FRAZEE, Hiram Mitchell
Hiram M. Frazee is the owner and manager of the largest merchantile establishment in Selbysport, Garrett County. Under the firm name of the Yough Store Company, a large business is carried on and a full line of general dry goods and other supplies kept in stock. Mr. Frazee is a very progressive citizen , always giving his assistance to all worthy industries and institutions by which the community will be permanently benefited. He has made investments in numerous local concerns and has aided deserving enterprises.
Mr. Frazee was born in this vicinity Feb. 16, 1839, and is a son of Isaac and Christiana (Wolf) Frazee. His father, who was born here in 1803, devoted his active life to agriculture and was one of the successful farmers of his day, owning large tracts of land. In the ranks of the Whig party he was influential locally. He died in 1881, aged seventy-nine years. Seven of his nine children grew to mature years, namely: Elizabeth, wife of George F. Lowdermilk; Melinda, the widow of H.B. Demmit; Hiram M.; William Henry; Martha, now deceased; Sarah J., wife of Prof. A. W. DeWitt, and George W. The mother (Christianna Wolf Frazee) died in 1872, at the age of sixty-seven.
The grandfather of our subject, Jeremiah Frazee, succeeded to the old Frazee homestead originally owned by Elisha Frazee, his father, who came to Selbysport from NJ. Elisha had two sons, Jeremiah and Jonathan, and from them have descended all who bear the name of Frazee in this county. Jeremiah became rich and prominent, and died in 1850, aged eighty-four years.
Our subject has spent his entire life in the neighborhood where he now lives. In boyhood he attended the local schools. From his youth he has been more or less closely associated with agricultural pursuits and is now the owner of serveral hundred acres of fine farm land. Besides attending to his large general store, he owns a steam sawmill, with which he cuts about seven thousand feet of timber per day for railroad purposes and other lumber. In 1872 he was made a member of the first board of commissioners of Garrett County. He has always been stanch in his allegiance to the Republican party. The cause of temperance finds in him a sincere friend, and he is a member of the Order of Good Templars. For many years he has been identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church and has acted as steward, trustee, class-leader and superintendent of the Sunday-school.
June 4, 1862, Mr Frazee married Rebecca A Poland, daughter of Alexander and Sarah (Totten) Poland. Their three children are: Tallahassee, wife of Charles Williams; Franklin and William W. Mrs. Frazee was an only child. Her father was an extensive land owner and farmer and for years was a local leader of the Democratic party. He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs R.A. Frazee in Selbysport, in 1885, when about seventy-four years of age. His father, John Poland of Allegany County, was from one of the pioneer families of that section. Sarah Totton was a daughter of James and Rebecca (Peters) Totten, of whose nine children, Mrs. Orpah Dawson alone survives. James Totton, it is supposed, was born near Brownsville, PA, and his father, Henry Peters, was a native of NJ. The Peters family removed to Allegany County about 1779, settling near Western Port, but later lived in the vicinity of George's Creek Allegany County, MD.
(Burial at Addison Cemetery)
"Portrait and Biographical Record 6th Congressional District Maryland" , Chapman Publishing Co., 1898 (and 2001)
(Courtesy of Mary Ann Frazee McCague)
|
