James Frampton Smith: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Great”

 

James Frampton Smith: 1875-1916
Great-Uncle and a Great Man

 

            Grandma Jandy, born Lorene Edith Smith, was the youngest of her father’s twelve children. All of her eleven siblings had a different mother, Rev. Willis Smith’s first wife Margaret Benton, while Lorene was the only child of Rev. Smith’s second wife, Cora Leachman. Lorene’s oldest half-brother, James Frampton Smith, was a good man who worked hard to support his family and his church—a great example of a solid, blue-collar citizen in turn-of-the-century America.  

Rev. Willis Smith and nine of his twelve children. Frampton next to his father?

            James Frampton—usually called Frampton or J. F., was born January 18, 1875 in Kentucky. His father was a Presbyterian minister for many years in the town of Owensboro, and that was where Frampton grew up.

After leaving school, Frampton worked as a mechanic. When he turned 21 in 1896, his father purchased a plot of land, intending to build an iron foundry. According to the local newspaper, Frampton, “a young mechanic of fine experience and ability, will be in charge of the business. Both the father and son are men of vim, energy and push, and any undertaking which they back is sure to be a success.”

            Two years later, on June 8, 1898, Frampton married a local girl, Alice Thornsberry. The wedding write-up notes that Frampton was “employed at the Southern Iron Works and is an energetic and promising young man.” It appears Frampton put his iron-working skills to use for an employer rather than, or perhaps in addition to, his own blacksmithing/foundry operation. Southern Iron Works was a local company that specialized in decorative iron railings and trims as well as more practical equipment pieces.

            By the 1900 census, Frampton was working as a miller. It is unclear if this was an iron-working job title, or if he was actually working at a grain mill. In 1908, he sold the blacksmith building and land his father had bought for him back in 1896. The 1910 census shows him working as a machinist, presumably for the Iron Works, and owning his home and farm property free of a mortgage, out along Livermore Road south of Owensboro. Later newspaper articles describe him as a contractor, so he may have done quite a variety of work in the community.

            The Smith farmhouse appears to have been a popular site for entertaining friends. A couple of newspaper items in the Owensboro Messenger around 1910 describe luncheons held for the Smiths’ Sunday School students—both Frampton and Alice were active in their church and taught Sunday School.

Frampton and Alice had two daughters. Harriet Lillian Smith was born in 1901, and Daisy Smith was born in 1908.

In 1907, Frampton contracted typhoid fever, and was hospitalized for an extended period of time. He was expected to die; the newspaper noted that he was “gravely ill” and that his father had been sent for from “Indian Territory” where he had moved to found new churches.

He recovered, but perhaps that bout with typhoid left him in a weakened condition, for in 1916 the local newspaper reported that “Mr. Smith was seized with the grip but was able to be up until a week ago, when he suffered a relapse, which later developed into pneumonia, which caused his death.” He died at age forty on January 24, 1916.

The tributes Frampton’s friends and neighbors offered following his death showed how his contributions were valued in the community. The obituary noted that he had “a great many friends” and called him “an ardent worker in the church, having served as Sunday School superintendent for some time.”

The newspaper also printed the meeting minutes of Frampton’s Methodist church board after his funeral. They included some heartfelt accolades:

“That in the death of Brother Smith we have lost a man of sterling worth, pure gold, a man loved by everybody, a tactful leader of our young people and children; patient, earnest, consecrated, ready for every good word and work. We felt he would live because we could not see how we could do without him…May the high ideals which possessed the life of this faithful man lead every one of us to the same unselfish living and to the same happy home.”

The board went on to state that they knew “him to be a Christian of genuine piety and a faithful and unselfish servant of the church, doing with a glad heart that work which fell to his lot. To say we shall miss him does not tell half the truth; we depended much upon his good judgment and wise counsel; it is our feeling that in the death of Brother Smith the whole church of suffered such a severe loss that we shall not very soon recover from it.”

These amazing tributes show that Frampton was a great man. He may not have been wealthy or powerful—our society’s usual standards of “greatness”, but his faith, decency and his commitment to his community were worthy of honor and respect.

Frampton was buried in the Rosehill Elmwood Cemetery in Owensboro. His wife and daughters continued to live in Owensboro, moving into town after selling the farm property. Both daughters married, but Alice never remarried.

Sources:

Owensboro KY Messenger Inquirer: Jan. 24, 1916; Oct 11, 1907; June 7, 1898; June 10, 1898; March 19, 1896; Sep 15, 1894. Newspapers.com.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Owensboro, from Library of Congress website.