Orello Eugene Frink (1855-1916)

Portrait from the History of Colorado, Volume II, 1918.

  New York native Orello Eugene Frink found his business fortune in Colorado, where he first settled in 1891. Following his move, Frink established himself in the produce and retail meat business and after moving to Fort Lupton made his mark as a canned food distributor, founding the Silver State Canning and Produce Company. In 1912 Frink had a brief flirtation with elective office when he was a candidate for the Colorado House of Representatives but lost out in that year's Democratic primary. Born in DeRuyter, New York on May 16, 1855, Orello Eugene Frink was the son of Ephraim and Lucinda (Ferguson) Frink.

  Orello Frink's education was obtained in the state of his birth and for nine years was a schoolteacher in that state. He married Junietta Patience "Etta" Peckham (1859-1952) in 1877, with whom he had four children, Clarence (1879-1945), Margurite (1881-1972), Ruby (1883-1953), and Richard Freelove (1894-1986). In 1891 he and his family left New York for Colorado and first settled in Denver. After establishing a home he embarked on a career in wholesale produce, and, later, a "retail meat market." In 1892, while still conducting business in Denver, the Frinks removed to Fort Lupton, and around 1895 he began a creamery and cheese factory.

  Within a few years of its construction, Frink's business outgrew its original confines and soon a larger business took its place, one that would become one of the largest canning facilities in the state. Operating under the name of the Silver State Canning and Produce Company, by 1912 that company could boast of 183 employees, and in that year construction began on "a warehouse 60 by 80 feet", as well as a large basement equipped with machinery for making sauerkraut. Among other vegetables canned by the company were peas, corn, tomatoes, beans, and pickles, and in addition to his canning interests "owned and operated nine different farms, on which he mostly employed Japanese help." 

  Through the succeeding years, Frink's cannery continued to expand, with their product being transported by railroad car "to San Francisco, Iowa, Texas, and the Eastern states." In the early 1900s, Frink became active in local politics, winning election to the Fort Lupton town board of trustees. In the summer of 1912, he announced his candidacy for the Colorado House of Representatives, and, running on the Democratic ticket, hoped to represent the county of Weld. 

From the Greeley Tribune, September 5, 1912.

  In an August 1912 write-up on his candidacy, Frink detailed his extensive business dealings and also made note that:

"Even if I am a candidate for state representative on the democratic ticket, I shall continue to put up Fort Lupton products more enthusiastically than ever. My wife will see to the management while I am out campaigning."

  One of three candidates vying for the Democratic nomination, Frink polled third on primary election day in September, garnering 572 votes to Charles Philip's winning total of 680. Following his defeat Frink continued with his business interests and although a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was remarked as having "contributed generously to the support of all churches." Frink died of heart failure at his Fort Lupton home on November 11, 1916, aged 61. His wife Etta survived him by nearly forty years, dying at age 93 in 1952. Both were interred at the Hillside Cemetery in Fort Lupton.

From the Windsor Beacon, November 16, 1916.

Rutilleous Britt Basford (1836-1916)

Portrait from the St. Paul Globe, January 11, 1897.

    A New Englander by birth, Rutilleous Britt Basford later resided in Wisconsin where he was a merchant in the Jefferson County area. In the mid-1860s he relocated to Minnesota, where he was subsequently elected to a number of local political offices in Winona County, and in November 1896 was elected to one term in the Minnesota State House of Representatives.

  Born in Guilford, Maine on June 2, 1836, Rutilleous Basford was the son of Pliny Britt (1808-1890) and Sarah Stephens Basford (1806-1896). His unusual name has a variation in spelling, being listed by more than one source as "Rutillus Brett Basford", while also being abbreviated as "R.B. Basford". However, both the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota Death and Burial Index give the spelling as it is given in the title to this profile. Whichever spelling is the correct one, it certainly doesn't change the fact that Basford's name is one of the more intriguing ones to be found amongst the annals of past Minnesota legislators!

   Removing to Watertown, Wisconsin with his family while still a child, Basford attended common schools in that area and in March 1858 married Jennie Snow (1839-1916). The couple is recorded as being childless through the duration of their nearly sixty-year marriage. In the early 1860s, he did his patriotic duty and became a sutler (civilian merchant) to the 16th Wisconsin Infantry, providing various provisions to soldiers of the regiment. While still a resident of Wisconsin Basford served as a U.S. Revenue Agent for the county of Jefferson, continuing in this post until removing with his wife to Winona, Minnesota around 1866.

  Early in his Winona residency Basford became involved in real estate dealings as well as the sale of insurance, continuing along this route until 1875. In that year he was elected as the Treasurer of Winona County, serving two terms in office. In 1880 he won election as county auditor and later occupied the office of Fire Inspector for Minnesota's southern district for thirteen years. Active in fraternal clubs in addition to his civic doings, Basford became a member of the Coeur de Leon Commandry, No. 3 of the Knights Templar in 1874 and served as the group's Captain General in 1879 and its treasurer four years later. Basford is also the first strange name political figure to have been a druid, being a charter member of the Oak Grove Lodge, No. 15, Ancient Order of Druids in Winona in August 1877.

  After retiring from the position of Fire Inspector in the mid-1890s Basford continued in his real estate dealings, and in 1896 was nominated by his fellow Winona county citizens to be their representative in the Minnesota State Legislature. Running as a Republican, he went on to defeat his Democratic opponent John Nagler in the November election, 1,295 votes to 963. Taking his seat at the start of the 1897-99 term, Basford was named to the following standing committees of the house: Appropriations, Railroads, Insurance, Banks, and Legislative Expenses. He served as chairman of the Committee on Manufacturers and left office in January 1899.

  

This portrait of Rutilleous Basford is in the collection of the Minnesota State Historical Society.

    After leaving the legislature Basford returned to his early business interests and in 1907 is recorded as opening another insurance office in Winona with W.E. Stanton, operating under the name of Basford and Stanton. Basford died three months before his eightieth birthday on March 3, 1916, in Winona. His wife of 58 years Jennie followed him to the grave two months later on May 15th, and both were presumably buried somewhere in the Winona County vicinity, an exact place of burial being unknown at this time.

Link Field Forehand (1877-1916)

   Florida legislator Link Field Forehand's life is examined today, and I'm proud to relate that the following biography on this obscure Floridian marks the first time a picture of him is available online. A lifelong resident of the Sunshine State, the mysterious Link Forehand has scant information on himself available online, but a 1915 Florida Blue Book (where the above portrait was located) came to my rescue in this regard, helping to furnish many of the facts contained herein.

  Link Field Forehand was born in Liberty County, Florida on Independence Day 1877, one of six children born to Jeremiah M. and Mary Parish Forehand. Forehand inherited his rather odd name from his paternal grandfather, also named Link Field Forehand. A few variations in spelling have also been found for Forehand's name, among them "Link Fields", "Linkfield" and the abbreviation "L.F. Forehand."

  Link Forehand's father Jerry died when his son was just eleven years old, and the young boy received his education in the public schools of Liberty County. Following his graduation Forehand, "by persistent efforts and self-sacrificing", went on to enroll at the Florida State College in the late 1890s. He is mentioned as being involved in local merchandising after leaving school and had "good success in his business." Forehand married around 1905 to a Ms. Cassey Stokes who eventually gave birth to four children, Calum (born October 1909), Selma (born 1910), Onis (born December 1913), and Cecil C. (later known as Cary Cecil, born in April 1915).

  In November 1914 Forehand was elected by the citizens of Liberty County as their representative in the Florida State House of Representatives, taking his seat at the beginning of the 1915 term. He served as chairman of the legislative committee on Forestry during this term and also held a seat on the committees on Indian Affairs, Insurance, Live Stock, and Privileges and Elections. Busy as a first-term legislator, Forehand received a write-up in the 1915 Florida Blue Book, which noted that during his service he "performed the great trust nobly and well. He was a man of forceful type, one who believed firmly and honestly. He showed utter lack of fear and appeared not in the least tender, or backward in his views, whether right or wrong." The below snippets denoting Forehand's service were featured in the aforementioned book.

  Link F. Forehand's tenure in the legislature lasted but a short time, being terminated by his unexpected death a little over a year after taking his seat. He died on March 6, 1916, aged only 38, and was interred at the Bristol Cemetery in Bristol, Liberty County, Florida. His untimely death is recorded by a notice on the Rootsweb genealogical website as being the result of "pelegra" (pellagra), a vitamin deficiency disease brought about by the lack of vitamin B3 in one's diet. 

  Following her husband's untimely death, Cassie Stokes Forehand remarried in North Carolina in April 1919 to Gustave Stigwalt, and it is unknown at this time if any children were born to this union. Originally the names of the Forehand children and Cassie Stokes couldn't be found, and a hearty thank goes out to SNIAPH site friend Greg Spadoni for locating those interesting historical tidbits. Greg received an extensive mention in two previous articles on Washington state politician and judge Govnor Teats, which can be viewed here and here. Many thanks again for your help!

Atlantic Abraham Moore (1834-1916)

   Known by his contemporaries as "Lank" Moore, Atlantic Abraham Moore was indeed named after the second largest ocean in the world! A native of the Buckeye State, Moore would relocate to the American midwest in the late 1850s and following settlement in Kansas attained prominence in politics, winning election to both houses of that state's legislature. Still more political honors would await Moore after he permanently resettled in Arizona, as he served two terms in the territorial and state house of representatives, and was a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1910.

   Atlantic "A.A." Moore was born on September 15, 1834, in Ohio. As a child he moved to Waukegan, Illinois with his family and as an adolescent lived in Wisconsin for a time. In 1858, Moore and his older brother found employment driving government ambulance wagons from Kansas City, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The task proved to be arduous, and after one trip out the Moore brothers returned to what is now Durham, Kansas, where they bought out a trading post. Within a few short years, the area in which they had settled became Marion County, Kansas, and Lank Moore was elected as county treasurer in 1865. That same year he was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives and was re-elected to that office in 1867 and 1871.  With his name firmly established in Kansas politics, Lank Moore ran for a seat in the State Senate in 1868 and handily defeated his opponent.

   Moore continued residence in Kansas until 1882 when he relocated to the Arizona Territory and settled in Prescott. Within a short time, he established a large ranch and engaged in the raising of cattle, while also taking an interest in Arizona's vast mining industry. Moore also began involving himself in Arizona politics, serving as a Prescott City councilman for several years. 

  In 1898, the citizens of Yavapai County elected Moore to the Arizona Territorial House of Representatives, where he served from 1899-1901. He was later reelected to the state house in 1911, shortly after Arizona gained statehood. During his legislative service, Moore was named to several committees, including the Committee on Public Lands, Public Health and Statistics, and Agriculture and Irrigation. He was described in an 1899 Arizona Legislative Manual (where the below picture was located) as one of the "quietest members of the legislature, yet one who has been found by his associates as fully capable in all members of parliamentary procedure."

   The year before his reelection to the legislature, Atlantic A. Moore was named as a delegate to the Arizona Constitutional Convention, again representing Yavapai County. He died at age 82 on December 22, 1916, at the home of his son in Glendale, Arizona. A newspaper of the time lists A.A. Moore's cause of death as appendicitis. He was interred at the Walnut Grove Cemetery in Yavapai County and was survived by his second wife Nancy Waterman Moore, who died in 1926 at age 78.

Atlantic A. Moore as he appeared in an 1899 Arizona Legislative Manual.