Taylor County, West Virginia Biography of WILLIAM CLINTON 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. 600-601 Taylor WILLIAM CLINTON FRUM. The Frum family was estab- lished in the wilderness of West Virginia soon after the close of the Revolutionary war, and members of some four or five generations have left their impress as good citizens in several localities, including Taylor County, where William Clinton Frum has lived most of his life. Farming and coal mining have perhaps been the chief activities of the family, and its members have also been noted for their readiness to respond to military service when the nation required it. The two sons of William C. Frum are both ex-service men of the great war. The grandfather of William C. Frum was Solomon Frum, who was born probably in Monongalia County in 1793. His career was that of a farmer, and as a young man he moved to that portion of Harrison County that is now Taylor County, and his last years were spent at Rosemont, where he died November 9, 1869. He married Tabitha Goodwin, who died December 10, 1872, at the age of seventy-five years and eight months. They had fourteen children, and a brief mention is made of the following: Sylvester, who died in Doddridge County, leaving two children; John Goodwin, whose record follows; Nancy, who married Thomas Shields and died in Doddridge County; George W., who spent his last years as a farmer at Bridgeport; Sallie, who became the wife of Samuel Douglass and died in Doddridge County; Andrew J., who was a farmer of Doddridge County; Zadoc M., who lived in Taylor County and is buried at Baileytown Church; Hamilton G., who was a Union soldier in the Civil war and died in Randolph County; Porter, who lost a leg while in the Union Army, died at Rosemont and lies in the National Cemetery at Grafton; Elizabeth, wife of Alfred Williams, living in Harrison County; Malinda, who married Charles Lanham and lives on the waters of Ten-Mile in Harrison County; and Frank, one of the older children, who died in Doddridge County. John Goodwin Frum, father of William C., was born in 1824 at Rosemont, Taylor County, and the log cabin that was his birthplace is still standing on the farm of his son Clinton. He grew up there, had little opportunity to attend school, and could barely sign his name and do a little reading. He learned the blacksmith's trade, and work of the trade and farming constituted the employment of his active years. Prior to the Civil war he removed to Doddridge County, and while there, toward the close of the war, he enlisted as a ninety-day man in the Third West Virginia Cavalry. His regiment was ordered to Washington, and its chief service was guard duty at Washington and along the Potomac River. He never saw any active fighting. He was a republican, and he died May 10, 1886, and is buried in the Baileytown Cemetery of Taylor County. His first wife was Mary Mor- row, and to that marriage were born two children: Solomon, who spent his last years at Harold, South Dakota, where he died, leaving a wife and two daughters; and Miss Irena, who is living at Rosemont. The second wife of John G. Frum was Elizabeth Allen, who was born in Doddridge County April 22, 1833, and is now living, in her ninetieth year, being one of the children of Joshua Allen and wife. Her children are: Jedediah D., of Rosemont; William Clinton; Osborn, of Adamston, West Virginia; and Jerome, of Webster. William Clinton Frum was born November 28, 1859, while his parents were living in Doddridge County, and on his sixth birthday the family returned to Taylor County, and practically ever since his home has been in the vicinity of Rosemont or Tyrconnell. He acquired a common school education in the Tyrconnell School, and as a boy he was trained to the strenuous work of a farm, learning how to wield all the simple instruments contained in the farm equip- ment of that time, chiefly the ax, the maul, the grubbing hoe and the plow. About the time he reached his majority he took a contract to clear a piece of ground, but on account of the hard winter made such a slow progress that he aban- doned the work to go into a coal mine. Mr. Frum spent thirteen years as a practical miner, and since then his activities have been with the farm and as a carpenter. His first pur- chase of land included a portion of the Solomon Frum home- stead at Rosemont. This is chiefly grazing land, and he raises on it sheep, cows and horses, and devotes the culti- vated land to corn and wheat. Outside the farm his chief business interests are as a stockholder in the Farmers Bank of Clarksburg, as a stockholder and director in the Taylor County Bank at Grafton, and he is one of the original pro- motors and stockholders of the Flemington Bank at Flem- ington. In politics he has been a republican all his voting years, and has served as one of the trustees of the Rosemont or Tyrconnell School. During the World war he took an active part in the sale of bonds and stamps and worked with the Rosemont committee that put the community "over the top" in every drive. He and Mrs. Frum are members of the Bailey Methodist Protestant Church, of which he is one of the trustees. His two sons are Masons, Sheridan being a Shriner. While in Harrison County Mr. Frum made the acquaintance of Nora E. Morris, and they were married April 20, 1893. She is the daughter of John M. and Emilia J. (Robison) Morris. Her father, a son of George Morris, an early settler in Harrison County, was born in that county, and lived on the farm where he died May 26, 1901. His widow survived. Mrs. Frum was born February 24, 1873, and the other chil- dren of her parents were: Flavius C., who was killed by lightning and unmarried; Cora, wife of William Nicholson, living in Harrison County; and George, who died unmarried. Mrs. Frum was educated in the common schools and was twenty years of age when she married. Three sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Frum, but the youngest, Jerome Bud, died when about three years of age. The two survivors are Sheridan and William Hobart. Sheridan is a designer and draftsman for the Hazel-Atlas Glass Company at Clarksburg, married Ethel Gibson and has a daughter, Margaret. Wil- liam Hobart is still in the home circle at Rosemont. Sheridan Frum was called to the colors during the World war, was trained at Camp Lee, Virginia, with the Eightieth Division, and remained at Camp Lee to the end of the war as a boiler inspector. The younger brother, Hobart, volunteered May 29, 1918, at Pittsburgh, as a machinist, and was sent to Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas. He was in the automobile repair shop for training in the 304th Mechanical Repair Shop. This outfit was sent to Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and thence overseas on the transport Armenia, landing at Liverpool, and nine days later went through Southampton to La Havre, and then to the Argonne Forest, where it was attached to the Ninety-first Division. Subsequently his unit was sent to Belgium to help the French and English break the German line at Ypres and was at Audenard when the armistice was signed. Hobart was with his command when it crossed the Hindenburg line. He witnessed the destruction of that famous line on September 29, 1918. The barrage began at two o'clock in the morning and five hours later the famous line was. completely in ruin. Hobart Frum started back from Iseghem, Belgium, stopping enroute to the coast to work in different repair shops, and from Brest sailed in August, 1919, on the U. S. S. President Grant, which landed in New York the seventeenth of that month. He received his honorable discharge at Camp Dix, New Jersey. He came home August 28 following, and a few days later entered the West Virginia University, where he took the mechanical engineering course and remained two and one half years. Since then he has been employed by the Rose- mont Coal Company as electrician and also in construction work as a carpenter. He is a member of General David Morgan Post No. 548, Veterans of the Foreign Wars at Morgantown.