Taylor County, West Virginia Biography of JEDEDIAH D. FRUM This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: ********************************************** ***The submitter does not have a connection*** ********to the subject of this sketch.******** ********************************************** This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 599-600 Taylor JEDEDIAH D. FRUM. While change of scene and routine are no doubt desirable and beneficial, the welfare of humanity seems to depend chiefly on the work which continues day after day and is an elaboration of small tasks well done. An example of this type of faithfulness is the person of Jedediah D. Frum, whose life since childhood has been spent on a farm in the Rosemont community of Taylor County, engaged in its duties and in the performance of those respon- sibilities that arise from the community need. The Frum family was established in the new world by a colonist from Germany, and the family has been in West Virginia for considerably more than a century. Some of the history of the family is published on other pages, and with a few exceptions here is supplementary to that data. The grandfather of Jedediah Frum was Solomon Frum, who was born in Monongalia County in the closing years of the eighteenth century. John G. Frum, father of Jedediah, was a blacksmith and farmer in the Rosemont community of Taylor County. April 13, 1865, he enlisted as sixth sergeant of Company L, of the Third West Virginia Cavalry, and was on guard duty at Washington and along the Potomac until mustered out and discharged at Wheeling on June 9, 1865. He had been appointed sergeant on the second of June. The mother of Jedediah D. Frum was Elizabeth Allen. She was married to John G. Frum June 22, 1856, in Doddridge County. Her father, Joshua Allen, was born on West Fork River in Harrison County and died in Dodd- ridge County in May, 1867, when almost seventy years of age. Barnes Allen, the father of Joshua, married Eve Swiger, and their sons were: Stephen, Joshua, John and Israel, and their daughters were Katie and Rebecca, who married brothers, Starling and Tom Bartlett. Joshua Allen mar- ried Rebecca Whiteman, of a Quaker family from Pennsyl- vania. Their children were: Rachel, who became the wife of John T. Swiger; Pindall, who lived in Doddridge County; Doddridge, who was a farmer in that county; Israel, who died on McElroy Creek; Osburn, who spent his life as a farmer on Indian Creek in Tyler County; Washington, who lived out his life at Rock Camp, Harrison County; Eve, who mar- ried Winter Hutson, of Doddridge County; Elizabeth; Stephen, who died in Webster County; and Abram, who died in young manhood. Mrs. Elizabeth Frum is now nearly ninety years of age. Her son Jedediah was born at Center Point, Doddridge County, June 28, 1857, and was about eight years of age when his parents moved to Taylor County, reaching the community of Rosemont November 28, 1865. Here he spent his boyhood and youth and acquired a common school education. Mr. Frum still lives with and takes care of his aged mother. In all the sixty-four years of his life he has never been absent from her as long as six months. While he was teaching school he was away four months. Although not specially prepared for schoolwork, he began teaching at the age of seventeen and taught four terms altogether. Following that for eight years he worked around the mines of Tyrconnell, now Rosemont, with the Newburg- Oral Coal Company. Aside from this his attention has been given to farming and stock raising. His farm is a part of the Solomon Frum homestead. While he deserves honor for the material success he has accomplished as a farmer and his devotion to home duties, Mr. Frum has been a valuable member of the community. He has served fifteen years as a member of the Board of Education of Flemington District, was president of the board eleven years and he served fifteen years as road sur- veyor or supervisor. Good roads and good schools are the matters closest to his heart in the way of community improve- ment and advancement. While he was on the board the first high school was established in the district and two good grade schools were also erected. Mr. Frum has been a staunch republican in politics, though in local elections he votes for the man rather than the party. While not a member of any church, he believes in the wholesomeness of churches. He is a past noble grand of the Odd Fellows Lodge and four times was a representative to the Grand Lodge. In Taylor County May 5, 1895, Mr. Frum married Miss Sarah L. Curry, who was born near Rosemont in 1863, daughter of Lloyd Melvin Curry. Her mother was a Hous- ton. She was the second of three children, the other two being Ella V., who married John F. Finley, and Luther Curry, who died near Boothville, Taylor County. The one child of Mr. and Mrs. Frum is a son, John Morris, born May 13, 1898. He is a graduate of the Flemington District High School and finished the electrical engineering course in West Virginia University, graduating June 13, 1921. He is now in his practical apprenticeship as an electrical engineer in the shops of the Westinghouse Company at Pittsburgh. While a student at Morgantown he enlisted for the Coast Artillery, was trained at Camp Lee, Virginia, and received his honorable discharge at Fortress Monroe.