Fonds 20-015 - Frost family fonds

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Title proper

Frost family fonds

General material designation

  • Textual record
  • Graphic material

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  • Source of title proper: Title based on the creator of the fonds.

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

20-015

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

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Date(s)

  • 1879; 1882; ca. 1920-2007 (Creation)
    Creator
    Frost family

Physical description area

Physical description

20 cm of textual material
ca. 130 photographs

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Archival description area

Name of creator

Biographical history

The Honourable Leslie Miscampbell Frost, lawyer and Premier of Ontario, was born in Orillia, Ontario on September 20, 1895, the son of William Sword Frost and Margaret Jane Barker. He was educated at the Orillia Public School and the Orillia High School. He later attended the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall. He served during World War I in France and Belgium, with the 20th Battalion, Queen's York Rangers, and was discharged with the rank of captain in 1918, after being severely wounded. Frost was called to the Bar in 1921. He was a member of the legal firm Frost, Inrig and Gorwill, among others, and was an honorary bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He married Gertrude Jane Carew (1894-1970), in 1926. They never had children. Leslie M. Frost had a long and successful political career. He was elected to the legislature of Ontario in 1937, and he was consistently re-elected at each election until his retirement in 1963. He was Treasurer of Ontario and Minister of Mines in both the George Drew and T.L. Kennedy administrations. In 1949, Frost was chosen leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and was sworn in as Premier and Provincial Treasurer on May 4, 1949. He remained Provincial Treasurer until 1955 and Premier until 1961. Besides his legal and political career, Frost took on many other obligations. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Toronto and the first Chancellor of Trent University. He also held several directorships, including: the Bank of Montreal, Air Canada, Corporate Investors Ltd., Lever Brothers Ltd., KVP Company Ltd., John Deyell Ltd., Canada Life Assurance Company, Victoria and Grey Trust Co., Massey-Ferguson Ltd., and radio station CKLY. Frost was also keenly interested in history, primarily military history and the histories of Victoria, Peterborough and Haliburton Counties. He was the author of several books: Fighting Men, Forgotten Pathways of the Trent, Pleasant Point Story: a History of Pleasant Point and The Records on Sam Hughes Set Straight. Leslie M. Frost died at Lindsay, Ontario 4 May 1973. Cecil Grey Frost, younger brother of the Honourable Leslie M. Frost, was born in Orillia, Ontario, on August 27, 1897. His father, William Sword Frost, operated a jewelry and watchmaking business in Orillia, and as Mayor, introduced the concept of daylight saving time to the municipality. Cecil Grey Frost served overseas with the Canadian Machine Gun Corps during the World War I. When he returned to Canada, he attended Osgoode Hall Law School and graduated in 1921. He and his brother Leslie then opened a legal firm in Lindsay, Ontario, and both soon became active in local Conservative Politics. This led to Cecil's election in 1936 as Mayor of Lindsay, and in 1937 to the Presidency of the Ontario Conservative Association, As well, he organized and managed Earl Rowe's campaign in the provincial election of 1937. Thought of as a potential party leader himself, Cecil Grey Frost remained politically active until his sudden death on 8 June 1947. Robert John “Jack” Beal (1919-1994) was Gertrude Jane Frost’s nephew. He was married to Eileen Beal; their son, Robert “Bob” Beal, is a journalist and historian.

Custodial history

Fonds was in the custody of David Ewens before being donated to Trent University Archives in 2020.

Scope and content

Fonds is comprised of correspondence, newspaper clippings, articles and photographs pertaining to Leslie M. Frost (1895-1973), Gertrude Frost (1894-1970), Cecil Frost (1897-1947), Robert John “Jack” Beal (1919-1994) and Eileen Beal, Robert “Bob” Beal and other family members; also included are documents related to the family’s ‘Pleasant Point Cottage’.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Fonds received from David Ewens in 2020.

Arrangement

Fonds was received unorganized. The file structure was created by Archives staff.

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Script of material

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Restrictions on access

None

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Finding aids

Associated materials

Related fonds in TUA: 77-024, 77-025, 77-027.

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General note

Box 1

Folder

  1. Cecil Frost: correspondence, 1930s; funeral notice, photograph, 1947
  2. Gertrude Frost: correspondence with L.M. Frost & others, ca. 1925-1954
  3. L.M. Frost: copies of letters of thanks to those who wrote expressing good wishes for his wife’s recovery, 1970
  4. Gertrude Frost: bereavement, notes and acknowledgements to L.M. Frost, 1970, and responses, 1971
  5. L.M. Frost: miscellaneous documents including Brian McFadzen’s paper “The Premier of Pleasant Point”, 1985; also, instructions re family burials at Riverside Cemetery, Lindsay, 1973
  6. Jack and Eileen Beal: correspondence re death of L.M. Frost, 1973; includes correspondence with Trent University
  7. as above
  8. Jack Beal correspondence, writings re Pleasant Point cottage, Hugh Latimer/Roger Graham interview transcription – Jack & Irene Beal/Bill Leishman/J. Benidickson, 1978
  9. Bob Beal correspondence, papers re L.M. Frost, 1964-2007
  10. Leslie Frost cottage, Pleasant Point: Bob Beal/Fleming College correspondence, 1999-2000
  11. Pleasant Point cottage – shares in property, 1954
  12. Historical Beal family documents: R.M. Beal Leather Co. Limited envelope, 1905; John Carew Lumber Co. Limited/R.M. Beale dispute, 1911; Arthur Potter Beal patent re “rubbers having leathertops” 1929-1930
  13. Official government invitations to Frost and Beale family members, 1936-1971

Box 2

Folder

  1. Newspaper clippings re career of Leslie M. Frost
  2. Historic newspaper: Globe & Mail, 15 October 1879; The Canadian Post (Lindsay), 25 February 1882
  3. Miscellaneous: Adams-Powell Timber Company, Limited financial balance sheet, 1944; cloth with note “Lindsay tartan”; silver case inscribed “M.B. Frost”; John A. Frost genealogy – notes “Founder of the Frost Family in Canada” (died 1883 in Dublin)
  4. Photographs: official, includes L.M. Frost & Gertrude Frost
  5. Photographs: Pleasant Point cottage; children with first names given
  6. Photographs: unidentified people and places (some may depict L.M. Frost)

Loose on shelf: 1 outsized photograph

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