Person:Jacob Froman (1)

Tracing the History of the Descendants of Paul Froman Sr and Elizabeth Hite [[1]]

The Germans often had saints’ names when they were baptized but after baptism rarely used more than one given name—i.e. John Paul Froman. But when you see the early Germans given surnames as middle names, such as “Jacob Hite Froman”, it is usually/always wrong. That was an English custom and a later one at that. Of course, after the American Revolution when the Fromans had intermarried with families such as McGees, McCartys, they started following their customs of naming. With that said I found no records with the middle name of Hite, who was born about 1749. The first document that I was able to find for Jacob is where he is a witness on the 7 Jun 1763 deed for Darby McCarty, his brother Paul’s in-law. in Frederick County, Virginia. Frederick County Deed Book 8, page 427- 428. Jacob Sr is listed in Washington County, Pennsylvania as purchasing 287 acres on 17 Apr 1769. In about 1770 he marries wife Barbara, many have her last name as Mercer; but I have found no records to prove this. On 2 Apr 1771 Jacob Sr survey and patented “Bad is the Best of It”, 120 acres in Frederick County, Maryland – in what became Garrett County at the mouth of Bear Camp Run, and called Mill Run, now called Mill Run. Soon after he settled there and built a grist mill, the first mill in the county. Jacob Sr rented his mill property to John Fike Sr, who bought the mill property in 1814. The Mill site is now covered by Youghiogheny Reservoir. Jacob is then listed in 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, and 1776 on the tax list for Turkeyfoot Township of Bedford County, Pennsylvania. In a settler’s warrant in Kentucky he states that he resided in Kentucky since 1776. In 1779, he is issued eight Virginia Treasury Warrants, # 1016 – 500 acres, #1017 - 500 acres, # 1018 – 500 acres, #1020 – 500 acres, #1815 – 500 acres, #1746 – 300 acres, #1748 – 150 acres, #1815 – 500 acres. In 1781 he issued warrants for 800 acres, 400 acres, and 600 acres, and 1782 1,400 acres, 1,443 acres; in 1783 – 1000 acres, 400 acres, and 4,602 acres; in 1784 – 575 acres, 700 acres. On 9 Mar 1785 Jacob is charged in Lincoln County Court for selling Whiskey without a license; it listed on 7 Jun 1785 – page 82, 6 Sep 1785 -pages 160-161, 6 Mar 1786 page 314, 5 Jun 1786 page 379. On June 1787 Jacob Sr made the assigned for sister Regina Speers vs John Smith on the docket of the Supreme Court of Virginia for the district of Kentucky; Jacob is assisting his sister Regina in the collection of a debt owe to the estate of the deceased Henry Speers. Lewis Rose and his brother Matthias were taken prisoner during one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Blue Licks on 19 Aug 1782 and released them in the fall of 1783. Their families not only though them dead, they had started estate proceedings for Lewis Rose in Lincoln County, Kentucky. On 11 Mar 1783 Jacob Froman Sr was granted administration with Lewis’s wife Barbara Rose, Lincoln County Order Book 1 page 35. As the administrator, Jacob Froman Sr, entered into a bond of £400 as the law directed. An inventory of Lewis Rose “deceased” was recorded on 17 Mar 1783. There may be other connections between the Fromans and the Roses, but we know that Lewis Rose appears in the tax list records of Bedford County, Pennsylvania in 1774, at the same time as Jacob Froman Sr lived there.

On 29 July 1789 the new Mercer County Court House was accepted; Jacob Froman is noted as one person in charge of building the Mercer County courthouse; “Agreeable to an order of worshipful court of Mercer Count we the subscribers therein nae have examined the court house built in Harrodsburg by John Mosby and Jacob Froman for the use of the said court”.    Jacob Froman Sr is listed in many public trees have his place and date of death incorrect on Ancestry.    

In 1791 Jacob Sr is elected to the Virginia House of Delegates for Mercer County, Session 17 Oct 1791 – 20 Dec 1791. In 1792 Jacob Sr was elected as a member of the first Kentucky Legislature and a State Constitutional Convention, held in Danville, Kentucky. A motion was made by Samuel Taylor on 18 Apr 1792 to rescind Article IX, respecting slavery; Jacob Froman voted to put an end to slavery. The motion to end slavery failed to pass. During the first session, on 18 Jun 1792, the legislature set permanent seat of government to Kentucky. In 1792 Jacob Froman appears as the largest subscribers (£3 for the private improvement to the Wilderness Road. On 12 Dec 1794 the Kentucky Legislature pass an Act for the establishing the Kentucky Academy, and incorporating the trustee; which included Jacob Froman. On 2 Nov 1798, two years after it was first proposed, The Kentucky Academy merged with Transylvania University, the merge took effect 1 Jan 1799. I have seen everything from Woodford, Mercer, Kentucky which is a made-up place, two different counties; Washington County, to Bullitt County on the Daughter of the Revolutionary War (DAR) website. I have read hundreds of documents and none of them having him ever living in Bullitt or Washington Counties. Jacob Froman Sr, acquired thousands of acres of land during his life, across several different counties (six), including Bullitt County and it true that he did transfer/sell land to his sons who lived in Bullitt County; but he himself never lived there. Son, Jacob Froman Jr, is listed in several documents in Bullitt County, and is found in court cases as running the salt works there for his father. In one affidavit, his younger brothers, Isaac an Abraham, state that they lived there with their older brother Jacob Jr in Bullitt County. (McDowell Papers – Filson Historical Society). Jacob Sr residence is easily provable by looking at Kentucky Tax records, they show he paid taxes in Nelson County, KY in 1785-1787, by 1789 he was living in Mercer County, were he was a state representative to the House of Delegates – Mercer, Virginia in 1791. In 1792 he is listed as a Representative to the Kentucky State Convention - Mercer County, Kentucky. From 1787 - to 1800 there are dozens of deeds, tax, property transfers, and court documents which prove he was a resident of Mercer County, Kentucky. Additionally, his home/farm in Mercer County is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/02000344 . On Mar 20, 1799, Jacob Froman request that way be found for a Road to Brushy Run Creek in Woodford County, he builds a mill and home on this site; it is located just eight (8) miles from his home in Mercer County, with access with to the Kentucky River. "The History of the Clover Bottom Church", Woodford County, Kentucky states that the church was organized at Jacob Froman home in Woodford County on 22 Aug 1801. In the 1802 Act of the General Assembly of Kentucky: it lists Jacob Froman twice for the inspection of Tobacco/Hemp and for Flour Mill operations at his Mill on Brushy Run Creek, Woodford County, Kentucky. Kentucky Tax Records also show from 1804 to 1819 Jacob Froman Sr. as a resident of Woodford County. Jacob Sr. is buried at the Clover Bottom Baptist Church, where he was a member, the first church cemetery is located less than 1/2 mile from his home in Woodford County, Kentucky. Date of death for Jacob Froman Sr, the most common incorrect date I see listed is 1835. This date of death is off by fifteen years, this is proven by the Administrative bond for the deceased Jacob Fro(w)man, that is signed by sons Elijah and Isaac (administrator) on 3 Jul 1820, and found in the probate records of Woodford County, Kentucky. On 25 Jul 1820, there is an appraisal for the estate of Jacob Froman deceased in the Woodford County, Kentucky Probate book F page 208-209. Jacob Froman Sr. is also listed as deceased in the Woodford County Orders Book 1794-1821, page 401-402, there a motion by son Isaac to be the administrator of the estate, and an appraisal to be performed. Also, on 3 Jul 1820, wife Barbara/Barbary grants a power of attorney to son Elijah Froman, Barbara is listed as a "widow", Woodford County Deed Book H page 270. Finally, after 1819 there are no records of Jacob Froman Sr, every paying tax in Kentucky. The last signed document that I have from Jacob Froman Sr. is a property sale on 19 Apr 1820 to son Elijah Froman, Woodford County Deed Book H page 327-328. I would put his death as mostly likely late Jun 1820 to 3 Jul 1820.