John Frogge III (1745 - 1774)

Born 26 May 1745 in Greenbrier, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Agatha (Lewis) Stuart — married 16 Oct 1770 in Augusta, Virginia

Descendants

Died 10 Oct 1774 at age 29 in Point Pleasant, Virginia

Biography

John Frogge III was born on May 26, 1745 in Prince William County, Virginia. He was the son of John Frogge and Elizabeth Strother.

On October 16, 1770, he married Agatha Lewis in Augusta County, Virginia.^[1] (They were first cousins -- John's mother was Elizabeth Strother, and Agatha's mother was Elizabeth's sister, Jane (married to Thomas Lewis). In 1773, John and Agatha Frogge moved to Staunton, Augusta, Virginia, where he worked as a carpenter and saddler.^[2]

In May 1774, John Frogge enlisted as a sutler in a Virginia militia company organized by Captain John Lewis (his brother-in-law) at Warm Springs, Virginia, which was placed under the command of Col. Charles Lewis [his wife's uncle] and marched to Point Pleasant. It was there on the 10th of October that the Virginians were suddenly attacked by a large body of Indians, led by Cornstalk and Logan. The Battle of Point Pleasant was waged from sunrise to sunset, and was the most noted battle ever fought between white men and Indians. It is believed by many to have been the turning point in events which made possible the success of the Revolutionary War.^[3]

A book on the Battle of Point Pleasant and the participants provides the following sketch:

"[Frogge] came to Staunton from the Rappahannock and married, Miss Agatha Lewis, a daughter of Thomas Lewis a brother of General Andrew and Col. Charles Lewis, and when the Army started for the Ohio River, Mr. Frogg was appointed the Sutler and went with them. He was a handsome young man, gallant, generous and fond of display and spoken of as a very worthy gentleman and popular with the men, and by one writer, when giving a list of the dead, spoke of him, as 'poor John Frogg.' When he went into the battle, he had on a brilliant red jacket, which made him a prominent mark for Indians and when he fell, there were no less than five Indians that had made an attempt to secure his scalp, and all five of them were found dead on the ground where poor John lay. It is tradition that the little daughter was awakened from her sleep at three several times by the dream of her father being killed by the Indians, which she related to her mother several days before it was known that there had been a battle."^[4]

Frogge was mortally wounded during the battle, and died on October 10, 1774.^[3] He left behind a daughter, Elizabeth Strother (and possibly a son who was born after his death). (See Research Notes). He was buried at Battle Monument State Park in Point Pleasant, Mason, West Virginia.^[2]

Research Notes

• The Find a Grave for John Frogge^[2] states that Agatha was pregnant with a son, Charles Augustus Frogge, who was born in 1775 and subsequently raised by Agatha and John Stuart, her second husband. This may be an error, since John and Agatha had their own son, Charles Augustus Stuart, born in 1782 (as confirmed by Find a Grave and census sources). Or it is possible that the first Charles Augustus died young and was memorialized in the naming of the second Charles Augustus.

Sources

1. ↑ Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Ancestry Record 7836 #738152
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Find A Grave: Memorial #24913310
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} McAllister, J.T. (1908). Historical Sketches of Virginia Hot Springs, Warm Sulfur Springs, and Bath. Salem Printing and Publishing Company, Salem, VA. 1908. Pages 26-28.
4. ↑ Simpson-Poffenbarger, Livia N. (1909). The Battle of Point Pleasant. Point Pleasant, WV: The State Gazette. Pages 73-74. Link

• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed May 2nd, 2015), "Record of John Frogg Jr", Ancestor # A042802.
• SAR Application - Wallace E. Wilson Link
• DAR Lineage - Nancy Pryor Hunter. Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Title: Lineage Book : NSDAR : Volume 160 : 1920 Link
• DAR Lineage - Mildred Estill Clark. Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Book Title: Lineage Book : NSDAR : Volume 158 : 1920 Link
• DAR Lineage - Theresa Estill Shook. Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Title: Lineage Book : NSDAR : Volume 021 : 1897 Link
• DAR Lineage - Margaret Shook Price. Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Title: Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the DAR Vol 038 Link
• DAR Lineage - Beulah Estill Thomas. Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Title: Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the DAR Vol 044 Link
• DAR Lineage - Bessie Pryor Hornaday. Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Title: Lineage Book : NSDAR : Volume 104 : 1913 Link
• Thank you to Fred Goodell for creating Frogge-31 on 12 Sep 13.