BIO: Isaac S. FRAIN, Centre County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including 
the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing 
Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. 
Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898.
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  ISAAC S. FRAIN. The spirit of self-help is the only true worth in the 
individual. It is this which enables man to rise above his 
surroundings, overcome obstacles and work his way upward to prominence. 
The space between what a man is and his ideal is his opportunity, and 
he who utilizes every advantage, by which he may rise to the level of 
his ideal, must ultimately win success. Such has been the life record 
of Mr. Frain, who by his own efforts has risen to a position of 
affluence, and to-day stands among the most substantial and highly-
respected farmers of Centre county. He is the proprietor of the Fair 
View stock farm, in Marion township, and is one of the best known 
citizens of his locality.
  Mr. Frain was born in Berks county, Penn., February 3, 1834, a son of 
Henry and Catherine (Shoemaker) Frain, also of Berks county. The latter 
was a daughter of Jacob Shoemaker, of that county, who served in the 
Revolutionary war, and after its close his father and all his brothers 
and sisters removed to Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where several of his 
descendants still reside, engaged in farming and stock raising. Jacob 
Shoemaker and his family remained in Berks county. In 1840 Henry Frain 
removed with his family from Berks to Union county, where his wife died 
in July, 1852, at the age of forty-four years. He then went to live 
with our subject and another son, remaining with them until his death 
in September, 1874, when he was aged seventy-seven years, his birth 
having occurred August 17, 1797.
  Henry and Catherine Frain were the parents of the following named: 
Isaac, subject of this sketch; Henry, who is engaged in the hotel 
business in Kansas City, Mo.; George, a carpenter of Altoona, Penn.; 
John, of Kansas, who served in the 56th P.V.I., and had the fingers of 
his left hand shot off; Samuel, proprietor of a grocery in Harrisburg, 
Penn., who served in the 149th P.V.I. and was wounded in the ankle; 
Charles, who was a member of the same regiment, and was wounded in the 
arm (he is now a farmer of Salina, Kans.); Frank, of Williamsport, 
Penn., who served as a member of the first cavalry regiment from this 
State, and lost his right arm in the war.
  Until seventeen years of age, Isaac S. Frain remained under the 
parental roof, during which time he attended the public schools, and 
assisted his father in the cultivation of the farm. He then served a 
two-years' apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade under Jacob Hazel, 
after which he worked as a journeyman one year. On April 1, 1855, he 
embarked in business on his own account as a contractor and builder, 
and successfully followed that pursuit until April 1, 1865, when, with 
the capital he had acquired through his own labors, he purchased his 
present farm. The buildings were then dilapidated, and much of the land 
was at that time uncultivated, but with characteristic energy he began 
the work of improvement, and to-day has one of the finest farms in 
Centre county, supplied with excellent buildings and all the 
accessories and conveniences found upon a model farm in this latter 
part of the nineteenth century. In addition to the cultivation of the 
fields, he has extensively and successfully engaged in the raising of 
thoroughbred stock, making a specialty of Percheron and French coach 
horses, "Royal" (registered as No. 15,862), a French coach horse, 
"Bison" (No. 190), and another French coach horse, "Ignor" (No. 752). 
Mr. Frain was president of the first French horse company of Centre 
county, and to no man is due in a greater degree the result of raising 
the high standard of horses bred in this locality.
  On February 5, 1855, Mr. Frain was joined in wedlock with Mary A. 
Ziegler, who died May 1, 1884. They had nine children, three of whom 
died in infancy; William A. died at the age of five months and five 
days; Davis Z. is a farmer of Marion township, Centre county; John H., 
a graduate of the college at New Berlin, went to Kansas March 4, 1885, 
engaged in school teaching in that State for some years, went to 
Pueblo, Colo., in the spring of 1891, and remained until his death, 
November 1, 1894; Cephas W. resides with his father; Mary K. is the 
wife of Prof. G. F. W. Mark, principal of the High School at Northeast, 
Penn.; Clara E. is the wife of A. N. Womelsdorf, of Mill Hall, Penn.; 
E. Frank is a graduate of the Potts Shorthand and Commercial College, 
Williamsport, Penn., and of the Rochester Business University, 
Rochester, New York.
  In June, 1886, Mr. Frain was again married, this second union being 
with Mrs. Sarah E. (Wallis) Moore, widow of David A. Moore, formerly a 
native of Blair county, Penn., who died in August, 1875, at the age of 
thirty-two years. Mrs. Frain was born in Cumberland county, Penn., a 
daughter of Joseph and Mary R. 

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.  405

(Campbell) Wallis, natives of Dauphin and Cumberland counties, 
respectively. Her paternal grandparents were John L. and Mary (Cook) 
Wallis, of Lycoming, Penn., the former of whom was the first white 
child born in Muncy Valley, Lycoming county. Her maternal grandparents 
were John and Mary (McKnight) Campbell. Mrs. Frain's father was a 
school teacher in early life, but spent his later years upon a farm, 
and for some time before his death he was blind. His children were: 
Sarah E., wife of our subject; John L. and Mary A., who died in 
infancy; and William N., a minister of the United Evangelical Church of 
Williamsport.
  Mr. Frain has not confined his attention alone to one enterprise or 
to one class of interests, but has devoted his energies to the 
furtherance of many business and public concerns. He is associated with 
the Centre County Mutual Fire Insurance Co., of the Patrons of 
Husbandry, which was organized in 1886, was made president on its 
organization, served in that capacity eight years, and was re-elected 
president of said company in 1893, and serves in that capacity at the 
present time. It started with a guaranty of $50,000, and now has two 
million dollars in outstanding risks. The business has been managed at 
an expense of only $1.41 per thousand on the actual insurance. For 
eight years Mr. Frain was master of the Centre County Pomona Grange No. 
13, retiring from that office in 1895, after serving eight years in 
all. He belongs to Marion Grange No. 223, Patrons of Husbandry; to 
Howard or Lick Run Lodge No. 312, I.O.O.F.; and to the United 
Evangelical Church. In his political adherency he is a Democrat. He now 
lives practically retired, enjoying a well-earned rest.