Frederick Fraley (May 28, 1804September 23, 1901) was an American businessman, politician, and civic leader from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He was involved in several successful businesses and served on the

Philadelphia City Council The Philadelphia City Council is the legislative body of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is composed of 17 councilmembers: ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large from throughou ...

and as a member of the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four-year terms, stagger ...

. He was one of the founders of the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and a center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and wikt:statesman, statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin ...

and one of the first directors of

Girard College Girard College is an independent college preparatory five-day boarding school located on a 43-acre campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school was founded and permanently endowed from the shipping and banking fortune of Stephen Girard upon ...

in Philadelphia.

Early life

Fraley was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to John Urban and Ann Elizabeth Laskey Fraley. He was educated at St. John's College, a school at Fourth and Race Street in Philadelphia. He studied law but never applied for the bar. He entered the wholesale hardware business at the age of 16.

Business career

He worked for seven years as secretary of the American Fire Insurance Company and for twenty-three years as president of the

Schuylkill Navigation Company The Schuylkill Canal, or Schuylkill Navigation, was a system of interconnected canals and slack-water pools along the Schuylkill River in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, built as a commercial waterway in the early 19th-century. Chartered in 1815 ...

. He also worked for the Western Savings Fund Society and as president of the

Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company (LCAN) (1988–2010) was a modern-day anthracite coal mining company headquartered in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. It acquired many properties and relaunched the Lehigh Coal Companies brand in 1988. The LCAN ra ...

. He was associated with the

Philadelphia Board of Trade Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and served as president of the National Board of Trade. In 1824 he was one of the founders of the

and served as treasurer for many years. In 1847, he became one of the first directors of

. In 1853 Fraley became a trustee of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. He also worked as president of the Western Saving Fund Society. In 1880, he received an honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He was one of the founders of the

Union League of Philadelphia The Union League of Philadelphia is a private club founded in 1862 by the Old Philadelphians as a patriotic society to support the policies of Abraham Lincoln. As of 2022, the club has over 4,000 members. Its main building was built in 1865 a ...

. For the last twenty-one years of his life Fraley was the president of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

Political career

He served on Philadelphia City Council from 1834 to 1837 and as a Whig member of the

for the 1st district from 1837 to 1839. While in the State Senate, he served as chairman of the committee of investigation of the

Buckshot War The Buckshot War was the outbreak of unrest in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that transpired after the Pennsylvania gubernatorial and legislative elections in 1838 when both the Whig and Democratic parties claimed control over the Pennsylvania House of ...

. In December 1839 went to

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

as a delegate to the Whig Party's

national convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...

, which chose

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States, serving from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causin ...

to be its candidate in the 1840 presidential election. He died in his home in Philadelphia on September 23, 1901, and is interred at the

Woodlands Cemetery The Woodlands is a National Historic Landmark District on the west bank of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. It includes a Federal-style mansion, a matching carriage house and stable, and a garden landscape that in 1840 was transformed int ...

in Philadelphia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraley, Frederick 1804 births 1901 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople Burials at The Woodlands Cemetery Presidents of the American Philosophical Society Pennsylvania state senators Pennsylvania Whigs Philadelphia City Council members Politicians from Philadelphia 19th-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly

Early life

Business career

Political career

References

Further reading

External links