William Frear born on March 24, 1860, in Reading, Pennsylvania. He was descended from the French Huguenot, Hugo Freer, who was a patentee in the settlement of New Paltz, New York, in 1677.
Abraham Frear, three generations removed from the pioneer, migrated to the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania in 1778. The Rev. George Frear of the fifth generation was a Baptist clergyman. His wife was Malvina Rowland, and of their children, William was the eldest.
During the father’s pastorates at Reading and at Norristown, Pennsylvania, Frear attended the public schools. Later the family moved to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where William attended Bucknell University.
After his graduation, he was an assistant in science at Bucknell, at the same time taking summer courses at Harvard and studying under the guidance of Illinois Wesleyan University, from which he received the degree of Ph. D. in 1883.
Frear accepted an appointment in the United States Department of Agriculture but left in 1885 to become an assistant professor of agricultural chemistry at Pennsylvania State College. In 1886, he was made professor, and in the following year became vice-director and chief chemist of the experiment station.
Frear’s activities covered a wide range: he taught agricultural chemistry and meteorology; as an administrator he chose and organized research projects, and wrote bulletins and reports, and as chief chemist of the experiment station he s conducted analytical work and applied the results in regulatory activities such as the Fertilizer and the Food and Drug acts.
On July 18, 1900, Frear married Julia Reno of Greenville, Kentucky.
