i CS 71 1 .F852 1904 Copy 1 u- m:\ M FREEGARD ^^^V-^^ 'TLium^ gt^T-i Freegard Family Notes. CHRISTMAS, MCMIV * t * REEGARD is not a very com- mon name, as an examination of English and American direc- tories will indicate. For several years I looked in vain to find the name without the owner of it being in some way related to my immediate family ; and I think it very probable that the English- speaking Freegards are all descended from the same ancestry. My father often mentioned that he knew of no individual bearing the name who was not in some degree related to himself. Notwithstanding this rarity of the name among those of the English tongue, I have been assured that in Germany the name or its equivalent is not uncommon ; and since residing in the United States have been many times asked if I were not a German. This supports a family tradition, that the Freegards came to England from Germany, emigrating from their homeland some two or three hun- dred years back in consequence of religious persecution. Upon this hypothesis is explained the reason why family records go back only four or five generations. The original English Freegards wished to enjoy the liberty of British citizen- ship and came there without wealth so far as money is concerned, so that there is little pride of birth to be handed down to the gener- ations following and no pedigree. The fact that the Freegards, so far as can be traced, have been socially always among the workers and those whose business life was that of the great mass of their fellows, can therefore be easily understood. At the same time they appear to have generally made an honorable record, and to have eaten the bread of indus- try and cheerfully performed the obligations of good citizenship. The early Freegards settled in the county of Wilts, England, and were farmers. My grand- father was named Job Freegard, and was the son of a baker and small farmer who lived at a place called Whitley, near Melksham, in Wiltshire. He w^as born in Melksham in 1779, and died at Calne, Wiltshire, November 13, 1850, aged 71 years, in which latter place he carried on the business of bootmaking. My grandmother Freegard, wife of said Job, was a daughter of a family named Stantial, and was christened Ann. This Ann Stantial was born in Calne, January 26, 1781, and died in the same place January 26, 1868, aged 87 years. Her birth and death were on the same day of the same calendar month. The Stan- tials were also farmers. I have no memoran- dum of the date of the marriage of my grand- father Job Freegard to Ann Stantial. The particulars here recorded I obtained from my father in the year 1884, when paying him a visit. My father was one of a large family, some members of which I have seen and others often heard about, as visits were occasionally made by them to my home at Dover. He was christened Edwin Charles, and was brought up to the bootmaking business carried on by his father. He also was born at Calne, Decem- ber 7, 1814, and died at Dover, in the county of Kent, May 4, 1887, being somewhat over 72 years of age. He was fairly-well educated, as were all his brothers and sisters. As a young man he became dissatisfied with the narrow routine of his home, or had ambition 6 to see other localities than the neighborhood where his parents were born and where they spent their lives, and so entered the ranks of ''journeymen" and traveled from Calne in Wiltshire to London, where he w^orked for a time ; afterwards w^alking on to Dover in Kent, at w^hich place his travels ended. I remember his telling how, as a young man of only 19 years, he sat on a mile-stone at Grabble Hill, just before reaching the town, footsore and dis- couraged, and how^ he w^ept in his perplexity. But in Dover, though he never had or wished for surcease of labor, he did obtain the rest of a home, for he there found a good and indus- trious woman who became his ''helpmeet" about one year afterwards. My mother was the daughter of a blacksmith named John May and Ann his wife. John May was borrt at Fordwich, near Canterbury, Kent, September 8, 1785. His wife's maiden name was Stokes ; she was born at Hythe, Kent, March 9, 1785. Of the date of the mar- riage of my maternal grandparents I have no record. They Kved together a good long life, and of them I have distinct and affectionate memory. My grandfather May died February 24th, 1859, aged 73 years ; my grandmother May died March 9, 1862, aged 77 years. They sleep together in Old St. Mary's Cemetery, Dover ; a stone marks their resting place. John and Ann May were the parents of five children, to- wit : Ann (my mother), born at Deal, Jan. 31, 1812. Edmund, born at Sandwich, Sept. 21, 1813. John, born at Dover, July 21, 1817. Henry, born at Dover, Oct. 30, 1820. Hannah, born at Dover, July 13, 1825. From these dates it will be seen that John 8 and Ann May moved their residence to Dover, Kent, between 1813 and 1817. My father, Edwin Charles Freegard, and my mother, Ann May, were married in St. Mary's parish church, Dover, on the 10th day of No- vember, 1834. My mother died at Dover, March 24, 1883, aged 71 years. These dear parents sleep side by side in Charlton New Cemetery, Dover, where a stone indicates their resting place. The children of Edwin Charles and Ann Freegard were all born at Dover, as follows : Ann, August, 5, 1835. Henry Charles, December 14, 1837. Ehzabeth, August 29, 1840. Edwdn (myseh), March 28, 1843. Job, January 16, 1846. John, July 27, 1848. Frank, February 2, 1851. James, July 18, 1854. 9 We were christened at St. Mary's Church. At the date of this writing the children of this family still living are Edwin, Job, John and James. All of them married and their offspring are sufficient in number to enable the name of Freegard to become more wide- spread than heretofore. My sister Ann, who married her cousin Job Giddings, died at Chatham, Kent, February 5, 1874. Henry died in London, January 29, 1892. Elizabeth died in London, February 6, 1899. Frank died in Leeds, May 24, 1900. From my sisters and brothers I have been many years separated, by reason of removal to the United States of America ; but the com- mon blood flowing in our veins has bound us by ties of affection, and kept alive our interest in each other's welfare. The dates given above are from the family 10 Bible, a copy of which record was made by my father, who entered the original, and sent me at St. Louis, Mo., by request. Coming to my personal history — in England — the first date my memory fixes on is when, a small child between four and five years of age, I went to an "old ma'am" school kept by a woman named Clements. Next when, between five and six, I was taken with my brother to Christ Church National School, Dover, at its opening in 1848. My father had applied for my admission even though I was one year under the prescribed age, and it was doubtful whether I should have been received had it not been that I was able to read a little. 11 To this school I went regularly for upwards of seven years, and learned all that a common school boy was expected to know at that period. During the whole of my attendance at Christ Church School the school was taught by a Mr. William Russell — a gentleman of good infor- mation, patient, occasionally severe, but who always had a Christian bearing and took in- terest in his boys, as I clearly remember, not only with reference to their mortal, but also their immortal interests. At this distance of time I call to mind the special prayer offered on my behalf on the closing afternoon of my school days at the regular hour for devotional exercises. At about thirteen years of age I began work at various small occupations, and among them at the printing ofRce of a friend of my father named Gardner. It was a small concern con- ducted in conjunction with an engraving and 12 stationery business ; there I learned to set up my first type — a song of some kind, issued in small sheet form and sold for a penny. It was while working there that an advertise- ment appeared in the Dover Chronicle newspa- per for an apprentice to the printing business ; and seeing it my father asked if I thought I should like to learn the printer's trade. On my making assent application was entered for the place. I was accepted after due trial, and at 14 years of age was apprenticed for seven years by legal indenture (which document I still possess) to the Rev. T. B. W. Briggs, who with his brother John were the proprietors and editors of the Dover Chronicle. Both the Briggses were Unitarian ministers and offi- ciated in the Unitarian Baptist Church. Of the routine of that seven years' servitude I have little to say. They seemed long years, but were years of association with a good man 13 named Collier, who held the position of over- seer (now called foreman), and who was an example to the boys and men under his ad- ministration of what an employee should be. He aimed to influence for good, and I am sure in many instances he was successful. One of the most useful institutions I belonged to during my apprenticeship was the Dover Young Men's Christian Association, where for several years I came into spiritual and intel- lectual friction with minds of such calibre as were helpful to an ambitious young man. Some of those with whom I there held friendly debate have since filled eminent positions in business, legal and church life, and have reached the place where local history mentions them with honor. On my 21st birthday, March 28, 1864, I came ''out of my time," as we used to say, and the same day went to London, where a 14 situation had been secured for me by a friend of Mr. Collier, and where I worked a few months. Work becoming slack I took a sec- ond job, and after that accepted management of a small printing office at Sutton in Surrey, 12 miles south of the London General Post Office, owned by a Mr. John Morgan, with w^hom I stayed about two years. It was while employed at Sutton that my old foreman, Mr. Collier, in conjunction with Mr. George Dann, who had also for some years been employed on the Dover Chronicle j went into business in Dover on their own account, and started a sheet known as the Dover News, as well as running a general job printing business. When visiting home on one occasion I learned they needed a third to take a share in the business, so that the greatest econ- omy of money expenditure might be main- 15 tained. Thinking there was future promise for me, and that a young man could accom- plish great things if he only had the opportu- nity, I gave up my position at Sutton and cast my lot with the Dover Neivs, where for the first six months I labored without any financial reward. During this time I had not only become at home in the business, but had also become acquainted with the attractions of Mr. George Dann's daughter — Anne Elizabeth — to whom I paid such attentions as became the situation, and who subsequently became (and who is at this time, thank God!) my dear wife. For about three years I continued with the Dover Neivs, where I acted in the capacity of reporter and took care of the finances. However, because of insufficient capital and the difficulty of attracting remunerative business in a town already too well supplied with printing offices, 16 the business dragged, and I concluded that too many were endeavoring to make a Hving out of it, and resolved on seeking a new field of operations. Before leaving this part of these notes, I want to speak of the value which these good men (Mr. Dann and Mr. Collier) were to me by reason of association with them during the years of apprenticeship. They were pure- minded, conscientious and industrious ; and, like Job of ancient record, ** feared God and eschewed evil." They made no special effort to emphasize principles by lectures or preach- ments, but their daily life was a stimulus to good living. With my parents upright and pure-hearted, my business intimates such as I have described, and a life-long education in the value of church relationship, it would have been greatly to my dishonor had I not made choice to cast in my lot with those whose pur- 17 pose was to live for objects more noble than the simple sustenance and gratification of the lower requirements of human life. I was married to Anne Elizabeth Dann on the 19th day of May, 1867, early on a Sunday morning, in the new parish church of St. James, Dover ; and after a quiet wedding went together to church, then to dinner with my parents, and afterwards to our own home. No. 1 Buck- land Terrace, Dover, where our first two chil- dren were born. I refer to the quiet ceremony of our wedding day because my wife and self consider mar- riage the most sacred of human relationships, not to be lightly or carelessly entered upon ; this view we have impressed on our children, whose several marriages have also been of a quiet, religious character. Of my wife's progenitors the following com- prises a summary of the information at hand : 18 George Dann, m}^ wife's father, was the eld- est son of George Dann, a hcensed victualler of the town of Rye in the county of Sussex, England. He was born on the 30th of Octo- ber, 1818. When about fourteen years of age he was apprenticed to a printer, Henry Pocock Clark, of Rye, whom he served seven years, his apprenticeship indentures being dated De- cember 28, 1832. He came from Rye to Dover about the year 1842. My wife's mother was one of the several children of William Henry Brett, a miller of Dover, and was born in the year 1820. Her grandparents were named Vennell, and were residents of Rye in county of Kent. At time of her marriage to Mr. Dann she was the widow of John Pilcher of Dover. Her first husband's death left her with an infant son bearing the name of his father. Mrs. Dann's christian name was Elizabeth Vennell. 19 George Dann and Elizabeth Vennell Pileher were married in the parish church at Hougham near Dover, May 17, 1846. Her son John at once became a son to his step-father, and was ahvays treated with the same affection as the children afterwards born to him. Elizabeth Vennell Dann died at Dover May 3, 1862, aged 42 years. The children of George and Elizabeth Ven- nell Dann were all born in Dover, and were as follows : Anne Elizabeth (my wife), born February, 18, 1847. George (christened George Brett James Dann Edward Crowhurst Joseph Vennell, all family names, but which George, after residing a few years in the United States, changed to the simpler form of George Arthur), born May 14, 1849. Albert Edward, born September 21, 1851, 20 who was married in the city of St. Louis, Mo., to Mary Jane Carter. WiUiam Henry, born September 19, 1854, who married Christina Hanna of Sahna, Kansas. Alfred Thomas, born May 19, 1858, who married Mamie Coleman of St. Louis, Mo. He died at St. Louis in January, 1897. My wife's father died in St. Louis November 8, 1895, aged 77 years and 9 days. After the death of my wife's mother, Mr. Dann was married a second time — to Margaret Young of Dover, England, by whom he had three children, one of them dying in infancy. The other two were : Louise Margaret, who married and died at childbirth, and Joseph Herbert. Mrs. Margaret Dann and her son Joseph Herbert are living at this date. 21 Returning to my personal history, before enumerating the cliildren born to me, I would record that, in the year 1870, my wife and my- self determined upon removal from Dover, England, and emigrating to the United States. The selection of St. Louis in the State of Mis- souri was induced by the fact that my wife's half-brother, John Pilcher (w^ho used the sig- nature of John E. Pilcher), had a number of years prior, when quite a boy, emigrated thither, to an uncle named Henry Pilcher, and where he secured a position in the business of Waters, Simmons & Co. (now the Simmons Hardware Co.), and where he married and became one of the successful business men of that metropolitan city. At the time we sailed from Liverpool for the United States — July 26, 1870 — we had two children, both boys, with whom after a voy- age of 16% days in the steamer City of Dubhn, 22 of the Inman Line, we reached New York August 11, 1870; thence journeyed by rail to St. Louis, where we arrived August 16, 1870. Our very early residence in St. Louis was marred by the event of the death of our young- est boy, which occurred only 11 days after our arrival. He was buried in the burial lot owned by Mr. Henry Pilcher, in the old Picker Cemetery. The children born to me and my dear wife have been the following : Edwin Charles, born at Dover, England, January 29, 1868. He was married to Georgia Carmelich at St. Louis, Mo., by whom at this writing he has had eight children, all living but one, named respectively Ruth, Edith, Edwin, William, Bessie Irene, May, Charles, and Helen (lived only eight days). George Edward Dann, second son, was born at Dover, England, September 26, 1869, and 23 died at St. Louis, Mo., August 17, 1870, aged nearly 11 months. William May, third son, was born July 29, 1871, at St. Louis, Mo. He married Alice Lansly Schroeder of St. Louis. No children have so far blessed this union. Charles Alfred, our fourth son, was born in St. Louis, May 13, 1876, and died in the same place February 20, 1877, aged 9 months and 7 days. He was buried in St. Peter's Ceme- tery. Elizabeth Dann, our first daughter, was born May 31, 1879, at St. Louis, Mo. She married William Henry Wood of St. Louis, by whom she has borne three children at this writing, namely, Elizabeth Milborough, a son named after his father who lived only three days, and Dorothy May. Anne May, our second daughter, was born at St. Louis, May 30, 1883. She married 24 Frank Eli Wood, brother of her sister's hus- band. One daughter, Milborough, has been born to them. I leave it for our children to continue record- ing the dates of their children's births, etc. ^ * * * * In the spring of the year following our emi- gration to the United States, my wife's father with Mrs. Margaret Dann and his four sons also emigrated from England, and settled in St. Louis, Mo. The year 1871 therefore found the entire Dann family living in that city. As indicated in the preceding pages, the Danns and Freegards bid fair to form an important element in the composite population of the United States. 25 Mr. John E. Pilcher should be remembered as having given a very warm welcome to those who followed him to this country. In his prosperity at this date, as first vice-president of the Simmons Hardware Company, after forty years' connection therewith, and also in the record made by Mr. A. E. Dann as treas- urer of the same company, with thirty years of honorable service, I am glad to be able to rejoice — not only as bearing testimony to their sterling qualities as men of business, but also as witness to the fact that their progeni- tors must have transmitted somewhat of their own excellencies of character. I trust the influence of the industrious, hon- orable lives of the men and women who were our progenitors may be further demonstrated in the lives of our children, and on through their children to successive generations. ^^ ^^ %^ vL* >1< >1^ *^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ •Y* "X* ^P ^P ^* 26 Of my business affairs there is not very much of interest. After working in St. Louis as either journeyman or foreman for about seven years, on September 18, 1877, I formed a co-partnership with Mr. Charles H. Davis, the owner of a then small printing plant. I continued with him under the firm name of Davis & Freegard for six years, when the partnership became merged in the corporation known as the Commercial Printing Company. With Mr. Davis and the Commercial Print- ing Company I remained until the close of the year 1901 — a period of nearly a quarter cen- tury* During this time we experienced the usual vicissitudes of business life — legal com- plications, fires, etc. — but never failed in our integrity in commercial affairs. I bear testimony to the unfaltering fairness of Mr. Davis during the whole period. We never had a serious difference, though of 27 course we were not always of one mind as to the best course to pursue ; one or the other of us invariably yielded or we pursued a midway policy. As the best of friends must at sometime sep- arate, so we at the close of the year 1901, when I withdrew my interest in the Commercial Printing Company and with it started a new business taking in partnership my sons, Edwin Charles and William May, both of whom had had practical training. The firm of Edwin Freegard & Sons is doing business in St. Louis at this time, and completes its third year as the " Freegard Press" with prospects of further development. *^ ^s ?|i *^ ^T^ ^T^ *T^ <|> For years I have been interested in local and national employing printers' associations, es- 28 pecially in the organization known as the United Typothetae of America. For three years I filled its office of secretary, and from November, 1902, to March, 1904, gave my whole time to its affairs, with headquarters in the City of New York. This position re- quired that I should devote considerable time to travel in different parts of the country ; and I have therefore been enabled to obtain a fairly good estimate of the extent and resources of the land of my adoption and of which I am proud to be a citizen. In the year 1874 myself, wife and our two sons, Edwin C. and William M., paid a two months' visit to our old English home ; and I a second visit there in the year 1884, a few months after my mother's death. I had 29 arranged to visit home that year because of its being the fiftieth anniversary of my parents' marriage. My mother's death was a sad dis- appointment ; but I have always been glad that I did not permit my arrangements to be changed because of that event, as my father's death was deferred only four years. My immediate family have enjoyed the por- tion prayed for by the Psalmist — that of neither poverty nor riches. Our desires have been controlled by our means ; so that while we have not accumulated wealth, for which human kind so earnestly strive, we thank God that in no respect have we " lacked any good thing." At this time we form a united family. Christmas, 1904. 30