Dear all, this is a sketch I've been working on for quite awhile now. It's a glorious assignment. We visited a local cemetery, picked out one of the headstones, and proceeded to research that person in the local Chattanooga Public Library. Then off we went to research through online articles and any other resources we could get our hands on. As I've written this, I have fallen in love with this guy. How I wish I could actually meet him. The difficulty of finding information about him makes him all the more interesting to me. The sketch itself is currently some one thousand words too long for the assignment and I will have to hack at it to get it down to size. However, I wanted to preserve it in its entirety somewhere. It's a strange sense of owing it to Frank...but a joyful owing. More of a desire to preserve than a fear of punishment.
Enjoy! I know I've loved learning about this little life-tossed family.
Enjoy! I know I've loved learning about this little life-tossed family.
Biographical Sketch of Frank Luther Case | 1866-1930
Born on 10 December 1866 to Halbert B.
Case and Caroline Esther Kibbee, Frank Luther Case entered a United States
struggling to mend after civil war. Case Sr. was in special service for the
South[1]
during the war, but little Frank Luther was born less than a year after the war
ended as one of the lucky children who still had both parents living after the
fighting.[2]
Youngstown Ohio, the place of his birth,[3]
benefitted from the Civil War from 1861 to 1865 in that as a center for
railroad transportation, it became a carefully guarded resource by the armies.[4] Because
of the industry it gained during that time, Youngstown recovered much faster
than many cities impacted by the War.
In 1869, the Case family moved to Des
Moines, Iowa where his father entered the insurance business as vice president
of a prominent company.[5] Three
years passed in relative peace and another little boy, Edward Anderson, was
added in 1872 to the growing family making them five with Halbert Austin, and
Frank Luther gaining a little brother. Suddenly, on April 23, his mother
Caroline Esther died, quickly followed two and five days later by baby Edward
and seven year old Halbert.[6] Their
good health provided no warning for the now decimated family.[7] No
records contain the cause of the three deaths. Halbert Case lost his wife at
the tragic age of thirty as well as two sons. Young Frank Case found himself
without a mother at six.
The brutal loss had such a great effect
on Halbert Case that, “after
struggling for twenty months to recover from it, he deemed it necessary to
change the scene of his labors, and removed to Chattanooga about 1 May 1874.”[8]
They entered into their new beginning just
as the seasons launched into their own new beginning. The valley burst with
spring flowers, welcoming the ever strengthening summer sun. Not twenty days
later, Halbert married Janie M. Spooner.[9] Friends
“of long standing,”[10]
the new Mr. and Mrs. Case lived out a long and happy marriage, providing a
settled home for Case and his soon-to-be siblings. The family continued as only
the three until at least 1880 during which time they lived in Chattanooga
proper.[11] The
Hamtilton County census of that year gives a glimpse of the steady father working
in politics, a mother at home, and a gawky fourteen year old Case just entering
high school. As a diligent, level-headed man, Halbert excelled in politics and worked
as the City attorney to his adopted city in the 1870s, ran for congress in
1880, and was elected to the Lower House of the State Legislature in 1882 to be
followed by state senate in 1884.[12] Just
as the end of the Civil War had boosted Youngstown, Ohio, Chattanooga Tennessee
also enjoyed the expansion that arose from the technological advancements made
in the war, most especially through the infrastructure of railroads. Because of
its central location, Chattanooga became a hub of activity and its industrial
center continued to expand long after war demand had ceased.[13] This bustling Chattanooga provided the
growing Case with a public education[14]
that opened the way for him to graduate high school in 1883. Goodspeed, a
historical society of the time, dictates his accomplishments there in glowing
terms. With a father in full public view, Case’s early life was hardly
anonymous, though he did not often end up in the limelight himself. He moved on
to be a student at the Grant University College in Athens, Tennessee,[15]
an easy hour away from Chattanooga. He continued there through 1885 at which
time he enrolled in Oberlin college in Ohio.[16] Always
challenging the times, Oberlin College prided itself in being the first college
to regularly admit African American students and one of the earliest to admit
women.[17]
Under the leadership of the first president of the college,[18]
Case’s generation of students learned to question the times and challenge
themselves to think progressively.
The success that Case found in Tennessee
followed him to Ohio. His success as a student is noted in college records and
histories of the time. Much liked by his fellow students, he was elected as one
of nine and then one of eight to represent his class in annual oratorical exercises.[19]
He graduated with a bachelor of arts in the fall of 1888[20]
and began teaching as a Librarian and Professor of Ancient Languages at
Chattanooga University, now known as University of Tennessee Chattanooga, or
UTC for those who are familiar with it.[21]
However, feeling a pull to return to the Chattanooga area, Case took a teaching
position as Professor of Ancient Languages in the fall of 1889 at his previous
school, Grant Memorial University.[22] The
effects of the Panic of 1893 stayed strong through 1890 as the serious economic
depression threatened to topple the United States currency. Unemployment soared
to heights of 18.4% as Frank Case and others left college and started
endeavoring to build careers for themselves.[23] Case’s
luck in having a father who acted as a long time trustee of Grant Memorial
University outshone any thoughts he may have had about settling down further
away from Chattanooga because of the job security he could find at the
university as he worked to get better employment. With the unemployment rate
expanding with no end in sight, any job was a good one.
For the next seven years, Case followed
in his father’s footsteps and began practicing law. He worked in the Georgia
and Alabama court systems along with the Tennessee courts and became involved
in cases that went all the way to the federal courts of the section.[24] With
his university days five solid, gainful years behind him and a budding career
before him, Case married Minnie Lee Magee[25]
and settled in for a long, secure life. Their son, Francis Owen Case, was born
one year and two days later on 9 December 1894.[26]
No one suspected that Case’s life would continue to parallel his father’s
in tragedy as well as in success. With
such upheavals as the Pullman strike and the unrest that led to Booker T. Washington’s
Atlanta Compromise[27] in
1895 piling on top of the then barely receding depression, the United States
slowly moved towards yet another new set of conflicts. With thirty years to
dull social memory to the horror of the Civil War, Americans began to once
again look to military power in order to fix their problems. The yellow
journalism that would soon play a large part in the United States’ entry into
the Spanish American War was already bubbling under the surface.[28] Despite
the limited memories Case carried of his mother due to her early death, he
could not have ignored the same pain now searingly close and far more personal,
triggered by the death of Minnie Lee, his wife of only three years.[29] With
a son just beginning to toddle and a law practice to maintain, Case hobbled
through an entire year before discontinuing his law practice in 1897.[30]
He needed a distraction just as his father had and the prospect of war played
the part well. He put himself through the Army School of the Line and the Army
Staff college[31]
and volunteered for service as the 2nd Lieutenant of infantry on 29 June
1898.[32] Rushing
off to Puerto Rito, Case served under many capacities in many places. He spent
time in the 3rd, 4th, and 12th cavalry
regiments in the Philippines.[33] The
Spanish-American war ended that same year, but the military kept its men busy.
7 January 1899 raised Case to 1st Lieutenant but two months later he
received an honorary discharge.[34] Case’s
military career was far from over however. 2 June 1899 saw Filipino
revolutionary forces officially declare war against the United States,
triggering Case to volunteer once again, this time in the infantry as the 2nd
Lieutenant of the 33rd where he was once again raised to 1st
lieutenant by September.[35] The
Philippine-American war or, more popularly, the Philippine Insurrection,
sported a far different character than the Spanish-American War. While both
disrespected the dignity and well-being of the civilians and soldiers involved,
the second war is most often characterized by the atrocities both sides
inflicted on one another. Both sides believed fervently in their cause however
and the fighting continued with Frank Case entering into regular service on 2
February 1901, once again filling the role of 1st Lieutenant, this
time for the 12th cavalry.[36] A
scant two months later he once again received an honorary discharge.[37]
Peace for the United States didn’t last long however. The world slowly trudged
towards the Great War and in 1909, Case advanced to Captain.[38]
Bad things never come lonely and in 1914
brought both the start of open global warfare and the death of Case’s father at
seventy seven. Buried in the National Cemetery, Halbert Case received a service
that befitted a Confederate soldier of honor, an upright citizen, and a much
loved advocate of the people.[39]
While Case never fought in Europe during
the Great War, he certainly kept busy. With the prolonged Mexican Revolution
spilling over into the Border War with the United States, there was plenty for
the military to do before the US every began fighting in Europe.[40] In
1916, Case oversaw the purchase and distribution of all animal transportation
during the expedition of General John J. Pershing during his mobilization on
the Mexican border.[41]
The operation to capture Mexican general Pancho Villa, mockingly called the
Punitive Expedition, took them through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, never
capturing the revolutionary leader.[42]
The Great War ended at last with the armistice of Germany on 11 November 1918.
It would seem that Case could now rest and settle down again. However, the next
month saw him leaving the United States once again to take up the position of
military attaché to Lima for a short time.[43] Never
remaining still until late in his life, the next few years also saw him
bouncing about the country and the world in various positions of leadership.
For a time he took charge of all supply, transportation, and construction at
Camp Sherman in Ohio,[44]
he became chief of the quartermaster section for the war plans division of the
general staff at Washington DC,[45]
and acted as the military attaché to Peru.[46]
That republic decorated him with the Order of the Sun,[47]
the then the highest award that the nation of Peru could give to commend civil
and military merit.[48]
1920 brought a new height to his military career as he advanced to
Lieutenant-colonel and as such, he acted the part of military attaché one last
time to Bolivia.[49]
He held the position for three years, longer than any other previous position
during his time in the armed forces. After that stint he began temporary duty
in the office of the assistant chief of staff for military intelligence in the
War Department in Baltimore[50]
where he remained for several years. At fifty seven years old, Frank Luther
Case began to slow down at last. Settling in Baltimore on a much more permanent
basis, living with his second wife Katherine Carslisle, his first born son
Francis Owen, and his daughter by his second marriage, Elinora Carlisle Case.[51] His
final military advancement took place on 21 March 1928 when he received the
honor of being advanced to colonel.[52] After
his initial escape into the Army, Frank spent very little, if any time at all,
in Chattanooga. However, he moved his family back to Chattanooga in June 1929
to reconnect with old friends. His love of the city that had promised so bright
a future remained strong, despite the bitterness from his first wife’s death
that inevitably shadowed the edges of his memory of the place itself. He proved
his preference to the town of his youth when he chose to be buried there after
dying of a heart attack at the age of 64.[53]
Bibliography
Baumann,
Roland M. Constructing Black Education at
Oberlin College: A Documentary History, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2010.
Beede, Benjamin R. The War of 1898, and U.S.
interventions, 1898-1934: an encyclopedia. New York: Taylor & Francis
Publishers, 1994.
Blue, Frederick J. Mahoning Memories: A History of
Youngstown and Mahoning County. Virginia Beach: The Donning Company, 1995.
County
Clerk’s Office of Hamilton Tennessee. Marriage
License of F.L. Case to Minnie L. Magee, December 7, 1893. Accessed 1
October 2012.
County
Clerk’s Office of Hamilton Tennessee. Marriage
License of Halbert B. Case to Janie M. Spooner(?), May 19, 1847. Accessed 1
October 2012.
Department
of State. Register. Washington DC:
Government Printing Office, 1918.
Frank Luther Case and
Family. Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga Tennessee.
Visited September 24 2012.
Goodspeed.
History of East Tennessee. Tennessee:
Goodspeed Publishing, 1887.
Guelzo, Allen C. "An heir or a rebel? Charles Grandison
Finney and the New England theology," Journal of the Early Republic, 17 no. 1, 1997.
Heitman,
Francis Bernard. Historical Register and
Dictionary of the United States Army. vol 1. Washington DC: Government
Printing Office, 1903.
Hess,
Elmer C., comp., Official Congressional
Directory of the 67th Congress 2nd Session. 3rd
ed. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1922.
Honerkamp,
Nicholas. “Innovation and Change in the Antebellum Southern Iron Industry: An
Example from Chattanooga, Tennessee,” The
Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology. 13, no. 1 (1987): 55-68.
Lewis,
David Levering. Booker T. Washington: the
wizard of Tuskegee, 1901-1915. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2001.
Matthews,
Matt M. The US Army on the Mexican
Border: A Historical Perspective. Kansas: Combat Studies Institute Press, 1959.
Mayson,
Francis G., comp., Official Congressional
Directory of the 66th Congress 2nd Session. 1st
ed. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1919.
Obituary
of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times,
January 22, 1930.
Oberlin
College. Quinquennial Catalogue of
Officers and Graduates of Oberlin College. Ohio: Oberlin College
Publishing, 1905.
Timberlake,
Jr., Richard H. "Panic of 1893." Business Cycles and Depressions:
an Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, 1997.
U.S.
Bureau of the Census. Hamilton County of
Tennessee. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1880.
U.S.
Grant and Chattanooga Universities. Announcements
and Yearbook of 1889-90. Tennessee:
U.S. Grant University, 1890.
Vaughn,
Stephen L. "Yellow journalism." Encyclopedia of American
Journalism. Cambridge: Emerald Group
Publishing, 2008.
Viets,
Francis Hubbard. A Genealogy of the Viets
Family with Biographical Sketches. Wisconsin: Sanford Publishing, 1902.
Werlich, Robert. Orders and Decorations of All Nations:
Ancient and Modern, Civil and Military. Washington,
D.C.: Quaker Press, 1965.
Wilson,
Dennis C. Transcriber. 1914: Chattanooga
City Death Records for Halbert B. Case. Washington D.C.: Government
Printing Office, 1936.
[1] Goodspeed. History of East Tennessee (Tennessee: Goodspeed Publishing, 1887),
46.
[2] Goodspeed. History of East Tennessee, 46.
[3] Ibid, 46
[4] Frederick J. Blue. Mahoning Memories: A History of
Youngstown and Mahoning County. (Virginia Beach: The Donning Company, 1995)
[5] Goodspeed. History of East Tennessee, 46.
[6] Frank Luther Case and Family. (Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga
Tennessee)
[7] Goodspeed. History of East Tennessee, 46.
[8] Ibid, 46.
[9] County Clerk’s Office of Hamilton
Tennessee. Marriage License of Halbert B.
Case to Janie M. Spooner(?) (May 19, 1847)
[10] Goodspeed. History of East Tennessee, 46.
[11] U.S. Bureau of the Census. Hamilton County of Tennessee (Washington
DC: Government Printing Office, 1880)
[12] Goodspeed. History of East Tennessee, 46.
[13] Nicholas
Honerkamp. “Innovation and Change in the Antebellum Southern Iron Industry: An
Example from Chattanooga, Tennessee,” The
Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology. 13, no. 1 (1987): 55-68.
[14] Obituary of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times (January 22, 1930), 3.
[15] Goodspeed. History of East
Tennessee, 46.
[16] Oberlin College. Quinquennial Catalogue of Officers and Graduates of Oberlin College (Ohio:
Oberlin College Publishing, 1905), 150.
[17] Roland M. Baumann. Constructing Black Education at Obelin
College: A Documentary History (Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2010)
[18] Allen
C. Guelzo. "An heir or a rebel? Charles Grandison Finney and the New
England theology," Journal of the Early Republic 17 no. 1 (1997): 60–94.
[19] Goodspeed. History of East Tennessee, 46.
[20] Obituary of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times, 3.
[21] U.S. Grant
and Chattanooga Universities. Announcements
and Yearbook of 1889-90 (Tennessee:
U.S. Grant University, 1890), 4.
[22] U.S. Grant and Chattanooga
Universities. Announcements and Yearbook of 1889-90, 4.
[23] Richard H. Timberlake, Jr.
"Panic of 1893." Business Cycles and Depressions: an Encyclopedia.
(New York: Garland
Publishing, 1997), 516-18.
[24] Obituary of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times, 3.
[25] County Clerk’s Office of Hamilton
Tennessee. Marriage License of F.L. Case
to Minnie L. Magee (December 7, 1893)
[26] Francis Hubbard Viets. A Genealogy of the Viets Family with
Biographical Sketches (Wisconsin: Sanford Publishing, 1902), 64.
[27] David Levering Lewis. Booker T. Washington: the wizard of
Tuskegee, 1901-1915 (New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2001)
[28] Stephen L. Vaughn. "Yellow
journalism." Encyclopedia of American Journalism (Cambridge: Emerald Group Publishing, 2008), 608.
[29] Francis Hubbard Viets. A Genealogy of the Viets Family with
Biographical Sketches, 64.
[30] Goodspeed. History of East Tennessee. 46.
[31] Obituary of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times, 3.
[32] Francis Bernard Heitman. Historical Register and Dictionary of the
United States Army, vol 1. (Washington DC: Government Printing Office,
1903), 1770.
[33] Obituary of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times, 3.
[34] Francis Bernard Heitman. Historical Register and Dictionary of the
United States Army, 1770.
[35] Ibid, 1770.
[36] Ibid, 1770.
[37] Obituary of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times, 3.
[38] Ibid, 3.
[39] Dennis C. Wilson, Transcriber. 1914: Chattanooga City Death Records for
Halbert B. Case (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1936)
[40] Matt M. Matthews. The US Army on the Mexican Border: A Historical Perspective (Kansas:
Combat Studies Institute Press, 1959)
[41] Obituary of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times, 3.
[42] Benjamin
R. Beede. The War of 1898, and U.S. Interventions, 1898-1934 (New York:
Taylor & Francis Publishers, 1994.
[43] Department of State. Register (Washington DC: Government
Printing Office, 1918), 43, 95, 261.
[44] Obituary of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times, 3.
[45] Ibid, 3.
[46] Francis G. Mayson, comp. Official Congressional Directory of the 66th
Congress 2nd Session. 1st ed. (Washington DC: Government
Printing Office, 1919), 387
[47] Obituary of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times, 3.
[48] Robert Werlich. Orders
and Decorations of All Nations: Ancient and Modern, Civil and Military (Washington, D.C.: Quaker Press, 1965)
[49] Elmer C. Hess, comp. Official Congressional Directory of the 67th
Congress 2nd Session. 3rd ed. (Washington DC: Government
Printing Office, 1922), 405.
[50] Obituary of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times, 3.
[51] Ibid, 3.
[52] Ibid, 3.
[53] Obituary of Frank Luther Case, Chattanooga Times, 3.
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