My Genealogy Hound

JESSE FRONEFIELD is the grandson of John Fronefield, who was born in Upper Providence township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where his ancestors settled on their arrival in America. He was for many years a resident of the village of Evansburg, and left there to join his son George in Chester county, where he died. John Fronefield married Edith Wolmer. The couple had four sons, all of whom grew to manhood, as follows: George, born in 1803; Jacob, Joseph and Jesse.

George Fronefield (father) was born near Evansburg, and grew to manhood in that vicinity. He learned the trade of a carpenter, and was also a cabinet-maker and undertaker. For many years he followed these callings in his native village, being for a long time the only person who did so in that vicinity. In 1845 he disposed of his business and removed from Evansburg to Chester county, near Phoenixville, where he rented the Highley farm, on which he resided for a period of thirteen years, when he returned to Montgomery county, locating in Lower Providence township, where he rented and occupied the famous Fatland farm of the Wetherill family. He remained on it until the spring of 1864, when he returned to Chester county and rented the Bull Tavern farm, owned by Sampson Fudge. He remained on that farm until 1866, when he removed to Plymouth township, Montgomery county, where he engaged in business as the proprietor of what was then known as the Ritter Hotel. In the spring of 1870 he located in Norristown, the board of prison inspectors having appointed him to the position of assistant warden of the Montgomery county prison, under John C. Getty, who was the warden of the institution. In 1872 the board of poor directors of the county, there being a vacancy in the position, elected him steward of the almshouse, and he held that office seven terms, or until 1880. In March, 1872, the almshouse was destroyed by fire, and he and his family, pending the erection of a new building, lived in a temporary structure which was a mere shed.

In 1880, Mr. Fronefield returned to Norristown, and made his home with George H. Kerper’s widow, who was his oldest daughter, as the death of his wife had left him alone. He lived with Mrs. Kerper until his death. George Fronefield married in 1827 Rebecca M. Sharpley, daughter of Joseph Sharpley, by whom he had ten children, as follows: David W., Joseph, Annie, Rebecca, Hannah, John, George, Samantha, Clara, Jesse.

Jesse Fronefield, who was for six years a member of town council from the fourth ward of Norristown, was born in Chester county, September 10, 1845. He remained in the family of his father, attending the ordinary schools of the neighborhood, until 1864, when he was nineteen years of age. Being desirous of learning a trade, he entered Snyder’s flour and grist mill, and served there an apprenticeship of eighteen months under the instruction of his brother Joseph. He then went to the H. J. Ashenfelter mills, on Mingo creek, in Upper Providence township, remaining there under instructions until January, 1866, when he went to the Bridgeport flour mill, then under the management of Samuel Beaver, long since deceased. In May, 1866, he went to his father’s hotel, staying with him a year. He then took a position at the mill of Christopher Heebner, in Norristown (now Stritzinger’s mill), and had charge of it until 1884. In that year he went to Schuylkill county and managed a mill known as the Shick-Wamsher Mill, continuing there until the fall of 1887, when he took charge of the E. & G. Brooke Milling Company’s mill at Birdsboro, Berks county, remaining there until 1891. He then took charge of the Penn Milling Company’s mill until 1894. He then went to Birdsboro and took charge of the mill of Reigner & Focht, being at that place two years. Mr. Fronefield then left the milling business and accepted the agency for the products of the Pillsbury-Washburn Company in Norristown, in which he is still engaged.

Mr. Fronefield married on April 23, 1872, Miss Hannahretta Brooke Ward, daughter of Joshua Ward, of Bridgeport. They had the following children: John, born February 6, 1875; Naomi, born May 10, 1876; both are deceased. Mrs. Fronefield died August 20, 1880. Mr. Fronefield married (second wife) Anna Rebecca Johnson, daughter of Abraham Johnson, of Trappe. They have no children.