Figure of the Week

Thomas Fristoe (1767-1815) was the son of Daniel Fristoe (1739-1774), a minister at Chappawamsic Baptist Church in northern Stafford.  Several of the Fristoe family were well-respected leaders in the early Baptist Church.  Thomas served in the War of 1812 as a captain in the 45th regiment of Virginia militia (Stafford County).  In Missouri there is a chapter of the U. S. Daughters of 1812 named the Thomas Fristoe Chapter.  Thomas married Lydia Wells (1761-1830), the daughter of Carty Wells of Stafford County and, later, of Shelby County, Kentucky.  Thomas Fristoe served as a magistrate in Stafford from at least 1809 to 1813 and was Commissioner of the Revenue from around 1809 to 1814.  The Fristoe family was long established on Chappawamsic Run in upper Stafford where they not only farmed but also ran a combination grist, saw, and fulling mill.