Dates

• Existence: 1875 - 1967

Biographical Statement

The Herrick family had roots in the Warrenville area of DuPage County dating back to the 1830s. Frank Earl Herrick was born March 24, 1875 to John Hiram and Virginia Hughes Herrick. A twin, Herrick’s brother, Charles, died of typhoid fever when the boys were eleven years old. Herrick was a graduate of Wheaton College, class of 1899. The property that was his ancestral home was deeded to DuPage County in 1924 and serves as a forest preserve as Herrick Lake, one of the largest bodies of water in the county. Herrick was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1902 after receiving his law degree from Illinois College of Law (now a part of DePaul University). He was elected justice-of-the-peace in 1903 of Milton Township, filling an unexpired term. He opened his law office the same year above the Gary Wheaton Bank on Wheaton’s Front Street. In 1905 he was elected police magistrate of Wheaton, a position he held for the next fifty years. A member of the student Prohibition Club while at Wheaton College, Herrick later stood as the Prohibition candidate for U.S. Representative from Illinois at-large in 1934 and 1936. He had been heavily involved in Prohibition Party politics and activities for many years. In 1916 he toured the country stumping for the party’s local and national candidates. The author of thousands of poems, many created for special occasions like congratulating newlyweds or soldiers, Herrick was called the “Poet Laureate of Wheaton,” a title officially bestowed upon him on his seventieth birthday by the city council in 1941. In 1937 Herrick married Adeline Churchill, a former classmate. Herrick died in 1967.

Citation:

Author: Wheaton College Archives & Special Collections staff

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