My Genealogy Hound

MILLS G. FRISBIE. This gentleman is one of the most prominent and progressive agriculturists of Cortland County. He lives in Scott township, where he operates his farm of 153 acres on those intelligent and liberal principles, that characterize his work in other spheres of activity. As a citizen he is broad-minded, public-spirited and alive to the furthering of the common interest. In political circles, as a Republican of influence he has a following of friends and well-wishers, who have on a number of occasions persuaded him to accept a nomination to a township or county office, and have then triumphantly carried him on to victory. He has been very active both in practical politics and in serving his fellow citizens as a public officer. He is frequently called upon to serve as a delegate to party conventions, and on one of these occasions served as chairman of the county convention. He has also served on various committees. As a public servant, he has officiated three years as assessor, four years as supervisor, and is now superintendent of the poor of Cortland County, having been elected when the entire ticket upon which he was nominated was defeated.

Mr. Frisbie was born in Scott township, this county, July 14, 1846, and has been a resident of that township all his life with the exception of four years spent in Minnesota. He received an excellent academic education in Homer Academy and De Ruyter Institute. In early life he taught school several years in Cortland County, and eight terms or four years in Minnesota. He now follows farming exclusively.

The Frisbie family is of English descent. Our subject’s great-grandfather, David Frisbie, was a native of Litchfield County, Conn., and spent his entire life there, engaged at his trade of a carpenter and joiner. He married a Miss Benedict, and had a family of six children, that consisted of two sons and four daughters. John Calvin Frisbie, son of David, was also born in Litchfield County, Conn. In 1815, with his wife and family, comprising two sons and two daughters, he moved to Groton, Tompkins County, N. Y., where he remained one year and then came to Homer, where he first took up his residence a mile and a half north of Homer village. He lived there several years, and then moved to Scott township, where his death took place after a long and useful life of eighty years, November 17, 1862. He was a joiner and mason and plasterer, and built all the old houses through the section of the county where he located, and also erected the first churches. He followed these trades in conjunction with farming all his life. He volunteered and served a short term of enlistment in the War of 1812. He was a Whig and a Republican in politics; he filled the offices of county superintendent of the poor, and town superintendent of schools under the old system. He was a great admirer of Wm. H. Seward, and was greatly disappointed at his not being nominated to the presidency, but was reconciled to and became a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln when his first inaugural address was published. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and was for very many years leader of the church choir. He was united in marriage to Laura Mills, who was of Scotch extraction, and a daughter of Lawrence Mills, who lived in Litchfield County, Conn. Five children were born of this union, as follows: Mellissa, deceased, who was the wife of Mr. Curtis; Louisa, also deceased, who was the wife of Martin Alvord; Myron J., deceased; George M., our subject’s father; and Matilda, deceased, who was the wife of John W. Schuyler.

George M. Frisbie was born in Litchfield County, Conn., October 31, 1814, and was one year old when his parents moved to this part of the state, and two years of age when they took up their residence in 1816 in this county. George M. Frisbie has spent the remainder of his life in this county, and from a small boy has made his home in Scott township. Agricultural operations have claimed his attention through all his long life. Since the formation of the Republican party, he has been an active worker in the party of Abraham Lincoln, U. S. Grant, and James A. Garfield; before the war he was in turn a Whig, Abolitionist, and Free-Soiler. Of late years, however, he has supported the Prohibition party, as a party of reform. Though active and zealous in every cause he espoused, he never sought or filled any public office, for he was usually on the weaker and losing side in the cause of righting wrong and relieving oppression. He is a member of the Seventh Day Baptist Church, having been a Presbyterian up to the age of twenty. His helpmeet and partner through life, Hannah S. Babcock, passed away in 1869. Six children resulted from this marriage, as follows: Elias T. of Homer village; Mills G.; Mellissa, deceased; and three who died in infancy.

On December 3, 1867, Mr. Frisbie, our subject, was joined in marriage with Martha B. Crandall, daughter of William G. Crandall of Lincklaen, Chenango County, N. Y. Anna E., the elder daughter of this marriage, married William H. Brown, a farmer of Scott township. Elvira is the wife of Charles W. Hammon, a farmer of Homer. William G., the youngest child, lives at home. Our subject has one grandchild, Louis Frisbie Hammon. Mr. Frisbie, with the members of his family, is a member of the Seventh Day Baptist Church of Scott township. He is a comrade of Scott Post, No. 574, G. A. R. He has been adjutant of the post since its first organization with the exception of three years, when he was filling the position of commander. He is also a member of Lake View Lodge, No. 684, I. O. O. F. In the late war, he enlisted on January 2, 1864, in Co. H, 16th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, and served continuously and with honor to himself from that date until August 28, 1865, when he received his papers of discharge, and once more became a civilian.