Said Frohock to Fanning

DESCRIPTION: "Said Frohock to Fanning, 'To tell the plain truth, When I came to this country I was but a youth... And then my first study was to cheat for a hoss.'" Fanning and Frohock happily exchange tales of cheating those around them
AUTHOR: Rednap Howell? (source: Haywood)
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: political robbery
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 279, "Said Frohock to Fanning" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 279, "Said Frohock to Fanning" (notes only)
ADDITIONAL: Marshall DeLancey Haywood, _Governor William Tryon and his Administration in the Province of North Carolina, 1765-1771_, 1903 (I use the 1958 Edwards & Broughton reprint with a dust jacket that reads "Governor Tryon of North Carolina" although the interior uses the original title), p. 102, "(no title)" (1 excerpt)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "From Hillsborough Town the First of May" (subject)
cf. "When Fanning First to Orange Came" (subject)
cf. "Who Would Have Tho't Harmon" (subject)
NOTES [347 words]: One of four "regulator" songs in Brown. The regulators were a group of protesters against high taxes and fees, found mostly in North Carolina though some also were active in South Carolina. For more on the Regulators, see the notes to "When Fanning First to Orange Came." That song also gives background on Edmund Fanning.
The notes in Brown observe three men named Frohock held station in North Carolina. The Frohocks were a family from Rowan, North Carolina (Haywood, p. 84). The notes in Brown suggest Thomas Frohock is meant, but this is beyond proof.
I think a good case could be made for John Frohock instead. In 1766, North Carolina governor William Tryon was attempting to negotiate a border with the Cherokee. According to Haywood, pp. 56-57, in 1767, John Frohock was one of three commissioners who were to "run the boundary." And since Tryon didn't trust the Cherokee, he appointed a guard to go with them. John Frohock was a lieutenant colonel in this over-officered force, where Edmund Fanning was a colonel and adjutant. Thus John Frohock and Fanning could easily have met then. John Frohock also fought at the Battle of Alamances, for which again see "When Fanning First to Orange Came."
Haywood, p. 81, also reports that John Frohock was (District) Clerk of Rowan County for a time, and that a later writer reported that he "and Fanning made it a practice to charge fifteen dollars for a marriage license, when the law allowed a much smaller amount" -- although Haywood points out that dollars were not legal tender at the time, and charges were made in English money. John Frohock died in 1772 (Haywood, p. 84). John Frohock was also a town commissioner when the town of Charlotte was chartered (Haywood, p. 85).
Thomas Frohock, apparently the brother of John, was clerk of the Superior Court. According to his will, he had children Alexander and Elizabeth (Haywood, p. 85).
A third Frohock, William, served as a militia officer and local sheriff (Haywood, p. 85). He thus seems the least likely of the three to be meant, since he did not have a court office. - RBW
Bibliography

Haywood: Marshall DeLancey Haywood, Governor William Tryon and his Administration in the Province of North Carolina, 1765-1771, 1903 (I use the 1958 Edwards & Broughton reprint with a dust jacket that reads "Governor Tryon of North Carolina" although the interior uses the original title)

Last updated in version 6.3
File: BrII279

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