John Charles Frey is a dairy farmer in Riley County. He is making a success of that business because he knows how, not only from experience but by close study, and he also brings to his work the indispensable faculty of industry and constant supervision of every detail.
He might well be called the architect of his own destiny. The second oldest of a family of twelve children, and his parents being people of moderate circumstances, he felt the urge of responsibility when only a boy and did almost a man’s part in the fields when other children of his age were attending school. Consequently he had limited advantages in the matter of books and schooling.
These early years of toil and industry were in Kansas, to which state he was brought when eight years of age. He was born at Tippecanoe in Miami County, Ohio, April 3, 1870, a son of Michael and Zena (Hauserbrook) Frey. He is of that substantial German stock that in this country and everywhere has shown its capabilities for the hardest problems of life. His parents were both natives of Germany and after their marriage in Ohio lived on a farm for some years and in 1878 came out to Kansas. Their first destination was Junction City, and not long afterward they located on a small farm in Geary County. Four years later they removed to Riley County, settling on a farm in Ogden Township, which was their home until 1894. In that year they returned to Junction City, where the father died in 1904 at the age of fifty-six and where the widowed mother still resides.
Of the twelve children five died in early childhood. The others, all living, are as follows: John C.; William J., of Junction City; Michael, postmaster at Junction City; Mrs. Lida Gerhardt, of Idaho; Mrs. Margaret Grant, of Texas; Hannah, Mrs. Hoyt, of Junction City; and Henry, who also lives in Idaho. The father of these children was a butcher in Germany, but after coming to Kansas indulged in that vocation only to the extent of performing some work for his neighbors. He reared his family on a farm, was a man of excellent character, and was the owner of 240 acres in his home farm.
Having spent most of his early life in Riley County, John C. Frey remained in Ogden Township, and employed all his time and energies in farming, stock raising and feeding up to 1911. In that year he came to Manhattan Township, and has since conducted a modern, sanitary and profitable dairy farm.
In politics he is a stanch republican. During his residence in Ogden Township he served as a member of the township board and on the death of the county commissioner from his district he was appointed to fill out the unexpired term. He is a member of the Baptist Church, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of several beneficiary orders.
In 1892 Mr. Frey married Eliza Brewer, daughter of Jesse J. and Ernestine (Green) Brewer. Her father, a native of Ohio, was one of the honored pioneers of Riley County, and after coming to Kansas enlisted for service in Company A of the Ninth Kansas Cavalry. Mr. and Mrs. Frey are the parents of six children: Jesse J., a graduate of the Kansas State Agricultural College; Bertha, Minnie, John, Lester and Wayne.