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biography from Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
WILLIAM FREDERICK is a retired farmer and stock-raiser of Harrison Township, residing on section 21. He was born May 25, 1800, in Pennsylvania, in what was formerly Northumberland, now called Union County. He is a son of Thomas and Margaret A. (Tibbon) Frederick. Thomas Frederick was captured by the Indians near or between Reading or Harrisburg, Pa., in the year 1750, and kept by them a prisoner for eleven years. He was about five years old when captured by the Shawnee tribe. They cut slits in both his ears for the reception of rings and other ornaments, as they proposed to make a chief of him. He died in Columbiana County, Ohio, May 8, 1808; his wife also departed this life in that county in March, 1825. They were both of German parentage. The subject of this sketch, in the fall of 1804; went from Pennsylvania to Ohio in company with his parents, and remained there until 1845, engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods, he having learned this business while a young man. He understood and followed all the processes employed in the manufacture of woolen cloth, from shearing the sheep to the finishing process which made the goods ready for the tailor's use. June 9,1845, he gathered together his family, and started with teams for Iowa, bringing with him to this county, five or six cows, 400 head of sheep and three head of horses. They had a very successful trip, and arrived at the place where he now lives Aug. 7, 1845, having consumed nearly two months' time on the trip, and losing only a few head of sheep. This was before the land in the New Purchase came into market, and he bought out what was called a squatter's claim, on a half section of land, which he afterward entered. Mr. Frederick now owns 710 acres of as fine land as there is in the county, all of it in a high state of cultivation. He has on the place two fine frame houses and an ample number of barns and out-buildings of all kinds, and also a curiosity in the shape of a smoke-house made of a portion of a hollow sycamore tree. It is about five feet in the clear inside, the shell about one and one-fourth inches thick, and stands about ten feet high, is covered with a shingle roof, and was put up in 1861. The subject of this sketch was married in September, 1820, to Rebecca Shriver, and to them have been born eight children: Electa; Lafayette was a soldier in the Mexican War, under Gen. Taylor, and died at Monterey, Mex.; Clementine; George W.; William A., and three children who died in infancy. There is also an adopted daughter, Catherine, residing at home. The mother of these children died in October, 1857, and he was afterward united in marriage with Mary Reigart nee Jackson, who is now deceased. Mr. Frederick's first vote was cast for John Quincy Adams. He is now affillated with the Republican party. Mr. F. is enjoying the well-earned rest the struggles of his pioneer days entitle him to, possessing a competence, and with it the highest esteem of a large circle of acquaintances.
Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy