Capt. Andrew S. Frazer
Capt. Andrew S. Frazer, a veteran of the Civil War, former county auditor, former president of the Xenia National Bank, with the directorate of which institution he still is connected, as well as retaining connection with various others of the most important commercial and industrial concerns of Xenia, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Greene county since he was twelve years of age. The Captain was born at Russellville, down in Brown county, October 15, 1836, a son of John F. and Sarah (Kelly) Frazer, the former of whom was born in the state of Pennsylvania and the latter in Kentucky, who later became residents of Greene county, John F. Frazer for years being one of the leading merchants in the village of Cedarville.
The Frazers are of Scottish origin, originally hailing from the Highlands, but were transplanted into Ireland, whence, from County Down, came John F. Frazer's father, a weaver, who settled in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where he established his home and pursued his vocation, later moving to Brown county, this state, where he spent his last days. John F. Frazer was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and there learned the trade of a tanner, afterward locating at Russellville, in Brown county, this state, and continuing thus engaged at that place until the spring of 1837, when he moved with his family to Decatur, this state, where he made his home until in December, 1848, when he came to Greene county and located at Cedarville, where he bought a half interest in a general store and went into business there, the establishment operating under the firm name of Mitchell & Frazer. He presently bought his partner's interest in the store and continued active in business there until his retirement in 1885, having thus been in business at Cedarville for a period of nearly forty years. John F. Frazer was an ardent Abolitionist and during the days preceding the Civil War was one of the most active "conductors" on the "underground railroad" operating throughout this part of the state, in that capacity having helped on his way many a negro seeking freedom. He took an active part in local and state politics and was a delegate from this district to the first convention of the Republican party, held at Pittsburgh in February, 1856. During the progress of the Civil War he was enrolled among Ohio's famous "Squirrel Hunters," and while acting in that relation helped repel Morgan's invaders. He was an active member of the United Presbyterian church and a leader in local good works. John F. Frazer died at his home in Cedarville in August, 1890. He had been four times married and was the father of eight children, three of whom, the late James K. Frazer, of Sandusky, this state; Margaret, wife of H. P. Jackson, of Cedarville, and Captain Frazer, were born of his union with Sarah Kelly, his first wife, who died at her home in Brown county in 1846. Of the others there now survive: Mrs. Flora Utter, of Crawfordsville, Indiana; Nettie, wife of Lee Nash, of Xenia township, this county; W. S. Frazer, of Springfield, this state, and John H. Frazer, cashier of a bank at Newcastle, Pennsylvania.
Andrew S. Frazer was but six months of age when his parents moved from Russellville to Decatur and in the latter place his childhood was spent. He was ten years of age when his mother died and for two years thereafter he made his home with an uncle, Samuel Mehaffy, at Ripley, rejoining his father at Cedarville in 1848, he then being twelve years of age. In the meantime he had been receiving instruction at Grove Academy and upon his arrival at Cedarville pursued his studies in that village, completing his schooling in the academy at that time conducted there by Turnbull & Amyx. During the winters of 1855-6-7 he taught school in Cedarville township and was there an intimate friend and chum of Whitelaw Reid, afterwards editor of the New York Tribune and at the time of his death United States ambassador to England. In the meantime he had been acquiring a detailed knowledge of business forms in his father's store and in 1859 engaged in business for himself, in association with John Gibney opening a merchant-tailoring establishment and general clothing store at Cedarville, and was thus engaged at the time of the breaking out of the Civil War. In April, 1861, following President Lincoln's first call for volunteers to put down the armed rebellion against the Union, he enlisted his services as a private in Company F, Thirty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and when that company presently was merged with a company from Clermont county was elected second lieutenant of the same, the company reporting to Camp Dennison in August. In September the command went into camp at Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia), and a few days later, in that vicinity, had its first contact with armed rebels. On September 25th the command moved to Chapmansville and in October moved thence to Barboursville, where it spent the winter in camp; in the spring of 1862 moving camp to Kanawha Falls and thence to Fayetteville, all this time being in almost constant touch with bushwhackers. During that spring the command participated in the battle of Princeton and in the fall of that year, September 25, 1862, Lieutenant Frazer received a wound which came near causing his death and from the effects of which he has suffered ever since. That was at the battle of Fayetteville, where his men were attacking a band of rebels five times their number, and he received a ball through the hip. The jail at that town was being used as a temporary hospital and he was removed there for first-aid treatment, that night being put in a wagon and hauled over Cotton mountain to the river, where he was put into a bateau and taken down to Gallipolis, where he remained in the hospital for eight weeks, at the end of which time his father was permitted to bring him home on a hospital cot. The Captain was very severely wounded and he was not able to arise from bed until in March, 1863, and it was not until in June that he was able to walk with the assistance of a cane which has been his constant aid ever since. Incapacitated for active service Captain Frazer resigned his commission and received his honorable discharge. In the meantime his business affairs had been neglected during his absence and it became necessary to close out his interest in the store at Cedarville. In the fall of 1864 the Captain was the nominee of his party for county auditor, but was defeated. In 1866, however, he was renominated and was elected, entering the court house as auditor of Greene county on March 4, 1867. By successive re-elections he occupied the position of county auditor for sixteen years and eight months and during that long incumbency inaugurated a system of audits that is still observed there. In November, 1883, Captain Frazer became engaged in closing up the affairs of the First National Bank of Xenia, then in liquidation, and in September, 1885, entered the Xenia National Bank, which had reorganized the affairs of the former bank, and in January, 1886, was made cashier of that institution. Captain Frazer continued as cashier of the Xenia National Bank for nearly twenty-five years, or until the annual meeting of the board of directors in January, 1910, when he declined re-election, though still retaining his stock in the bank and a place on the directorate. He was then made vice-president of the bank and in the next year, 1911, was elected president of the same, a position he occupied for three years, since which time he has still continued to serve as a member of the board of directors, declining further more active office. It is not too much to say that much of the present strength of the Xenia National Bank is due to Captain Frazer's long and active connection with the same, a statement which the Captain modestly might deprecate but which his friends and the business community in general freely concede. Captain Frazer also has for years had other important business connections in Xenia and is at present vice-president and a member of the board of directors of the Hooven-Allison Company, cordage manufacturers, and a member of the board of directors of the Home Building and Saving Company, one of the wealthiest institutions in the county. To other affairs along helpful lines the Captain also has for years given his attention and he thus has been one of the strongest and most influential factors in the community life of this region since the Civil War. For the past six years he has been a member of the board of trustees of the Greene County Children's Home and is the present president of the board. He also served for two years as a member of the board of trustees of the Ohio State Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home at Xenia, in the affairs of which institution he has for many years taken a warm interest. The Captain is a member of the First United Presbyterian churcli and for the past six years or more has been a member of the board of trustees of the Theological Seminary at Xenia, of which for years he has. been an enthusiastic supporter. When the church congregation with which he is affiliated decided to erect a new house of worship in 1910 the Captain was made chairman of the building committee and in that capacity had practical charge of the erection of the church edifice, one of the handsomest and most completely appointed in this part of the state. Captain Frazer is a charter member of the Ohio State Bankers Association, which was founded in 1891. and in the affairs of which he has ever taken a warm interest. Since 1886 he has been a member of the board of directors of the Dayton & Western branch of the Pennsylvania Lines and is also a director of the Little Miami Railroad. He is an ardent Republican and has for many years been recognized as one of the leaders in that party in this part of the state, but since his service in the county auditor's office has not been an aspirant for public office. During the time of the active existence of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Cedarville, the Captain was one of the chief promoters of the same, retaining his membership there at his old home, though a resident of Xenia, and for some time served as commander of the post. He also is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
Captain Frazer has been twice married. On November 2, 1870, he was united in marriage to Jennie Mitchell, of Attica, Indiana, who died in October, 1885, leaving two children, Clarence S. and Katie, the latter of whom married William A. Cork and is now living at Toronto, Canada, where her husband is engaged in government service. Clarence S. Frazer, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume, is one of Xenia's best-known merchants, having for years been successfully engaged there in the shoe business. In October, 1887, Captain Frazer married Ruby H. Sexton, of Rushville, Indiana, who is still living. In 1867 the Captain erected at 118 West Third street a comfortable brick house and there he and his wife are very pleasantly situated. It is not generally known in the community, or perhaps forgotten by all save his old Cedarville neighbors, that Captain Frazer came near becoming a Kansan, which would have been a loss to Greene county, indeed. During the troublous days preceding the Civil War when Kansas was "debatable ground" and the scene of numerous fierce encounters between the Jayhawkers and border ruffians who were determined to fasten the institution of slavery upon the new territory and the opponents of that institution, who were just as determined that when Kansas did come into the sisterhood of states it should be as a free state, he accompanied a party of young men from Greene county to Kansas Territory to help swell the forces of human freedom there and remained there from April to September, 1857, during that time helping to lay out the town of Emporia. In that party of Greene county young men was P. B. Plum, who put in his lot definitely with that of bleeding Kansas and who became a United States senator
from that state.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918