Frank Neuton Fralick

In my last post, I explored the last will and testament of Henry Fralick. Henry left one dollar to seven of his eight grown children and the rest of his estate to his son Frank Neuton Fralick. Frank is my 2nd great-uncle.

Frank was born to Henry and Martha (Scott) Fralick in Glen Haven, Grant County, Wisconsin in 1857. Both the 1880 and 1900 US Census have him living in Bloomington, Grant County, Wisconsin. In 1880, Frank was 22 years old and working on his father’s farm as were his older brothers Edward (24 years old) and David (26 years old). The census does not include farm laborers or a domestic servant like the 1870 census did when those three boys were teenagers. Unfortunately, almost all the US Census records of 1890 were lost in a fire, so I can only guess if Frank was working on the farm then.

Henry died on Christmas Day, 1886 and his estate was closed in February 1887. Frank was the recipient of the remaining estate minus the $7 to his siblings, any “just debt” and the funeral expenses. Frank was 39 years old at this time and still single.

Nine months later, on 10 November 1887, Frank married 16-year old Ida Lydia Ault. Ida’s family lived in Monroe County, Wisconsin, in the south-central portion of the state. She was the oldest child of the five known children of William T. Ault (1838 -1915) and Mary T. Bechtolt (1858 – 1936).

Lydia’s mother was born in Green County, Wisconsin (in south central WI on the border with Illinois) and her parents were married there. Lydia was born there, also. The family moved a little west to Grant County, Wisconsin where the Fralick farm was also located.

In the 1900 US Census, two years after Henry’s death, Frank was living in Bloomington, Grant County, Wisconsin. Two years later, their son, Vere Frank Fralick, was born back in Monroe, the county seat of Green County, where his mother had also been born.By 1910, the US Census had 52-year old Frank working as a laborer in a furniture store and owning his home, mortgage-free.

Frank, Ida, and their son, Vere Frank, lived the rest of their lives in Monroe, Green County, Wisconsin.

Well, having learned all this about this little branch of my family, I still have not answered the question which most intrigues me. Why did Frank leave the farm and, assuming he sold it, to whom did he sell it?  It was not in Frank’s possession for more than four years after spending the first 39 years of his life there. I’ve had no good fortune yet finding land records to help me sort through this. Hopefully, another blog post awaits in which I will have found the answer.