Biography of William Jackson Frederick, pages 842/843/844/845.  Memorial 
Record of Northeastern Indiana; The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1896.

	William Jackson Frederick, who is one of the most progressive 
citizens of northeastern Indiana, has for some years been prominently 
identified with the development of this section of the State, and its 
progress is due in no small degree to his efforts. He was born August 22, 
1845, in the town of Franklin Square, Columbiana county, Ohio, and is a 
son of Joseph C. and Mary (Betz) Frederick.  The maternal grandfather, 
Christian Betz, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and died in 
Ohio about 1863, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was a son of John 
Betz, who in 1804 removed from Franklin county, Pennsylvania, to Salem 
township, Columbiana county, Ohio, where he made a claim of the entire 
amount of land comprised in section 11. He was the eldest son of Urban 
Betz, and was sent West by his father in 1803 in search of a favorable 
location for a home.  He spent some time in Canada, and then returned, 
giving a good account of that country, but the father said that he had 
lived once under a king and never wanted to again.
	John Betz wedded Mary Hawk, and a week later they began their long 
and laborious journey to Columbiana county, reaching that point in March, 
1804. His first purchase made him the possessor of a pair of saddlebags, 
and he then stated for the land office in Steubenville, Ohio, where he 
entered section 11. His father had a family of fourteen children, and 
nearly all reared large families of their own.  In the spring of 1805 
Urban Betz started from Franklin county, Pennsylvania, to join his son 
John in Ohio, bringing with him all of his own children save Mrs. Lovy 
Scott and Mrs. Katie Draher.  With a six-horse team and three milch-cows 
they slowly made their way over the mountains and through forests, and 
after twenty-five days of travel they reached Obbery Fork Bridge, Ohio, 
where they stuck fast in the mud and were obliged to send for John to help 
them out. Their trials and sufferings had been very great and the journey 
was particularly hard.
	The founder of the Betz family in America was Ludwig Betz, who was 
born in Alsace, France, now Germany, and in 1751 left that country, 
probably sailing from Antwerp. He landed at Philadelphia, whence the 
family afterward removed to Franklin county.  By trade he was a tailor. To 
Ludwick Betz and his wife Ann were born the following named children: 
Urban, Henry, Frederick, Conrad, Christian, Charles, Louisa, Barbara and 
Maria.  Of this family Conrad was about ten yeas old when they landed at 
Philadelphia. He worked in a bakery in that city for ten years in order to 
pay the price of the passage of the family across the ocean.  The old Betz 
homestead on section 11, Salem township, Columbiana county, Ohio, has 
usually been willed to the youngest child in the family, and thus handed 
down from generation to generation. It is at present occupied by David S. 
Betz, under whose management a reunion of the descendants and relatives of 
Urban Betz was called September 5, 1878, and 325 people responded and 
registered at this reunion.  These people all belong to the Urban Betz 
branch of the family and represented only about one-ninth of the 
descendants of Ludwick Betz.
	The father of our subject, Joseph C. Frederick, was born in eastern 
Pennsylvania, and was a cooper by trade.  He was brought West by his 
parents and for a time engaged in general merchandising in Washingtonville, 
Ohio. He wedded Mary Betz, in their family were the following children: 
Melvina, deceased; Albert, who died at the age of seventeen; Alfred, a 
twin brother of Albert; Julietta, wife of Henry Sheets; Isabella, wife of 
Jesse Warrington; Isaiah, deceased; William J., of this sketch; Mary Ann, 
who died at the age of sixteen; and Joseph C.  The father of this family 
died June 4, 1853, at the age of forty-five, when our subject was a child 
of nearly eight years.  The mother is still living in Ohio, at the advanced 
age of eighty-five.  The paternal great-grandfather of our subject, Conrad 
Frederick, was a native of Germany. Emigrating to this country he settled 
in Pennsylvania. He was the father of six children, four sons: David, 
John, Joseph and Conrad, and two daughters, Mary Adams and _____.  Conrad, 
the youngest of the sons and grandfather of our subject, and his wife, Ann 
Frederick, who was a native of Ireland, removed from Pennsylvania to a 
farm adjoining the town of Washingtonville, Ohio, about 1813, where they 
remained during the rest of their lives.  They had seven children born to 
them, viz.: Sarah (Bossert), Katharine (Wollett), Nancy (Cochel), Joseph 
C., John, Polly H. (Rosen) and Isaiah. Conrad with his wife Ann and eldest 
son, Joseph C., all lie buried in the Lutheran graveyard at Washingtonville, 
Ohio.
	We now take up the personal history of our subject, who remained 
quietly at home until the 3d of September,1861, when, at he age of sixteen 
he joined the union army as a member of Company I, First Ohio Infantry, 
Alex. McD. McCook’s regiment.  He was mustered out September, 21, 1864, at 
Chattanooga, Tennessee, after participating with his regiment in all the 
operations of the Army of the Cumberland and engaging in the battles of 
Shiloh, Stone River and Chickamauga.  At the last named he was wounded in 
the left arm and for three months was unfit for duty, during which time he 
visited home.  He took part in the campaigns to relieve General Burnside 
at Knoxville, participated in the Atlanta campaign to within four miles of 
the city, when, his regiment’s term of service having expired, they were 
sent North and were mustered out of service.
	After being mustered out and before the close of the war, Mr. 
Frederick returned to his home for about a month, then return to 
Nashville, Tennessee, where he was in the Quartermaster’s police service 
for about a year.  During the two succeeding year he was in Randolph and 
Jay counties, Indiana; then spent six months in Bates county, Missouri, 
and traveled through Kansas to Omaha, Nebraska, on an eight months trip. 
There he began to learn the carpenter’s trade, and was employed on 
Government work, building barracks.  He next engaged in work on the Union 
Pacific Railroad, building windmills, for eight months, after which he 
returned to Omaha, and from there to Sioux City, Iowa, where he worked at 
the carpenter’s trade for eight months.  He followed the same business in 
Little Rock, Arkansas, for three years, and was in Fulton, Arkansas, for 
one year, during which time he built the county house at Washington, that 
State, having the contract for all except the brick and stone work.
	Mr. Frederick thus traveled quite extensively, and then returned to 
his home on a visit. On the 15th day of June, 1875, he came to Garrett, 
Indiana, a town composed of five unfinished  dwelling, with also about 
five store rooms still uncompleted. The place had been platted April 20, 
1875 by Washington Cowan. Mr. Frederick erected his present dwelling and 
two store rooms and continued his residence here until June 1876, when the 
town almost died out. In 1880, however, it began rapidly to rebuilt, and 
is now the most important place in the county. In July, 1878, he took 
charge of the Baltimore Land & Improvement Company, acting as agent for 
ten years.  In  1880 he began contracting and building, and the following 
year established a lumber yard, continuing operations along that line 
until 1888. He has been connected with the erection of two hundred 
buildings in this town and may well be numbered among the founders of the 
enterprising city of Garrett.
	Mr. Frederick was married November 10, 1872, to Miss Emma, daughter 
of John Hipkins. They now have five children: Agnes Emma, born September 
25, 1873; Mary Edith, born August 17, 1875; Queen Elizabeth, born May 31, 
1877; Jessie belle, who was born December 8, 1879, and died July 23, 1880; 
and Frances Cleveland, born November 28, 1887. Mrs. Frederick and her 
children are members of the Episcopal Church.  In his political views Mr. 
Frederick is a Democrat, and is now serving as a member of the School 
Board.  He is a prominent Mason, having taken the Knight Templar, Scottish 
Rite and Mystic Shrine degrees, and is a member of Charles Case Post, No. 
253, G. A. R., and the Independent Order of Red Men. His enterprise and 
industry, good management and perseverance have brought to him success, 
and his fair and honorable dealing have gained him the confidence and 
respect of all whom he has met.

Submitted by:
Arlene Goodwin
Auburn, Indiana
Agoodwin@ctlnet.com