Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/585

Rh his approach the warriors burned their chief town, Onondaga, and fled into the forests. After destroying the town of Oneida the expedition returned. The Iroquois were never again a peril to the colony which, during the past half century, they had repeatedly threatened with destruction. But Frontenac was near his end. Overcome at last by age, toils, and passions, he closed his stormy life in 1698, beloved by the Canadian peasantry and hated by the ecclesiastics, except always, his favorites and protégés, the Recollet friars. With all his faults, he had done priceless service to the colony, and his name stands in its annals as that of the most remarkable man who ever represented the crown of France in America.

FROST, Charles, soldier, b. in Tiverton, Eng- land, in 1(532; d. 14 July, IG'JT. About l(i3« he accompanied his father, Nicholas, to the Piscata- qua river, and settled at the head of Sturgeon creek. He was a member of the general court from 1658 till 1669, and assistant in 1680, and in 169o-'7 a councillor. He was also a colonel of the Maine regiment, and particijiated in the Indian wars. He was ambushed and killed by Indians in consequence of his having treacherously seized some of them, who were either hanged or sold into slavery in a time of peace.

FROST, Charles Christopher, botanist, b. in Brattleboro, Vt., in 1806 ; d. in 1880. He received his early instruction at a common school of his native village, excelled in mathematics, and studied it several years after he had left school and be- gun to work at his trade as a shoemaker, making himself familiar with algebra, geometry, the cal- culus, and kindred branches. Later he devoted his leisure hours to astronomy, geology, miner- alogy, meteorology, and botany, especially the last- named study, to which he gave the last half of his life. He contributed to periodicals and was a member of scientific societies in the United States and Europe. During all these years he continued his business in his native town. He was joint au- thor with Edward Tuckcrman of a " Catalogue of Plants growing without Cultivation within Thirty Miles of Amherst College " (Amherst, 1875).

FROST, George, jurist, b. in New Castle, N. II., 26 April, 1720; d. in Durham, N. H., 21 June, 1796. He was a son of John Frost, a commander in the British navy, who died in 1732. The son received a public-school education, and was brought up in the counting-house of his uncle, Sir Will- iam Pepperell, at Kittery Point, near Portsmouth, N. H. About 1740 he entered one of his uncle's vessels as supercargo and captain, and was a sea- man for about twenty years, becoming a partner with George Richards, of London. About 1760 he returned to his old home in New Castle, and re- sided there until his marriage in 1764 in Durham, N. H., where he removed in 1769. He was judge of common pleas of Stafford county from 1773 till 1791, and for many years chief justice. He was a delegate to the Continental congress in 1777-'9, and was executive councillor in 1781-'4.

FROST, James Henry Paine, physician. b. in Bethel, Me., 24 May, 182o ; d. in Danville, Pa., 21 Jan., 1875. He was educated at Bowdoin and Am- herst, where he was graduated and took his med- ical degree at the Homoeopathic college at Phila- delphia in 1849. He practised for several years at Wilmington, N. C, but in 1853-'5 he studied the- ology at Bangor seminary, Me., and preached one summer in Richmond, Me. The failure of his voice forced him to leave the ministry, and he re- turned to medicine, which he practised for fifteen years in Bangor, Me. He was a professor in the Philadelphia HomcEopathic college in 1865-'8, and during this period was one of tlie founders and editors of the " Hahnemanian Monthly." After living for some time at Bethlehem, Pa., he removed to Danville, Pa., where he remained and continued his residence till his death. He contributed largely to current medical literature.

FROST, John, soldier, b. in Kittery, Me., 5 May, 1738: d. there in Jidy, 1810. He served as captain in the Canadian campaign of 1759, and in 1775 was a lieutenant-colonel at the siege of Bos- ton. When the campaign of 1776 began, he was promoted to the rank of colonel, and he won dis- tinction in the severe engagements that preceded the retreat of Washington to Philadelphia. When Burgoyne invaded New York, Col. Frost's regi- ment became an adjunct to the army under Gen. Gates, and, after Burgoyne's surrender. Col. Frost joined Washington's central division, and partici- pated in the action of Monmouth and other en- gagements. Until the close of the war he served in the middle and southern states, and left the army with the rank of brigadier-general. He then returned to Kittery, was appointed judge of the court of sessions for York county, Me., and was subsequently a member of the governor's council in Massachusetts, of which Maine was then part.

FROST, John, compiler, b. in Kennebunk, Me., 26 Jan., 1800; d. in Philadelphia. Pa., 28 Dec, 1859. After one year in Bowdoin he entered Har- vard, where he was graduated in 1822. He was principal of Mayhew school, Boston, in 1823-'7, and conducted a school for young ladies in Philadel- phia till 1838, when he was appointed professor of English literature in the central high-school of that city. He resigned this post in 1845, and de- voted himself to the compilation of histories and biographies, of which, assisted by a corps of writ- ers, he published over 300. Marietta college, Ohio, gave liim the degree of LL. D. in 1843. His pub- lications include " History of the World " (3 vols.) ; "Pictorial History of the United States" (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1844); "Beauties of English His- tory"; "Wild Scenes of a Hunter's Life"; "Illus- trious Mechanics"; "Book of Heroes"; "Book of the Armv " ; and " Book of the Navy."

FROST, Rnfus Smith, philanthropist, b. in Marlborough, N. II.. 18 July, 1826 ; d. in Chicago, 6 March. 1894. He wiis educated in the public schools of Boston and in Newton academy, and began mercantile life as a clerk. He afterward engaged in business on his own account, and also became a manufacturer. He was elected mayor of Chelsea in 1867 and 1868, was a member of the state senate in 1871-'2, and of the governor's council in 1873-'4, He built a fire-proof building in his native town in 1867, placed in it a valuable library, and pre- sented it to the town on condition that it should be for the free use of the people. He claimed to have been elected to congress as a Republican in 1874, but the house gave the seat on a technicality to J. G. Abbott, Democrat, who had contested the election. During the contest Mr. Frost retained his seat, serving from 6 Dec, 1875, till 28 July, 1876. Mr. Frost was president of the Boston board of trade in 1879-'81, has been a trustee of Welles- ley college since 1876, and president of the New England conservatory of music since 1882.

FROST, Thomas, clergyman, b. in Pulham, near Norwich, England, in 1759 ; d. in Charleston, S. C., 18 July, 1804. He was graduated at Cambridge university in 1780, and was ordained deacon, 11 March, 1781, and priest, 6 June, 1784, by the bishop of Norwich. Putting aside prospects of advancement in the established church. Mr. Frost