From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, pages 289-292.
Brant & Fuller, 1890.


JOHN FREW

(*By Hon. George W. Atkinson)

*In the memoirs of Martin Van Buren, seventh president of the United 
States, there occurs an interesting speculation on the part of his 
biographer upon the point as to whether Mr. Van Buren would have ever 
attained the remarkable success which he achieved had he not been 
compelled to undergo a severe struggle in his youth for a limited 
education, whereby the native resources of the man were developed and 
disciplined, and whereby he was enabled to far excel his more favored 
professional and political competitors.  The late Simon Cameron, of 
Pennsylvania, than whom no man of his day exercised a more decided 
personal influence or attained a more absolute sway over a larger 
personal following, was accustomed to attribute a large measure of 
his success to what he styled "the advantages of deprivation in his 
youth," and he often humorously remarked that his son, who succeeded 
him in the United States senate, was unfortunate in not having 
enjoyed the same advantages.  A great deal has been written by way of 
lament over the fate of those who have gone through life "unknowing 
and unknown" because of the hardships of their early surroundings - 
of youths "to fortune and to fame unknown," whose hands "the rod of 
empire might have swayed" had "knowledge to their eyes her ample page 
unrolled."  But notwithstanding all that orators have said and poets 
sung on this subject, the fact remains that the men who do the most 
of all that is useful in the work of life, and who set the best 
examples of wholesome and well-ordered careers, are not, as a rule, 
the favored children of so-called good fortune; but, on the contrary, 
the inheritors of toil, arduous struggle and rigorous self-denial.  
There must indeed be something - yea, very much - in a man who rises 
strongly and steadily from the midst of early difficulties and 
achieves of himself and by himself honorable and enviable success in 
life.  He must have an inheritance of sturdy qualities that other men 
may faintly imitate but never acquire.  It is in his blood and bone; 
in his mental, moral and physical make-up; and come's out all the 
more strikingly, like the enduring qualities of metal, by the 
severest tests.  A weak man naturally is always weak whether good or 
ill-fortune betides him at his birth.  The thin veneer of propitious 
circumstances may do something for him, but the experienced and 
discerning eye of the world always distinguishes the veneer from the 
substance underneath.  It is of a solid, substantial and genuine man 
we write in this biographical sketch of Mr. John Frew, the senior 
member of the firm of Frew, Campbell & Hart proprietors of the 
WHEELING DAILY INTELLIGENCER newspaper and book and job printing 
establishment.  These are the qualities for which he has been known 
since his boyhood days in that establishment, for he has been 
connected with it as employe and employer from his youth up to the 
present time.  Such men are not apt to change places or employments.  
The material that is in them is discerned early, and they are 
appreciated and in demand, and all the more in demand because they 
are not a numerous class.  On their part, such men are, as a rule, 
patient and sagacious, content to "labor and to wait," recognizing 
that their opportunity will come."  All things come to him who 
waits."  Patience, energy, good judgment, system, punctuality, and 
reliability, what a world of work they can perform and what a grand 
measure of personal success they can achieve.  And every man and boy 
who has gone in and out of the INTELLIGENCER establishment for a 
generation past knows full well that these are the stereotyped 
qualities of the man who stands at the helm in the business 
department of that paper.  To begin at the beginning of Mr. Frew's 
life, he was born in a locality in Europe which, according to 
historian Bancroft, has furnished to this country a class of citizens 
who have more decidedly and beneficially impressed themselves on its 
history than any other class of immigrants.  What there is in the 
soil or climate of the north of Ireland to produce this type of 
people may be a matter of speculative opinion, but it is a matter of 
history that they gave the impulse that resulted in American 
independence.  They formulated North Carolina the celebrated 
Meckenberg declaration that paved the way for the later declaration 
at Philadelphia, on July 4, 1776.  Tenacity of purpose, energy, 
thrift and good citizenship have been among their marked 
characteristics, as also loyalty and fidelity to all the obligations 
of life. Tennyson spoke of the "long enduring blood" of a native of 
that region who made a great name for himself, and perhaps no better 
phrase could be used to designate the stamina of the north of Ireland 
people as a class.  At all events, it is applicable enough to the 
subject of this sketch, who whether as employe or employer, has never 
measured his devotion to the interest entrusted to his charge by the 
amount of salary, or by the ease and comfort of his personal 
convenience. 

Mr. Frew is pre-eminently a self-made and a self-educated man, and 
yet few men in business can write a better letter, more pointed and 
terse, or one spelled more correctly and expressed more 
grammatically.  This results from a naturally correct eye and ear, as 
well as from the training of his occupation as a compositor and 
proof-reader.  He has always had the correct and observing eye of an 
artist in his business, and no master-printer anywhere excels him as 
a judge of good work, whether executed in plain black or in any 
variety of colors.  As a man for an exigency, whether by fire or 
flood, or by reason of a strike, or any other unlooked for event, Mr. 
Frew never fails to come to the front.  There are men who are at 
their best under stress of circumstances, and he is one of them.  
Gen. Grant gives this in his book as one of the distinguishing traits 
of Gen. Sherman.  He never once in the war disappointed his 
expectations.  He was always on time just where and when he was 
expected.  This is the genius of a real commander, and we have 
commanders in peace as well as in war, and in small spheres as well 
as large ones.  Mr. Frew has always filled a sphere of this modest 
sort, after the faithful and efficient manner of "Old Tecumseh" in 
war.  He never lets down while the emergency exists or the battle is 
on.  He is a "stayer" in all his undertakings.  With this much by way 
of general introductory comment in regard to Mr. Frew's position 
before the public, we proceed to give the following biographical 
epitome of his career from boyhood up to the present time: John Frew, 
son of Alexander Frew (who, though not wealthy, was a well-to-do 
citizen of his day,) and Esther (Scott) Frew, was born October 17, 
1835, near the town of Antrim, county Antrim, Ireland.  His parents 
came with the family to America in 1838, and shortly after their 
arrival, located at Steubenville, Ohio.  John worked the larger 
portion of two years in a cotton mill, and attended the public and 
private schools during the summer seasons.  The greater part of his 
education, which, in many respects, is a thorough one, was obtained 
in the printing office - one of the best schools open to men of good 
minds and industrious habits.  He began the printing business in 
1848, with Wilson & Harper, of the Steubenville JOURNAL, and served 
his apprenticeship in the HERALD office at Steubenville, under the 
veteran editor and publisher, W. R. Allison.  He came to Virginia in 
1852, and established himself as a printer in Wheeling, working for a 
few months in the office of the ARGUS, which was published by J. K. 
Dunham.  His next employment was one year in the TIMES office, a 
newspaper published by E. R. Bartleson.  In August, 1853, he began 
work at $5 a week in the INTELLIGENCER job office.  At that time 
Messrs. Swearingen & Taylor were publishers and proprietors of the 
INTELLIGENCER.  He worked nearly three years in that position, and in 
April, 1856, was promoted to the position as foreman of the job 
department of the establishment at a greatly increased salary.  He 
remained in charge of the job office through the proprietorship of J. 
H. Pendleton & Co., and Beatty & Co., and Campbell & McDermot, until 
January, 1866, when he became one of the proprietors of the 
INTELLIGENCER, under the firm name of Campbell, Frew &. Co.  At that 
time he was made business manager of the establishment, and has 
continued, without interruption in that responsible position to the 
present day.  Mr. Frew, during his connection with the DAILY 
INTELLIGENCER, has witnessed the wonderful, yet steady and solid 
growth of that newspaper.  Although for many years it has been one of 
the well established and leading journals of the Ohio valley, the 
plant has gone on growing, and the influence of the paper has 
constantly widened, until it has reached the value and rank of a 
metropolitan newspaper.  It has all of the modern appliances; issues 
daily, semi-weekly, and weekly editions; has an extensive book and 
job department and bindery, and turns out anything and everything 
from a label to a perfectly bound book.  To Mr. Frew's good judgment 
and practical knowledge of every department of the business, the 
paper's wonderful success is, in a large measure, due.  When 
necessary to do so, he can go into any department of the 
establishment and turn his hand to anything necessary to be done.  
The writer has seen him, during a strike, or when some of the 
mechanical nen were sick, working at the case, making up forms, 
running the presses, and reading proof almost at one and the same 
time. No wonder a printing establishment proves a financial success 
with such a business manager as this.  Mr. Frew, though, an intense 
republican, has no taste for the ins and outs of political life.  He 
never sought public position.  He was several times, however, 
draughted into the service of his party, and acted as a member of the 
council from the Seventh ward in 1865 and 66; was elected public 
printer in 1866, and was twice re-elected, continuing in office until 
the change of administration in March, 1871; and was an active member 
of the board of commissioners of Ohio county from 1876 to 1880.  In 
1880 he was a candidate for the legislature from Ohio county, but was 
defeated along with the balance of the ticket.  In January, 1881, he 
was the candidate of his party for mayor of Wheeling, and was 
defeated by a strict party vote. He was an elector-at-large for West 
Virginia on the republican ticket in 1884, and in 1888 he was a 
delegate-at-large to the national republican convention that 
nominated Benjamin Harrison for president of the United States.  His 
friends presented his name for postmaster of Wheeling under the 
Harrison administration, but he withdrew of his own accord before 
action was taken thereon. 

Mr. Frew has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Mary E. 
Pearce, of Steubenville, Ohio, whom he married May 4, 1858.  She died 
January 7, 1872, leaving two daughters, Mary, who is unmarried, and 
Ida, who is the wife of James K. Hall.  He married Mrs. Mary B. 
Glass, also of Steubenville, July 2O, 1876.  Mr. Frew is near six 
feet tall, and is erect and finely proportioned.  His countenance is 
open and kindly, yet commanding and dignified.  To his subordinates 
he is always approachable and sympathetic; and while requiring of 
them their best efforts, he is ever ready to instruct, aid and 
counsel.  He is the embodiment of honor and reliability in all his 
dealings, and for years has been connected with many of the leading 
industries of Wheeling.


(Linda Fluharty)