California Biographies Mendocino and Lake Counties, California Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California With Biographical Sketches History by Aurelius O. Carpenter And Percy H. Millberry Illustrated, Complete In One Volume Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914 JUDGE FRANK A. WHIPPLE.� Among the many important accom- plishments which the efforts and indefatigable will of Justice Whipple have brought to completion none perhaps has carried as intense weight and figured as conspicuously as the securing of the high school for Fort Bragg, in the face of great opposition, the fight even being carried through the courts, and it is the children of this section of the coast who are the greatest benefactors of his untiring labor and unselfish effort. A gentleman, a scholar and an unusually keen business man. his forceful character has been felt in many avenues throughout the vicinity, but educational matters hax^e most attracted his attention. Judge Whipple was a native of Oberlin, Ohio, the son of Henry E. Whipple, who came from his native Williston, Vt., to Oberlin when a young boy. Afforded excellent educational advantages, he was a graduate of the Oberlin College, later becoming a professor in same, and for some years re- mained in that capacity, during the time being ordained minister. He re- signed the professorship finally to accept a call to Hillsdale (Mich.) College, aided in its establishment, and served as professor there for a long period. He figured prominently as aid on the staff of Governor Blair, war governor of Michigan, and in 1870 resigned and came to the coast. As editor of the Humboldt Times, which paper was owned by his brother, he served efficiently until appointed to a position in the government mint at San Francisco, where his last days were spent. He was an earnest preacher and during his life had preached in the Baptist Church for sixty-four years all told. His wife, who was Elizabeth Packard before her marriage, was born in Massachusetts of splendid family. Her death occurred in Fort Bragg; the mother of three children, she was an exemplary parent and teacher, imparting to her family the beauty of thought and refinement which is a marked characteristic in them today. Born October 25, 1850. Judge Whipple was his parents' second child. He was reared in Hillsdale, Mich., entering the public schools and then Hillsdale College, in which the foundation of his unusual fund of knowledge was laid. Leaving college, he engaged for a time as clerk in the store of his brother there, and in 1872 followed his father to California, locating in Mendocino county, and engaging in the mercantile business at Kibesilah, which place is situated fifteen miles north of Fort Bragg. There was no mail route into this town, and his strong influence toward bettering conditions was immediately felt in the community by his succeeding in procuring the mail route and the establishment of a postoffice at Kibesilah. While living here, in 1885, he was appointed justice of the peace of Ten Mile River township, and at the end of this term was elected, and has been re-elected each term since, covering a term of service of twenty-nine years. In December, 1887, when the mills were moved to Fort Bragg, he moved there also, it being in the same town- ship, and established his office, where he has since performed the duties of justice of the peace and followed the business of general conveyancing, in- surance, etc., with marked success. Judge Whipple married in Hillsdale, Mich., Miss Frances A. Smith, a native of Hillsdale county, that state, where for a time she was engaged in educational work. To them were born four children, viz. : Allen, Genevieve (Mrs. C. E. Sherrick), Henry and Frances (Mrs. Ray Pedrotti), all of them residents of Fort Bragg. The Judge is prominent in the Red Men fraternity, being a charter member of Santana Tribe No. 60 at Fort Bragg; he is past officer and served as the Great Sachem of the Great Council of California in 1897-98, and three times attended as delegate the Great Council of the United States : is also past officer of the Knights of the Maccabees. A Republican in political sentiment, well versed on all current subjects pertaining to national and local politics, he has been active in and served as chairman of the County Republican Committee. He served for twenty years as a member of the board of school trustees, refused office for five years, and was again prevailed upon to accept office in 1914. As has been mentioned before, he was the prime mover in the action to secure the Fort Bragg high school, remaining to fight it through after other members of the committee had resigned because of the conflict. He served as the first president of the board, justly meriting the praise and gratification which he received from the citizens of Fort Bragg.