyman, moved on to Stuart, Nebraska.  Lyman died there according to the family Bible. His life alone had stretched from Connecticut to Nebraska, and his very interesting personality has been recorded... another story.

After a few years near Keya Paha County, Elias and family moved on west again, to Chadron, Dawes County, Nebraska, around 1888.  The McGills, still in Iowa, headed for the newly opened territory of Oklahoma, with Daniel making the Run of 1889. And Elias also moved his family to Oklahoma, where they lived and died in Perry, Noble County. 

Many descendants and relatives of these Frost families followed their dreams even further west in the U.S.   Their stories include California during the gold rush days and later years, as well as other states. We have so many families who made similar treks, but this is an example of the pioneer spirit…seeking New Horizons.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Week #47 Theme is "Wrong Side of the Law".

I always like to follow "down line" from my direct ancestors' siblings. Their stories often give insight into the whole family and their lifestyles and migrations.  In the family of my paternal great grandmother, having migrated in the late 1800s  from Iowa to Nebraska to Oklahoma Territory, I followed her siblings into the rough frontier areas.  Her father, Elias Frost's, general store in Audubon Co,  Iowa was robbed by The Crooked Creek Gang, a well known "wild bunch" that held up stores and saloons.  By the time lands were opened for homesteading in Oklahoma Territory, the Frost family and several adult children claimed lands there.  One grandson, a cousin to my gt grandmother, Eva Frost McGill, is found to be married to Anna Emmaline McDoulet, in Perry, Oklahoma.  Further searching uncovered the fact that Anna (also called Emma) had been the infamous "Cattle Annie" (at left in photo.)  From her late teens in NE Oklahoma and SE Kansas, Cattle Annie and her cohort, Jennie "Little Britches" Stevens, were outlaws who ran with the Doolin Gang, and on their own, selling whiskey to Osage Indians, stealing horses and warning the gangs when the law came too close.  She dressed like a man, packed a pistol on her hip, and was reputed to be a crack shot.   The duo roamed and terrorized the area for about 3 years before they were captured by U.S. Marshals and sentenced to a correctional institution in Massachusetts.   She returned to Oklahoma after her incarceration and married my Frost relative in 1901. They had 2 sons, who were probably raised by their grandmother, as Anna went off to join one of the Wild West Shows.   She and Mr. Frost were divorced about 1909 and she married an Okla.City businessman the next year.  She had evidently turned her wild life around and settled down as a church-going, book keeper in later life.  Not surprisingly, there was never mention of this branch of the family in my lifetime, although the marriage would have taken place a couple of counties away when my grandma and her siblings were about the same age. We have been in correspondence with one of Annie's descendants who lived in California and knew her as a fun loving grandmother.

From Iowa, to Nebraska, to Oklahoma Territory

After leaving Iowa, the Frost families lived in Stuart, Holt County, Nebraska, from early 1883 to 1886. The town was only four years old at this time, and the country was described as "almost a dead level, without a tree or bush in sight". In October of 1881, the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad had reached Stuart and with it, an increased number of possible settlers. I believe our family probably moved by wagons, with so many people and furnishings, supplies, etc. Johnson Lyman Frost died there in Stuart on Oct. 18, 1883, according to the family Bible. An outstanding first person account of a railroad trip in these early years is on Google Books: To and Through Nebraska," by Frances I. Sims Fulton. The book mentions that Stuart was a town with an opera house, two doctors, and a dentist. This dentist, Levi Reichard, married Elias Frost's daughter, Katherine /Kittie. Dr. Reichard's dental chair and drill are on display at Stuart's White Horse Museum. The house he built in 1883 has been moved to the grounds of the museum (photo above.)

Several of the Frost families (except for Dr. Reichard and wife Kittie) moved on west to Chadron, Dawes County, Nebraska about 1886. The railroad had just reached this county and with it, the settlers seeking land. By this time, the town boasted over 1,500 residents. Numerous businesses included five saloons, two hardware stores, four groceries, three general stores, a dance hall, a physician, a liquor store, a bakery, a furniture store, jewelry store, and a bank. Possibly Elias Frost, who had previously been proprietor of a general store, found a niche in this new town. Within a year, there were churches, two opera houses, and electricity!

After the Oklahoma Territory opened, Elias Carlos and Lucinda Frost, also came to Oklahoma and lived near Perry, OK. The extended family who came from Nebraska included Celina Frost and her son, Earl, Eliza Frost and her husband, Elmer E. Morgan, and Carrie Frost and her husband, Ed Mossman, who married in Nebraska. Carrie and Ed had a son, Harry, born in Nebraska. All these lived in Perry, OK. by 1894.

Elias Carlos Frost and Lucinda Harrington

The Biography of Audubon County lists Carlos E. Frost as Clerk of the first election of Exira Township in April 1855. He is listed as an early settler of that county. In 1860 census, their family matches the family Bible:
Carlos E. Frost , age 33, farmer b. Iowa
Lucinda age 31, housework, born NY
Luther C. Age 8 b. Iowa
Celina E. Age 7 b Iowa
Amelia age 6 b. Iowa
Eva Ida age 4 b. Audubon Co. Iowa (the first mention of our gt grandmother)
Omar age 2 b. Audubon Co. Iowa
Lyman J. 7 mo. b. Iowa
Lyman J. Frost age 66 Carpenter [Johnson Lyman Frost, b. CT]
(another child, Vesper, is listed in the family Bible born after Omar. He died as an infant.)

We know very little of the background of Lucinda Harrington. She is found as a single young lady living with a family in Iowa probably serving as a nanny. Her parents were from New York and Rhode Island. I think of her as the true pioneer woman because of her long journeys and strength as she raised her family in frontier homes. Several children of Elias and Lucinda died very young in Audubon County, Iowa between 1860 – 65. Three died in less than 30 days of one another. Amelia,6, Omar,3, and Vesper,1, are buried in the Bowen Cemetery near Exira.

Eva Ida Frost married Daniel Patrick McGill. These are our gt grandparents, and their story is found at this website. http://www.dgranna.com/McGill.html
From Audubon Co. History Book
“Carlos E. Frost came here with his father from Iowa City in 1853, and was a farmer. He lived in the Northwest quarter of section 35, Exira Township. He was a Republican and a popular gentleman. He was clerk at the first county election, April 2, 1855, county treasurer, 1864-65, and during that period lived in Exira, in the Charles Chapin house, which was on the site of the John Mertis residence, Block 16, Exira.”

A report on the county board of Audubon County 1863:
“The board of 1863 consisted of C. E. Frost, Chairman, and J.A. Halleck, Clerk. Among the acts of this board is found in records, “W. S. Carter (pauper) was to be ‘let’ to Wm. Carpenter at $1.40 a week , with $3 appropriation with which to purchase said Carter a hickory shirt and a pair of blue drilling pants.” The further work of the June session of 1863 was to make the following classification for the use of tax assessors:
Prime, wild land per acre, $2.25 tax
Improved land per acre, $4 - $10
Timber land per acre, $ 5 - $15
Town lots in Exira $5
Work cattle per head $40 – 50
Cows per head $6 - $12
Steers (3 yrs. old) per head $6 - $12
Bulls (all ages) $10 - $15
Work horses $10 - $15
Mules $40 - $70
Sheep $3 - $5
Swine (per lb.) 1 ½ cents

In 1883, Elias Carlos Frost was a merchant in Brayton, where his store was burglarized by the “Crooked Creek” gang. His son, Lew C. Frost, and son in law, Dan P. McGill, held the office of county surveyor. A narrative about this era in and near Brayton and Oakfield Iowa is found here http://www.auduboncounty.net/oakfield/OakfieldHistory.html Lucinda and Carlos moved to Stuart, NE about 1884, leaving three children buried in the Bowen Cemetery near Exira. Surviving children who traveled with the family to Nebraska were Lew C., who married Alice Hartman, Salina [Celina], Eva, who married Dan. P. McGill, Edward, Eliza, and Kittie.

"A Noted Character" Johnson Lyman Frost

The following description of our ancestor, Johnson Lyman Frost, is found in the "Biography and History of Audubon County, Iowa", H. F. Andrews, Editor... Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915. I almost hate to reprint it here, but one seldom finds such a personal description of an ancestor... for good or bad. I do believe this section of the book, written in early 1900s, was written by an author who may have been of opposing political leanings. But I don't doubt that Frost was quite a character.

“J. Lyman Frost, with his son, Carlos, and Peoria I. Whitted [friend of Frost’s son-in-law D. Shafer], came from Iowa City to Audubon County in 1853. Frost was an old man, a widower, and lived alone in a shanty made of poles near his son, Carlos, in the Northwest part of section 35, Exira township. He was a contentious man and had a special faculty for stirring up the animals. He was an ardent Republican, a strong Union man, and had no use for anyone not strictly up to the highest pitch of party requirements, and he practically demonstrated his opinions on all possible occasions. He became postmaster at Hamlin’s Grove during war times. He was heartily despised by the Democrats and was not in unison with many of his own party. He was a discordant element at best. One of the patrons of his post office was one Martin Shults, whom Frost took occasion publicly to call a “copperhead”. Shults was a mild, inoffensive man, religiously inclined, and although the imputation was not wholly mis-applied from the standpoint of the times, the insult rankled in his bosom. Later, at a public gathering in Oakfield, Shults spied his quarry, removed his coat and handed it to his good old wife, “Aunt Julie”, remarking that he had a duty to perform, and then waded in and proceeded to “tan Frost’s dog skin.” That exercise performed, he proceeded to ride in haste to Exira in search of a justice to whom he might “plead guilty”. But he was pursued by the constable, John Crane, and arrested for assault and battery. It is said that Crane was so desirous of gaining popularity that he overrode and injured a fine horse in making the arrest. And it is also said that his promptness in the matter afterwards cost him an election to office.

Mr. Frost was easily a party leader locally. He held the ear of governor Kirkwood, with whom he was personally acquainted at Iowa City, and stood in with the administration in Washington. He made the weather and crop reports, etc. and received his contingent of government documents, seeds, etc. which he conscientiously distributed among the faithful. He was one of the first to raise an apple orchard and other tame fruit in the county. He was prompt and zealous in attending to party affairs and in managing the Republican party machinery in the county, being sometimes chairman of the county central committee. But after a disagreeable faction contest with the Ballards and others in a county convention at Green’s schoolhouse, in 1868, he soured on party work and never afterwards took an active part in politics.

In preparation for war, militias were organized in the county. "The names of one roll show that all the officers of Capt. Thomas’s company, except one, and fifty of the privates were Democrats, some of them emphatic anti-war men. It appears that the commissions of the officers were sent by the adjutant general to J. Lyman Frost, the then postmaster of Hamlin’s Grove, a rigid Republican, to act as mustering officer, and to deliver them to the company officers-elect upon taking the proper oaths of office; but that he declined to muster them or to deliver the commissions presumably because he knew many members of the company to be anti-war men, and of questionable loyalty or patriotism to the country.

Captain Thomas said that his commission was not delivered to him, but was found on the prairie, having evidently been thrown away. And he further says that arms were not issued to his men, as it was considered dangerous to do so, fearing that the men would fight among themselves, as the excitement was intense between the Union and anti-war men."

Johnson Lyman Frost and son Elias Carlos Frost were officers of another militia formed in the county... the Audubon Mounted Infantry. That company saw no service and became obsolete at the close of the war, the following year.

1840s and 50s in Iowa City, Iowa

The Frosts, Shafers, and Hustons were active in civic affairs wherever they lived. Since the town and county organizations were new, these men got in on the ground floor. Lyman Frost was a Petit Juror, Johnson County Iowa, July 1841.

In 1846, the Board of Commissioners of Iowa County prepared to layout the county seat of Marengo. This was the next county west of Johnson Co. It was said that “Dr. J. Lyman Frost was the first man to attempt to make a survey of the town. He had no compass but thought that he could arrange the squares, blocks and alleys with stakes; he succeeded in making two range but not three. So Cyrus Sanders was called up from Iowa City to complete the job.”

The 1854 Census Iowa City Iowa shows: Luther Paine Frost (L. P.) one adult male, two females, one in militia, one voter. Total 3 in household.

1858 Men in Johnson County eligible for military service. Carlos Frost, and Luther Frost.

By 1850 Johnson Lyman Frost and son Elias Carlos are found living with Daniel and Amelia Shafer in Johnson Co., Iowa. Lyman is a widower, 56 years old and a farmer. Later that year, Carlos married Lucinda Harrington (Oct. 5, 1850). She had come to Iowa from New York. She lived in the Montgomery household of Johnson County before marriage, possibly serving as a nanny to the children. Either her father or mother were born in Rhode Island, but we have not yet found their names.

According to an Audubon County website, Carlos, Lucinda and family moved west to Exira, Audubon Co., IA in 1853, along with Johnson Lyman Frost. Coincidentally, our Griffin and Miller families of West Virginia passed through this same area, living in Exira for a short time following the Civil War. Adonijah Harris (brother in law of William Griffin) and his son, James, are listed in the history of Audubon Co. Iowa as early settlers in Louisville, near Exira.

We learn from the History of Audubon County something about Lyman and his life in Iowa. It is said that J. L. may have been a preacher, doctor, carpenter, postmaster, first to plant an apple orchard in the county, that he was first a Democrat and later a Republican activist. His personality is described in the Biography of Audubon County, Iowa as "contentious" and "mean". He was a staunch Union supporter, and is at least an interesting character. The author of the Audubon County history did not agree with Frost politically…. which could account for part of the negative description that follows tomorrow.

Frosts Migrate to the New State of Iowa, 1841

The Johnson Lyman Frost family moved west to Johnson County, Iowa, in 1841. This was still at the time of "settling the frontier". Mention is made of forts and Indian confrontations, as well as the "last moose sighted" in the “History of Johnson County, Iowa” published in 1883. [found in Google Books online.]

“Furniture was rare, even of the most common sorts. A few settlers brought a little of the most necessary but many coming a long way in ox teams could not be cumbered with anything but the actual necessities of life, using the most primitive and rudest articles. Tables were made of boards attached to the cabins by leather hinges. They were fastened to the wall, and hung down when not in use so as to save room. Three legged stools and rough benches made of slabs furnished seats, while wooden pins fastened in the wall of a corner and an outside piece from one pin to the other, the pins being wound with a cord, furnished couches for the hardy pioneers that afforded as peaceful a slumber as the luxurious springs of the present time…..” "History of Johnson County, Iowa" p. 609

Johnson Lyman Frost, now a widower, his two daughters, Harriett Amelia and Celina Calista, and younger son, Carlos E., came to the frontier town of Iowa City, in Johnson County, Iowa. His older son Luther Paine Frost, and his wife, Caroline, also came to Iowa City, where Luther was listed as a merchant. We find L. P. Frost listed in the local militia. During the years between 1849 and 1858, Luther and Caroline had three daughters, Mary, Belle, and Adelia. Mary was adopted, but may have been a cousin. She is the one who became the second wife of Daniel Shafer, whose story follows.

FIRST TEACHER IN BRECKSVILLE, OH

About 1814, Oriana PAYNE (sp.), the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Seth PAYNE, taught the first school in the township at the center in a log house, near where the town hall now stands, with the HOADLEY, ADAMS, BRADFORD and WAIT children attending the school. The nearest schoolhouse at that time was in Newburgh. Oriana PAYNE married Lyman FROST and settled at the center of Brecksville in 1815, the year her father died. This information from "A Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve" by Mrs. Gertrude Van Rensselaer Wickham published in 1896.

Our 3Gt Grandparents, Johnson Lyman Frost and Oriana Payne Frost were members of a Congregational Church. From History of Cuyahoga County on Ancestry.com.

“In the summer of 1816, the Rev. Wm. Handford, in the employ of the Connecticut Missionary Society, began preaching in Brecksville. And on the 13 of July organized the First Congregational Church of Brecksville, with 16 members, namely : John Adams, Lemuel Hoadley, Chloe Hoadley, John Wait, Bolter Colson, Harriett Colson, Hannah Paine, Lyman J. Frost, Oriana Frost, Zelpha Wait, Lucy Wilcox, James Dixon, Mary Dixon, Joseph Rice, Orrin Wilcox, and Abigail Wilcox. These elected Lyman J. Frost as the first clerk. The church had no regular pastor until 1840…..” A later text mentions that J. Lyman Frost was a “self styled” minister.

Between 1816 and 1820, the Frost families moved to Cuyahoga, Middleburg District, in the area of Berea. Lyman J. and Oriana had 4 children (dates from family Bible):
Luther Paine Frost b. 1817,Berea,OH
Harriett Amelia Frost b. 1820, Berea,OH
Celina Calista Frost b. 1825,Berea,OH
Elias Carlos Frost b. 1826, Berea, OH

In Brecksville, OH, today, there are streets named for Seth Payne and his daughter, Orianna Paine/ Payne. There is also a shelter or treatment center named Oriana House in the area. I do not know if it is named for our ancestor.