Yolo-El Dorado County CA Archives Biographies.....Freeman, Frank S. 1832 - 1900
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com December 1, 2005, 1:25 am

Author: Tom Gregory

p. 172-176

HON. FRANK S. FREEMAN

   No name is associated more intimately or more honorably with the early
history of Woodland, Cal., than that of the eminent citizen which appears above.
He was the founder of the city, the promoter of its important pioneer
enterprises, its first merchant, its first postmaster and the projector of the
measures that made possible the progressive Woodland of the twentieth century.
His the prophetic vision that discerned in the attractive wooded lands a choice
site for a town; his the energy that made of the new town a business center for
the surrounding agricultural communities; his the ambitious purpose that brought
about the removal of the county seat to the municipality he was planning and
building; and his the generous hand that donated all the land required by the
county for its buildings. The name, Woodland, which at the suggestion of his
wife he gave to the village which had become known as Yolo City, brings to the
mental vision a picture of broad lands covered with great old trees, and such
was the appearance of the spot during the '50s when along its streets giant oaks
lifted their heads to the clouds and cast a grateful shade far out upon the
wayside meadows.

   The Freeman family of America is traced to colonial Virginia, whence some of
the name crossed the mountains into Kentucky and later were borne on the tide of
emigration to Missouri. J. N. and Mary (Parman) Freeman, born in Kentucky,
removed in 1833 to Buchanan county, Mo., and took up government land on
Blacksnake creek, within the present limits of the city of St. Joseph. Frank S.
Freeman was born in Knox county, Ky., Christmas, 1832, but his earliest
recollections were of Western Missouri. When he was only fourteen years old he
secured an appointment in the commissary department of the United States army,
which then was in the war with Mexico. Until 1848 he was stationed at Santa Fe,
with Van Fleet, quartermaster of Doniphan's regiment. Then, going north as far
as St. Louis, he joined the commissary department of Rodney Hopkins, wagon
master with the Oregon battalion of five hundred men. During a march westward,
this battalion built Fort Kearney, Fort Childs and Fort Laramie, and later its
members were discharged at Fort Leavenworth.

   As soon as news of the discovery of gold in California was received, Mr.
Freeman resolved to start without unnecessary delay for the coast, and in April,
1849, he joined a company organized at St. Joseph and bought an interest in one
of the wagons of the outfit; and as far as Fort Hall he guided the train, his
services proving of the utmost value to his companions during that part of the
perilous trip. The party arrived at Hangtown August 5, and the young gold-seeker
began at once to mine, and unusual good fortune rewarded his efforts in the
diggings at Coloma and Georgetown. Within less than a year his profits amounted
to $3,000, which he brought to Yolo county, where he took up land on the north
side of Cache creek, about sixteen miles west of the site of Woodland. There he
began raising grain and stock, and in 1851 he and two partners sowed a hundred
acres of barley which yielded fifty bushels to the acre and brought six cents a
pound at Sacramento and Grass Valley.

    In 1855 Mr. Freeman located at Willow Slough, where he raised stock for two
years. In 1857 he bought a claim to one hundred and sixty acres, a part of which
is now within the city limits of Woodland, north of Main street. After a careful
study of the country and all local conditions, he decided to start a town there,
and subsequent events have justified his practical judgment. His first step
toward the project was the establishment of a store on the present site of the
Main street school house. In 1860 he removed his stock of goods to the present
site of the E. B. Cranston store, First and Main, and in that year he platted
the town. Next he secured the location there of a postoffice, of which he was
appointed postmaster, and soon afterward he was made the local agent of the
Wells-Fargo Express Company. He found it not easy to induce home-seekers to
venture their precious capital in his undeveloped town, and to make it more of a
business center he erected a grist mill which he operated two years, then sold.
During that period he directed the destinies of a very creditable hardware
store. He introduced a meat market, a harness shop, a blacksmith shop, a tin
shop, a grocery, a clothing store and a drygoods store, and disposed of each in
turn as soon as he could find a buyer for it. Land he sold very low, his only
stipulation being that a building must be erected on it within three months. One
day in 1861 he cut wheat which was threshed, milled and made into biscuits by
Mrs. Freeman and were on his table within twelve hours from the time when the
grain had been growing. The rapid development of the town brought many new
responsibilities to its founder, who soon felt obliged to resign as postmaster
and as express agent in order to devote all his time to its growing and
broadening interests. In 1868 the first bank in the town was established. John
D. Stephens took one-half the stock and through the efforts of Mr. Freeman the
other half was placed among citizens, he becoming a heavy shareholder. From the
organization of the bank; until his death he was its vice-president. In 1872 he
built a brick block, part of which is now the Diggs building, and moved his
hardware store into part of it. It was not until 1884, when he had for a quarter
of a century been Woodland's foremost citizen, that he sold out his mercantile
interests. But he did not relinquish his farming interests, which he retained
until many years later. Always progressive in his ideas, he was the first in the
county to'use a steam combined harvester and thresher, first to irrigate
wheatfields, first to cultivate the foothills and sow them to grain.

    Neighbor and friend, Mr. Freeman came in time to be affectionately called
Major Freeman. He found time from his business to devote to the politics of his
time and locality and gave adherence in early days to the principles and
policies of the Democratic party. But he was one of the "progressives" of his
day. His last Democratic presidential vote was cast in 1856 for the Hon. James
Buchanan, and in 1860 he was among those who voted for Lincoln, and thereafter
he was a loyal Republican. He was elected to the legislature in 1870, and served
on the ways and means committee and on the swamp lands committee, and re-elected
in 1872, and appointed to the same committees and given the chairmanship of the
ways and means committee. His second term was particularly fruitful of results.
He advocated thirty-eight measures that became laws. After a long fight against
powerful opposition, he carried the Freeman freights and fare bill through the
lower house, but the tremendous influence of the railroads defeated the measure
in the senate. His efforts in behalf of the bill were warmly backed by the San
Francisco Examiner, the San Francisco Bulletin, the San Francisco Chronicle and
the Sacramento Union. The measure inspired wide and abiding interest and its
patriotic advocacy brought to its creator a national reputation. One of the
bills which Major Freeman was successful in passing was that which made the
compensation of Yolo county officials payable in salaries instead of by fees.
Another provided for the incorporation of "Woodland. In his last session he was
a candidate for speaker, but was defeated by the Democratic majority in the
house. So great was his popularity throughout the state that in 1874 he was
widely talked of in connection with the governorship. But such suggestions were
discouraged by him. His friendly title dated from the Civil war period, when he
held a major's commission in the state militia by appointment of Governor
Downey. In Masonic circles he was widely popular. Of the blue lodge at Woodland
he served as Master, and he was a member also of the chapter at Woodland and of
the commandery at Sacramento. He died July 8, 1900, and was buried with Masonic
honors. He was survived by a widow and one daughter, Lillian, the latter being
the wife of John Eakle, of Point Richmond, Cal., and the mother of a daughter,
Gertrude. Mrs. Freeman was Miss Gertrude Swain. She is represented by a separate
notice in these pages. Besides the daughter mentioned, she bore Major Freeman
two sons, George and Curry Freeman, both of whom have passed away. Genial in
nature, Major Freeman retained to the end of his life somewhat of the youthful
spirits that made his companionship ever a pleasure. Generous to a fault, he
gave liberally of his wealth, the accumulation of which he regarded as secondary
to the establishment and development of enterprises in his beloved adopted
state. Magnanimous in victory and calm in defeat, he was esteemed by political
foes and friends alike. His death was felt throughout the state as a public
bereavement.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]



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