FARGO, Franklin B. “Frank” – (1833-1902) third mayor of Frenchtown. He was born in Chester, Conn., and came to Frenchtown in 1856. He partnered with Peter S. Kugler to manufacture wagon-wheel spokes and rims starting in 1869. He was a pillar of the Frenchtown Methodist church.
Like his contemporary, Sen. William Martin, he had a luxuriant set of “banker's whiskers,” essentially a full beard with the chin shaved clean. But by 1895 he had surrendered his face to a full, necktie-hiding grow-out.
The 1900 Census lists him as a grocer, and in January of 1901 the Star has him turning his store over to L.W. Morris so he can pursue “other business.” The store was at Milford and Everittstown roads. Later that year the Star reported that F.B. Fargo Sr. cut off part of his thumb working at the Crosby doll carriage factory.
Apparently Fargo was not all-business. His son Clarence was intrigued by mail-order businesses and liked to request all manner of catalogues. Using the third-person narrative style, so unexpected in a memoir, Clarence wrote, “One day a lad of 10 years of age came into his father's office where he found a letter awaiting him. Glancing at the corner card printed on the envelope he felt a lump arising in his throat and, instead of opening the letter himself, handing it over to his dad, evidently seeking moral support, with the request that his father read the letter.
“Glancing over the top of his glasses, with a somewhat quizzical smile, he opened the letter and began to read:
Dear Sir:
We are in receipt of you request for a copy of our catalog and the same is being mailed under separate cover.
So certain are we of the opportunity for the sale of our excellent stock of all purpose horses that we have decided to ship you a carload on consignment
The letter continued with the assurance that their representative would be on hand to help unload the livestock and assist in their sale, and the suggestion that you line up possible prospects” in advance of the horses' arrival.
“It was only when his dad broke out in chuckle, with a merry gleam in his eye that the boy realized he had been spoofed and his father had made it up as he went along.”
Sixty years later Clarence would recall the vast relief he felt at that moment. (For the style-conscious reader, be assured that the rest of Clarence's 14-page memoir is in traditional and logical first-person style.)
Frank's tombstone is unique in the Frenchtown Cemetery. It's an upright marble shaft that looks like it had been turned on a lathe.
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Clarence went on to write "The History of Frenchtown," published in 1933, and to create mail-order catalogues of his own, making a fortune in the mail-order plants, especially tulip bulbs. Some of that fortune went to upgrade Borough Park a couple years ago, and is donated to the borough library each year.
From "Rick's Frenchtown Encyclopedia"
Love the whiskers!
Another fascinating tale well written.