Frank Garthwait, auction and commission merchant, Mattoon; was born in Terre Haute, Ind., Oct. 18, 1838; his father was a wholesale and retail grocery-man, and was one of the pioneers of the city; Frank obtained his education at the city schools, and at the age of 15, began the life of a printer’s devil in the Courier office; here he remained three years under charge of J. Canard, editor and proprietor of the paper; he next engaged in traveling and selling clocks for three years, and subsequently engaged in the sale of notions till 1861; he enlisted in the United States service in the fall of 1861, in Co. G, 43d Ind. V. I.; in this he served three years; he then raised a company, and served till the close of the war in the 149th Regt.; in this he went out as First Lieutenant, and was promoted to the Captaincy; on his return, he engaged in the grocery trade in Terre Haute; in the spring of 1871, he located in Springfield, and engaged in selling lightning-rods; in October, 1871, he came to Mattoon, and engaged in the sale of pumps and lightning-rods; in the spring of 1872, he operated a marble-shop; in January, 1874, he began his present line of business. He was married in 1865, to Ella Saunders, a native of Indiana; she died in 1872; his second marriage, to Mrs. Laura Morgan, a native of Illinois, occurred in 1874; two children were born from first wedlock-Nettie, living, and Nellie, dead; one from second marriage-Daisy. He was chosen Mayor of the city in the spring of 1877; owns real estate in the city.
