trative ability has been recognized by his fellow-citizens, and he has been called repeatedly to positions of public honor and responsibility.
He was mayor of Chelsea (his present residence) in 1867, and in '68 he received a practically unanimous re-election. In 1871 and '72 he was a member of the state Senate, serving on the committees on harbors and mercantile affairs, and was chairman of the same committees during the latter session.
In 1873 and '74 he was a member of Governor Washburn's council. In 1874 he was elected to the 44th Congress from the
Rufus S. Frost.
4th congressional district, and served with marked ability on the committee on railroads, and the committee on freedmen's affairs.
Mr. Frost has long been actively connected with numerous benevolent and religious societies, and the educational institutions of the State have found in him a liberal patron and a wise counselor. He remembered his native town by a generous gift in the shape of an elegant granite library building, furnished with two thousand volumes, the deed of the whole being presented to the citizens of Marlborough, N. H., August 26, 1867. To this was added also a fund of five thousand dollars, the interest annually accruing from which to be used for the purchase of additional books. In honor of the donor, it was named by the town the "Frost Free Library."
Mr. Frost has been twice married. His first wife was Ellen M., daughter of Hon. Charles and Amelia (Ripley) Hubbard. His second marriage occurred in Corning, N. Y., June 18, 1879, with Catherine Emily, daughter of Benjamin C. and Catherine (Matthews) Wickham. He has had six children: Charles Hubbard, Ellen Amelia, John Osgood (deceased), Emma Wheeler, Rufus Haskell, and Albert Plumb Frost.
Frothingham, Octavius Brooks, son of Nathaniel Langton and Ann (Brooks) Frothingham, was born in Boston, November 26, 1822.
His early educational training was received in private schools, where he learned all the rudiments the regular curriculum then demanded. He then attended the Boston Latin school, where he prepared for college, entering Harvard in 1839. He was graduated with honors in the class of 1843, being elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. After graduation he chose theology for his life work, and entered the Harvard divinity school, from which he was graduated in 1846.
In 1847 he was called to the North church, Salem, where he remained until 1855. From Salem he went to Jersey City, where he remained four years, thence to New York City, remaining until 1879. Mr. Frothingham resigned the ministry on account of ill health, and traveled for some two years. Since his return he has given his attention to literary pursuits. Among his works are the lives of George Ripley (1882) and William H. Channing (1886). He has been a contributor to the "Atlantic," "Century," and "North American Review."
Mr. Frothingham was married in Boston, in 1847, to Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of Caleb and Caroline Martha (Agry) Curtis. Of this union is one child: Elizabeth Bowditch, born in 1850, wife of W. L. Parker, of Boston.
Mr. Frothingham has been an active worker in various philanthropic societies; was a strong anti-slavery man; president of the Free Religious Association from 1867 to '78; and a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, etc.
He was a disciple and personal friend of Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Lloyd Garrison, and Wendell Phillips. He has been a Rationalist, Trans-
