FROGGATT, John 490-492 - 16
WI BIO - Dane Co - FROGGATT, John
Biographical Review of Dane County, WI. Chicago: Biographical Review Pub. Co. 
1893, Vol II, pp 490-492

John FROGGATT, one of the successful farmers of Springfield Township, Dane 
County, Wisconsin, was born in Derbyshire, England, in 1822. His father was 
W. F. FROGGATT, a laboring man, who died in Derbyshire about 1884, aged 
eighty-one. He left seven children, having married Ann ROBISON, who died 
when in her thirty-sixth year, when our subject was eight years old. He went 
to live with his grandfather, Robert FROGGATT; the maiden name of his 
grandmother had been Mary KITCHEN. They reared a family of five sons and one 
daughter, all of whom lived to adult years. These grandparents lived to be 
aged. The grandfather died some time in the 1870's, and the grandmother near 
the same time, and they with the parents of our subject [p 491] are resting 
in the old Balbarrow cemetery.

John FROGGATT left his native land, setting out from Liverpool in the spring 
of 1849 on the three-masted sailer, the "Mary Florence." They were wrecked 
in the Irish Channel, about eighty miles out, having collided with another 
vessel, or rather they were run into by this vessel, and the "Mary Florence" 
was so disabled that she had to put back to port and go on the dry dock at 
Liverpool. The other craft was also seriously damaged and the captain was 
held responsible for it. Our subject again set sail, 03 March, and after a 
voyage of one month landed in New York on 08 April.

John FROGGATT married Miss Mary GILL, daughter of William and Hannah (ARCHER) 
GILL. William GILL was a manufacturer of farming implements. Mary GILL 
(FROGGATT) is one of six children, and her parents died in Derbyshire, 
England, aged about sixty years, leaving very little property. Mr. and Mrs. 
John FROGGATT started to the new world, hoping to earn a living and make a 
competency. He had no schooling whatever, and, as he says, grew up in 
ignorance, and his good wife was but a little better off. In later years he 
learned to read and write a little. They had $60 left when they made their 
first stand in New York, locating in Boston, Erie County, where they rented a 
farm of 120 acres, with but 40 acres of plowed land and some pasturage. They 
worked this land for one half and the owner furnished teams and tools. This 
was a better offer than was generally given, but the landowner said that his 
land was not very good and that he wanted to give this young farmer a chance. 
His name was William WARREN, an American. He proved a good and kind friend 
to John FROGGATT, and the latter holds his memory as dear as that of any 
blood relative. William WARREN made John FROGGATT valuable presents when 
they came to Wisconsin, in 1851, and told them that if they needed aid they 
should have it at any time, and even offered to furnish him a team of horses 
for which he could pay when he was able. Our subject saved $100 a year for 
the three seasons and landed in Milwaukee with household goods and $250. 
They came right to Springfield Township, Dane County, Wisconsin, and for one 
year they rented land and then bought their first forty acres for $130. This 
was new land, which had no improvements upon it except a few rails. During 
the first year our subject built a log cabin, 12x14 feet, of rough logs, and 
this was their abode for two years, when they built a small frame house, 
14x20 feet, at their present home, on forty acres of school land, which our 
subject bought at $3.50 an acre, and from time to time he has added land, 
until he now owns 520 acres, all in one connected body. Of this 400 acres is 
good, tillable land, worth from $45 to $50 an acre. He has always done mixed 
farming, raising the principal crops of this section, except tobacco and 
hops. He keeps as many as one hundred horned cattle and thirty horses, also 
from two to five work colts, mostly Clydesdale, and raises Durham cattle. 
John FROGGATT turns off [raises] from 100-150 hogs.

Six children of John and Mary (GILL) FROGGATT have been taken away, five of 
them in infancy, and the last one died at the age of fifteen, of inflammatory 
rheumatism. She was very bright in intellect and attractive in person. She 
was mourned by all who knew her and her loss was a great blow to her family, 
especially to her mother. The living children are: Walter G., who was the 
second child and who was born in the log cabin [Dane County, Wisconsin]; 
James H., married Mary LAPLEY and has one little daughter, the bright pet of 
the household. They have been running the [p 492] farm in company with his 
next brother. Wesley E. is the youngest son born in this house, in 1870. 
Mr. and Mrs. FROGGATT have given all their children good school advantages, 
realizing how much they lost in being deprived of them. The boys all prefer 
a farmer's life except Wesley E., who has attended the schools of Middleton 
and Madison, and has a desire for the medical profession, to which he thinks 
he is adapted, and proposes to take a course at Rush Medical College, at 
Chicago.

This honored and respected old couple are justly proud of their children, who 
have grown up with pure habits and morals and industrious ways. They have a 
home in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, where they reside when not on the 
old farm. They joined the Methodist Episcopal Church when young in England, 
and have been faithful and active workers in that connection for many years. 
John FROGGATT has been a Class Leader for over thirty-five years. He has 
always been one of the loyal Republicans of this county, until 1887, when he 
espoused the temperance cause. He and his wife enjoy a fair amount of good 
health, for their age, considering how toilsome some of their years have 
been. The past two and a half years have been passed in Madison, Wisconsin, 
in the enjoyment of a well-earned rest.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly