BIOGRAPHY OF JUDGE SAMUEL R. FROST

This biography of Sam Frost
was submitted to the Texas Historical Commission
in 1983 to support an application for a
Texas state historical marker and was copied
from the Commission's file in 2019.
It appears to have been signed by Ann Burnett Clark.
The footnotes and the bibliography are part of the original.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.


SAMUEL R. FROST
NAVARRO COUNTY ATTORNEY—COUNTY JUDGE IN 1876
FROST, TEXAS NAMED IN HONOR OF JUDGE FROST

Judge Frost was of English and Irish lineage. His parents, William W. and Louisa Frost, came from North Carolina in the days of the Republic of Texas.1 Samuel R. Frost was born in Montgomery County, and his family moved to Navarro County the same year.2 His primary education was obtained in the common Navarro County country schools which furnished the only opportunity for an education.3

He joined the Confederate Army at the age of seventeen4 and served with company I, 19th Texas Cavalry from 1863 to 1865.5 After the war Samuel R. Frost gave his entire interest in the family farm to his father and began teaching a country school in order to earn enough money to study law. He was licensed to practice in 1870.6

Judge Frost married Mary L. Winkler, the daughter of Clinton McKamey Winkler, leader of the Navarro Rifles during the Civil War, on January 4, 1872. They lived for many years on Third Avenue, Corsicana, Texas, Navarro County. As Corsicana grew they, with their nine children (all of whom are now deceased), moved to the southwest edge of town and built a home and planted trees and shrubs which Judge Frost so loved.7

Samuel R. Frost was appointed Navarro County attorney in 1871 and was elected county judge in 1876. He represented the district in the Sixteenth Legislature in 1879. He became judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District in 1886. He was a member of the Twenty-first Legislature in 1889.8 He was tendered the position of judge of the Court of Civil Appeals by a Governor of Texas, but declined the position.9

Judge Frost died in Fort Worth, Texas, following an operation, on January 1, 1908. His body was returned by train to Corsicana.10 He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Corsicana.11 The historical marker to honor Judge Samuel R. Frost will be located on his grave site.

Frost, Texas, was named in honor of Samuel R. Frost.

[signature of Ann Burnett Clark]
Great Grand-daughter of Judge Frost


FOOTNOTES

1. Navarro County Bar Association Memorial for Judge Frost, 1908.
2. Pioneer Village Archives.
3. Navarro County Bar Memorial.
4. Pioneer Village Archives.
5. Navarro County Scroll, 1980.
6. Navarro County Bar Memorial.
7. Pioneer Village Archives.
8. Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties (1893).
9. Navarro County Bar Memorial.
10. Conversation with grand-daughter of Judge Frost, Sue Gibson Burnett.
11. Personnel of Texas State Government (1889), by L. E. Daniell.
12. Ibid.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pioneer Village Archives, 912 W. Park Avenue, Corsicana, Texas.

Personnel of Texas State Government (1889), L. E. Daniell.

Proceedings of the Navarro County Bar Association Held at the Court House in Corsicana on Sunday, February 2, 1908 in Memory of Judge Samuel R. Frost.

Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Limestone, Freestone, and Leon Counties (1893).

Navarro County Scroll, 1980.

Old Northwest Texas, Volume I-B, Navarro County, 1846-1860, Compiled by Nancy T. Samuels & Barbara R. Knox.