THE FRIZELLE / FRIZELL FAMILY

(By Michael Frizell)

             At the age of 53, Electus Lichtfield Frizelle settled in Nevada, Vernon County, Missouri on October 8, 1885, residing at 3208 East 16^th Street, having relocated his family from Iowa. He was born on November 29, 1832, in Licking County, Ohio, but spent most of his life in New Woodstock, New York. He was a decorated member of the 27^th Infantry Regiment, Company “C” in Iowa and received a commendation for Distinguished Service and was part of the campaign led by Major General Pope against the Indians who were waging war against the settlers of Minnesota. By all accounts, he was an outstanding carpenter and wagon maker, having constructed several homes in Independence , Buchanan County;  Rippey, Greene County, Iowa, and Nevada, Missouri, many of which are still standing today. While living in Nevada, he became a member of the Methodist church. He died September 10, 1907, in Nevada, Missouri, having suffered a stroke of paralysis during a reunion at Lake Park, and is interred in Deepwood Cemetery, located at 800 South Washington Street at Barr Street. The funeral was conducted by Reverend Cosper at the Austin Chapel. His headstone reads, “E. L. Frizell, Co. “C”, 27^th Inf.” He left no will.

            Electus married Emily “Emma” Hackett on April 2, 1859, in New Woodstock, New York. The couple had eleven children: Clark, born in 1860; Mary or “Minnie,” born July 8, 1861; Nellie R., 1863; John Owen, born December 23, 1865; Frances or “Frankie,” born February 1, 1865; Arthur Woodruff, born September 10, 1874; William Hill, born June 23, 1874; George Burt, born September 14; 1876, Howard Lafayette, born May 23, 1878; James Garfield, born May 14, 1880; and Earl Lewis, born May 10, 1883, all born in Iowa. His wife and all nine of his children were at his bedside when he died.

            Emily “Emma” Frizelle was born in Delphi, New York on May 29, 1839, and died at the home of her daughter, Mary “Minnie” Shipler on May 15, 1920. She was survived by eight of the children, Minnie, John, Owen, Earl, and James, all of whom lived in Nevada, Howard, who resided in Kansas City, Arthur and Burt, who lived in Rippey, Iowa, and Frances, who lived in Barnhold, Washington. Clark had died at birth, Nellie in 1894, and William in 1908. Her funeral services were held at the First Methodist Church and conducted by the Pastor, Reverend Edger P. Reed. She is also interred in Deepwood.

            Despite the death of both Electus and Emily, the Frizelle family continued to have a strong presence in Vernon County, and several of the Frizelle children made a living there. Mary E. or “Minnie” Frizelle married Phillip T. Shipler of Rippey, Greene County, Iowa on November 18, 1883 in Rippey. The desire to be close to her family led them to Vernon County. A United States Census of April 16, 1910, indicates the Shipler’s moved to East Nevada, Center Township, and resided on Walnut Street, two houses away from the residence of her father and mother and seven houses away from her brother, John Owen Frizelle, though the birth of the couple’s second daughter, Lesta Boyce, is recorded to have occurred on August 18, 1909 in Nevada. " The portion of Nevada lying east of the railroad tracks was generally considered the wrong side of the tracks. Most of the residents were poor, living on pensions, or blue collar workers and railroaders. The area included the land around the railroad roundhouse and extended south to what was known as Smelter Hill, and then east to the city limits."  U.S. Census documents name the area Ward 5. It is this ward where most of the Frizelle family would come to live. Somewhere between 1920 and 1930, the Shipler's would relocate to Liberty in Marion County, Iowa, then to Bremerton, Itsap County, Washington, where Mary died on September 16, 1942.

            John Owen Frizelle, the second son of Electus,  also worked his way to Vernon County, Missouri, to ply his trade as a carpenter. Lang and Young’s Directory of the City of Nevada listed John as working for Churn Manufacture, 216 N. Commercial Street. He first married Minnie or “Mamie” as census records indicate, though there is no maiden name on record for her, between the years of 1885 and 1892, presumably in Missouri. He married again on March 22, 1913, in Leavenworth, Kansas. His second wife was Lena Eliza Megentin. John had five children, but the first three were all born before 1894 and died before 1900. His adopted son, Earl R., was born in 1896 in Colorado and married Emme Lee Hough of Nevada. The couple resided at 911 South Cedar in Nevada when he registered for the draft in 1917. By 1919, the couple had relocated to Colorado, a state they had frequented. John’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth, was born in February of 1884 in Nevada and died before the 1910 census. John Owen died in 1930.

            William Hill Frizelle , the fourth son of Electus,  moved to Nevada with his parents in 1885 and chose not to follow his parents when they relocated to Lantha, Barton County, Iowa, on April 10, 1894; a move that proved to be short-lived, as Electus moved the family back to Nevada by October 27, 1894.William married Nora Isabel Smith, who was born May 26, 1871 in Beatrice, Gage County, Nebraska (though some records indicate she may have been born in Fremont, Nebraska). The couple married October 13, 1897 in Nevada, with their marriage officiated by Reverend J. S. Underhill. William was killed a short time later. On March 22, 1908, while working on a bridge for the Missouri Pacific railroad where the Bates County drainage canal crosses the tracks near Rich Hill, he was struck on the head by a piece of iron which fell from the pile driver, though at the time, the injury was not thought to be severe. Gradually, he grew worse, and he died the next day, March 23, a Sunday, at the Missouri Pacific Hospital in Kansas City. His funeral was held on March 27 at the United Brethren Church in Nevada. After his death, Nora lived out her life in Nevada, dying on December 27, 1950, and she is interred in Deepwood.  The couple’s three children, Floyd Abner Electus (born November 16, 1898), Marjorie (Margery) Emma (born July 6, 1899), and Orion William (born January 30, 1903) all lived out their lives in Nevada. Floyd and Marjorie are interred in Deepwood, while Orion rests in Newton Burial Park. It is interesting to note that Marjorie died suddenly at the age of 19, suffering a hemorrhage on December 25, 1920, at the home of her stepfather, John Stukesbury, on North Colorado Street. Her funeral, conducted by Reverend Fickinger at the United Brethren Church, was held on December 27, 1920.

            Orion William, or “Hap,” Frizelle, Son of William Hill Frizelle, was a construction worker and employed by Joseph Pole Construction, Orion retired in 1972 as a Corporate Partner.  Orion lived in Nevada most of his life, at times residing at 1211 East Walnut, then 515 North Clay, and 1016 East Walnut. He married Nora Estelle Vickery on October 9, 1926, in Kansas City, Missouri, where he lived for a short time, only to return to Nevada, Missouri,  the city he loved. He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Nevada, where he served as an usher for many years. Hap died on November 26, 1986, and was buried on Saturday, November 29, at the First Baptist Church with the Reverend Bill Cox officiating.

            George Burt Frizelle, fifth son of Electus,  lived in Nevada starting in 1885, when the Frizelle family relocated, until sometime prior to 1918. He was listed as a carpenter, and he worked for Wallin Shaffer and Co., located at 916 Wooter. He married Sarah, maiden name unknown, in 1903. The couple resided at 929 E. Walnut in Nevada and had two children, Thelma and Richard T. A September 12, 1918 draft registration card indicates the couple moved the family to 1528 Troost, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. The family stayed and made a living in Kansas City. George lived with his son-in-law, Leonard W. Miller, a firefighter, in 1930 and died in 1933.

            Howard Lafayette Frizelle, the fifth son of Electus, also lived in Nevada until after 1913. He was listed as a carpenter with Wallin Shaffer and Co. in 1901, Prewitt-Dunham Co. in 1905, in Moor’s Standard Directory and Reference Book in 1908, and in the Hoffman Directory in 1913. He resided at 916 E. Wooter, then 912 East Wooter, and finally 214 N. Commercial in Nevada until he moved to 2160 Stout Street in Denver, Colorado, where he   registered for the draft in 1917. He married Pearl Effie “Ethel” Harrington on August 18, 1906 in Nevada, but the couple divorced before 1930. Howard died in Long Beach, California, in 1939. Records indicate he lived alone. The couple did have two children, Herbert Harrington Frizell, who was presumably born April 3, 1911, in Nevada and of whom little is known. Of note is their daughter, Mildred Lafayette Frizell, born August 22, 1914, in Nevada. Mildred was an actress who went by the stage name “Claire Rochelle.” She appeared in movies with Johnny Mack Brown, Hoot Gibbson, Charles Buck Jones, Bob Steel, and many others. She married Harvey Clermont of Culver City, Los Angeles, California on November 18, 1930. After being featured in the films “Phantom Thunderbolt,” “Riding the Long Trail,” “Boot Hill Brigade,” Two Gun Troubador” (also know as “The Lone Troubador,” “Guns in the Dark,” “El Diablo Rides,” “Lightning Strikes West,” and “Buzzy Rides the Range,” she died on January 23, 1988, in Los Angeles.

            James Garfield Frizelle , the seventh son of Electus, lived out his life in Nevada, marrying Isabel Bird on June 27, 1904. All records indicate James lived a hardscrabble life, working as a chicken picker and for poultry houses until his death in 1940. The couple had nine children, all of whom modified the spelling of their surname to “Frizell”; a son, name unknown, who died in 1905, Nellie Louise, born August 26, 1906, and Lula Gertrude, born August 28, 1907, Alice Juanita, born March 22, 1909, Bernice, born August 6, 1911, Mamie Mayfield, born July 19, 1913, Dallie May “Violia”, born February 29, 1916, Emma Jean, born January 13, 1923, and Bonnie Lou, born January 16, 1928, all in Nevada, Missouri.

            Earl Lewis Frizelle/Frizell , the youngest son of Electus, also made his living in Nevada, working as a laborer and carpenter. He was a scale carpenter with the Missouri Pacific Railroad and worked for the railroad for almost thirty years before his retirement on May 27, 1947. He  married first on December  7, 1907 in Rich Hill, Bates County, to Jennie Annis Knight , though they divorced sometime between 1920 and 1923.The couple had two daughters, Helen Lucille, born December 24, Ruby Ledean, born January 30, 1911, and one son, Lewis Earl, born February 21, 1914. Earl died on June 9, 1959, and is interred in Deepwood.

            Ruby Ledean Frizell, daughter of Earl Lewis, spent most of her life in Kansas, marrying first Oliver Miller on February 27, 1931 (the marriage would soon be annulled), then a Mr. Shaw, first name unknown, before 1939 in Chanute, Neosho County, Kansas, then married Ralph Cunningham in about 1939, and finally to Dr. Mirl Calvin Ruble at a Christian church in Santa Rosa, New Mexico on December 12, 1955. Dr. and Mrs. Ruble resided in Parsons, Kansas, and then Cherryvale, Kansas, where Dr. Ruble died in January of 1975. Ruby died June 8, 1979, in Parsons.

            Lewis Earl Frizell , the only son of Earl Lewis Frizell, was born on South Pine Street in Nevada, Missouri, and lived in Nevada until sometime after 1930, his high school graduation records indicate he graduated from high school in 1935 in Parsons, Kansas, then  from Parsons Junior College in 1937. In February 17, 1937, he enlisted in the Army for service at Fort Winfield Scott (the Presidio, San Francisco, California). During his military career, he participated in the 1945 campaigns at Normandy, Northern France, and in the Rhineland, receiving several medals, including the American Defense Service, American Campaign, National Defense, Korean Service, United Nations, Europe-Africa-Middle East, World War II Occupation, Vietnam Service, and the Bronze Clasp medals. He retired from the Army as a Captain in 1961. He married Elsie Eva King, who was born April 27, 1919, in San Francisco, California, and the couple had one son, Michael Lewis. Lewis died Saturday, July 31, 1999 at the Coffeyville Regional Medical Center in Coffeyville, Kansas, and is buried at Restlawn Cemetery.

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