Background
Frederick Holbrook was born on February 15, 1813 in Warehouse Point, near East Windsor, Connecticut, United States. He was the son of John and Sarah (Knowlton) Holbrook of Brattleboro, Vermont.
Frederick Holbrook was born on February 15, 1813 in Warehouse Point, near East Windsor, Connecticut, United States. He was the son of John and Sarah (Knowlton) Holbrook of Brattleboro, Vermont.
Holbrook studied in the common schools of Brattleboro, to which place his parents returned soon after his birth, and in the Berkshire Gymnasium at Pittsfield, Massachussets, and secured employment for a time in a bookstore in Boston.
After a year spent in Europe, Holbrook returned to Brattleboro, and engaged in farming. He had read and studied much concerning scientific farming and was invited to write for agricultural journals. He entered into a contract to furnish a leading article each month for the Albany Cultivator and the New England Farmer of Boston, wrote editorials for the Country Gentleman, and contributed articles on agriculture to the Brattleboro newspapers. In 1849-1850 was a member of the Vermont Senate.
In 1861 he was nominated for governor by the Republican convention and was elected by a large majority. One of his first acts as chief executive was to suggest the payment of half the state Civil War expenses by a direct tax, and the issuing of bonds for the remainder of the indebtedness. When the opinion was expressed by a state official that a bond issue to the amount of $1, 500, 000 could not be floated at face value, Holbrook offered to negotiate the sale. The legislature accepted the financial plan proposed, the Governor called a Boston banker, who was a personal friend, to Brattleboro, explained Vermont's ability to pay the obligations of the commonwealth, and in two weeks all the bonds were sold at a premium.
In 1862, Holbrook wrote to President Lincoln suggesting that the loyal governors unite in recommending the calling of 50, 000 volunteers. The President responded in a telegram of 1, 800 words, and sent General Draper, provost marshal, to Brattleboro for a conference with Holbrook, at which a statement was prepared for the signatures of governors of loyal states. The adoption of this plan resulted in President Lincoln's call for 300, 000 men to serve for nine months and 300, 000 to serve for three years. He was reelected in 1862.
Visiting Washington in December 1862 to discover some way to reduce the mortality of Vermont soldiers from the effects of wounds and disease, he appealed to the United States authorities to establish a military hospital in Vermont for the care of sick and wounded soldiers. Since he proposed to utilize the barracks on the Brattleboro camp ground, fitting them up for hospital patients at the expense of the state, Secretary Stanton reluctantly consented to try the experiment. Accordingly, the Brattleboro military hospital was ready for use in February 1863. It was accepted by the United States authorities and by the end of the summer it was filled with Vermont soldiers brought from many camps and battlefields. From 1, 500 to 2, 000 men were treated here at certain periods. In 1867 a plow for stubble land designed and demonstrated by Holbrook received a gold medal from the New York State Agricultural Society.
He was president of the Vermont Savings Bank of Brattleboro for thirty-nine years, was a trustee of the Brattleboro Retreat (an institution for the insane) from 1852 until his death, and for fifty years had charge of the music in the Centre Congregational Church of Brattleboro. Retaining his interest in public affairs to the last, he lived to the age of ninety-six years, dying at his Brattleboro home.
Holbrook was a Republican.
Holbrook was the founder of the Vermont State Agricultural Association in 1850, and served as its president for eight years.
Holbrook was a man of commanding presence and courteous manner and was held in high esteem by the people of Vermont.
In January 1835, Holbrook married Harriet Goodhue, the daughter of Colonel Joseph Goodhue. Two of Holbrook's three sons entered the Federal service.