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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Jacob Frolich. secretary and manager of the Gazette Publishing Company, Little Rock, is a son of John and Marie Elizabeth (Herrman) Frolich, natives of Bavaria and Prussia, respectively. Mr. Frolich came to America when a little boy, first landing at New Orleans. From there the family went to a point near Vincennes, Ind., on the Wabash River, lived several years at Searcy, Ark., and later on moved to Evansville, where the parents passed the remainder of their days. Mr. Frolich was educated in private schools, and part of the time by a private tutor. When looking about for some profession to enter, he determined to learn the printer’s trade, and had mastered that calling when only sixteen years of age. He then went south, and found employment at St. Louis, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and several other cities, and worked steadily at his trade until the Civil War commenced. His sympathies being with the South in that struggle for supremacy, he enlisted in the Confederate army, serving the last two years in the first company of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans. After the war was over, he went to Memphis, Tenn., and engaged on the Memphis Appeal, remaining with that paper one year. His next location was at Searcy, Ark., where he established the White County Record, of which he was editor and publisher for twelve years, and then sold out. In 1878 Mr. Frolich was elected secretary of State, and served three terms successively, or six years in all. In 1885 he was appointed as chief of the mineral division of the general land office at Washington, and one year later was made chief of the financial department of the United States patent office. In June, 1889, he returned to Little Rock, and became interested in the reorganization of the Gazette, and was elected secretary and manager, the position held by him at present. Mr. Frolich was married on September 2, 1869, to Miss Mollie Gaines Finley, a daughter of Dr. John B. Finley. Three children have been born to this union: Pearl, Finley and Herman. In religious belief Mr. Frolich is a Presbyterian, and Mrs. Frolich and her daughter are members of the Episcopal Church at Little Rock. In secret societies he belongs to the Masonic fraternity, at Searcy, Ark. When Mr. Frolich took the position as secretary of State, that office was a burden to the State, but, by the exercise of good common sense and executive ability, he made it pay its own expenses, and even prove a source of revenue. While holding this position, at the solicitations of numerous friends and members of the General Assembly, he wrote several hundred letters to prominent men, in different sections of Arkansas, requesting their individual views as to the best method of deriving a State revenue. Acting upon these replies, and guarding against any infringement of the (rather limited) State constitution, he formed the general revenue bill which was adopted by the next General Assembly, and is the one now in use, with the exception of some modifications, made to meet the demands of a rapidly growing State. Personally, Col. Frolich is a man highly respected, and one of the leading citizens of Little Rock, though modest and unobtrusive in his manner.

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This family biography is one of 156 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Pulaski County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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