Farmer, merchant and insurance agent, Fred Hoshor Fritchman, a life long resident of Andrew County, Missouri, and for the past fifty years a resident of the city of Savannah, county seat of the county, retired from his insurance business on the first day of January, 1965, but is still a civic leader and outstanding citizen of the community.
Having served as a member of the City Council from the west ward for fourteen years and as city clerk for six years and currently mayor of the city, Mr. Fritchman was born in Andrew County, Missouri, June 17, 1892, son of Frank Lynn and Mary (Hoshor) Fritchman. He grew to manhood on his fathers' [sic] farm northwest of Savannah, attended the rural schools and completed the curriculum offered in the schools at that time, elementary and secondary, working on the farm after school hours and during vacations.
December 24, 1913, he was married to Maud Ferguson, a teacher in the public schools of Andrew County. She was the daughter of Cassius William and Margaret (Checkley) Ferguson. Mr. and Mrs. Fritchman are the parents of one daughter, Roberta, who upon graduation from Savannah High School, attended the University of Missouri at Columbia, completing requirements for both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Education. She then taught in the high schools of Marceline, Missouri, and Evansville, Indiana. She has been since December 1, 1946, secretary to the president of Iowa State University at Ames, Iowa. She is married to Benjamin F. Vance, a native of Orrick, Missouri, who is also a graduate of the Missouri University at Columbia, presently professor of Horticulture, on the faculty of Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Hoshor Fritchman lived on the farm the first year of their marriage. On March 1, 1915, having purchased an interest in the Savannah Clothing Company, they moved to Savannah and he took an active part in the management and operation of the business. In 1933 Mr. Fritchman purchased a local insurance agency and developed it into a large and successful business. He sold a wide variety of policies which covered practically all standard risks. He served many persons over the period of thirty-two years that he was engaged in the insurance business. He sold his insurance agency, January 1, 1965, just fifty years after he entered his business venture, and retired from the insurance field, thus allowing him more time to care for the duties of the mayor's office and assist in the management of his 120 acre farm. A portion of this farmland has been in the family for over one hundred years.
Mr. Fritchman and family have long been active members of The First Christian Church, serving in various offices of the church; at present he is an elder and member of the church board.
He is a member of, and past worshipful master of the Savannah Lodge No. 71 A.F.&A.M. and past high priest of Royal Arch Chapter No. 83 of Savannah, and a member of Savannah Chapter No. 223, Order of Eastern Star.
Four generations of his family have been permanent residents of Andrew County continously [sic] during the past century, and all have been prominent in the affairs of the community.
Mr. Fritchman's great-grandparents, John and Catherine Fritchman and his grandparents, John and Susan Lynn Fritchman, together with members of their respective families, came to Andrew County, Missouri, from their home in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in the month of October 1865. They purchased farms lying approximately seven miles northwest of Savannah on what was then known as Bennett Lane, now U.S. Highway No. 71, and there established their permanent homes.
Frank Lynn Fritchman, son of John and Susan Lynn Fritchman, was nine years of age at that time. He grew to manhood on his father's farm and made farming his life's work, but always took an active interest in all things for the advancement of the community.
On October 15, 1885, he was married to Mary Angeline Hoshor, whose parents, John and Elizabeth Hoshor, had settled in the same community in 1855. Three children were born of this union, Alva John of Charleston, South Carolina, Lola Susan, now deceased, and Fred Hoshor Fritchman of Savannah, Missouri.
Mrs. Fred Hoshor Fritchman's father was born October 4, 1860, in Delaware County, Ohio, came to Andrew County, Missouri in 1864, with his parents George and Sarah (Eckelberry) Ferguson. His grandparents, William and Rhoda (Goodnight) Ferguson, whose birthplace was Washington County, Pennsylvania, had come the year previous, bought land and established their permanent home on Bennett Lane.
Mrs. Fritchman's mother Margaret Checkley, was born December 1, 1860, at Bolling Green, Kentucky, came to Savannah, Andrew County, Missouri with her parents, William and Margaret (Brooks) Checkley, in 1868. She attended the Savannah public school and was a member of the first graduating class of Savannah High School, May 1878. The class was composed of five girls. After graduation, she taught in the primary department of the school and in the public schools of the county for a number of years.
Mr. Fritchman's family are descendants of Adam and Catherine Fritchman of Northampton and Westmoreland counties, Pennsylvania.
The records of the Supreme Court of the Providence of Pennsylvania, show that "on the 4th day of October 1765, Adam Fritchman was admitted to be His Majesty's natural born Subject of the Kingdom of Great Brittian, pursuant to the Direction and Intent of the Act of Parliment made in the Thirteenth Year of His late Majesty, King George the Second, intituled, an Act for naturalizing such foreign Protestants, and others therein mentioned, as are settled in any of His Majesties Colonies in America." This was signed by Edward Shippen Jr., Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of the Providence of Pennsylvania.
The records further state that "Adam and Catherine Fritchman's son, John, who was great-great-grandfather of Fred Hoshor Fritchman, married Barbara Watover. The records show that he, John Fritchman, of the County of Allegheny was on August 2nd, 1800, In the Name of and by the Authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, commissioned Captain of the first Company in the sixty-second regiment of the Militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the Second Brigade of the thirteenth Division, composed of Militia of the Counties of Westmoreland, Allegheny and Crawford, for the term of seven years from the date hereof. By the Governor, Thomas M. Kean." This document was signed by James Trimble, in the position of deputy secretary.
Source: The History of Missouri; Family and Personal History, Volume IV, by David D. March, PH.D. Published by Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Incorporated.; New York and West Palm Beach, 1967. (Pages 794-795)