Frank Barbour
Encyclopedia
Francis Edward "Frank" Barbour (April 3, 1870 – February 4, 1948) was an American football
player, coach, and businessman. He played quarterback
for the Yale University
football team in 1890 and 1891 and helped lead the 1891 Yale team to a perfect 13–0 record and a national championship. He was the head coach of the University of Michigan football team
in 1892 and 1893, compiling an overall record of 14–8 in two years as head coach. Barbour later had a lengthy business career. After spending 17 years with the New York Central Railroad
, he joined the Beech-Nut Packing Company
in 1910 and established its chewing gum business. He remained with Beech-Nut for 38 years and served as chairman of the board from 1946 to 1948.
in 1870. His father, William McLeod Barbour (1827–1899), was a minister who emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1851, and became a professor of theology at Yale University
. His mother was Eliza A. (Ransom) Barbour, a native of New York. At the time of the 1880 Census, Barbour was ten years old and residing in New Haven, Connecticut
with his parents and four older siblings. Barbour attended the public schools in New Haven, and subsequently enrolled at the Phillips Exeter Academy
. He was the captain of Exeter's football team in 1888.
and graduated Ph.B. at Yale's Sheffield Scientific School
in 1892. While at Yale, he was the quarterback of the Yale Bulldogs football
teams of 1890 and 1891. The 1891 Yale team was coached by Walter Camp
and included College Football Hall of Fame
inductees, Pudge Heffelfinger, Frank Hinkey
, Josh Hartwell
and Lee McClung
. With Barbour as the starting quarterback, the 1891 team finished with a perfect 13–0 record and a national championship. In November 1891, The New York Times
wrote: "Barbour has made great improvements since last year, and is one of the best men on the Yale team. He is cool, passes well and sure, uses his signals to good advantage and is an excellent player. He is considered a much superior player to the Harvard quarterback."
. He was the school's second head football coach. In the three years before Barbour's arrival, Michigan had played a total of 17 games. As the coach of the 1892 Michigan Wolverines football team
, Barbour expanded the team's schedule to twelve games and took the team on its first extended road trip to the West. Over the course of a two-week period from October 15 to 29, 1892, Barbour's team played five road games against Wisconsin
(a 10–6 win on the 15th), Minnesota
(a 14–6 loss on the 17th), DePauw (an 18–0 win on the 22nd), Purdue
(a 24–0 loss on the 24th) and Northwestern
(a 10–8 loss on the 29th). The 1892 team also defeated Chicago
, 18–10, in a game played at Toledo, Ohio
, but suffered two losses to Cornell
.
Barbour returned the following year as the coach of the 1893 Michigan Wolverines football team
. The 1893 team team improved to 7–3. The team closed the season with five consecutive wins over Purdue, DePauw, Northwestern, Kansas
and Chicago by a combined score of 202 to 24. The team's 72–6 victory over Northwestern was the team's second highest point total in the first 22 years of the program's history.
Barbour compiled an overall record of 14–8 in two years as head coach. He also returned to Michigan in 1894 for part of the season to assist in developing the football team. The 1894 team
compiled an 9–1–1 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 244 to 84.
At Yale, Barbour had played for Walter Camp, regarded as the "Father of American Football." At Michigan, Barbour was credited with bringing the "Yale methods" to Michigan and laying the foundation for the championship teams that followed in 1894 and 1895. In 1900, a student publication called The Inlander summarized Barbour's legacy as follows:
and lived in Montreal
, Quebec
, Canada
from 1892 to 1898. He also served for a time as a passenger agent for the Rutland Railway, which was owned by the New York Central Railroad, in Rutland, Vermont. In 1898, he was appointed as traveling agent for the railroad. In 1902, he was appointed general agent of the passenger department of the New York Central & Hudson River R.R. at Montreal, where he resided for a second time from 1902 to 1907.
Barbour's brother had been involved in founding American Chicle Company
, the originator of Chiclets
. In 1910, Barbour went into business with his brother-in-law, Bartlett Arkell, who had founded the Beech-Nut Packing Company
. Until that time, Beech-Nut had been a producer of high-grade foodstuffs. On Barbour's recommendation, Beech-Nut entered the chewing gum business. Barbour traveled extensively in Guatemala
, Honduras
, British Honduras
(now known as Belize
) and the Yucatán
to procure the company's supply of chicle, the rubbery sap of the sapota tree that was the key ingredient in chewing gum. Barbour served as a director of Beech-Nut from 1910 to 1948 and became vice president in 1921. Chewing gum eventually became Beech-Nut's most successful product, providing $11 million of the company's $18 million in sales in 1935. As of 1925, Barbour and Arkell were the vice president and president, respectively, of Beech-Nut. In 1946, following Arkell's death, Barbour was elected as the chairman of the board of Beech-Nut.
In addition to his work with Beech-Nut, Barbour also served as a vice president and director of the Utica Mutual Insurance Co., and as vice president and director of the Montgomery Electric Light & Power Co., which provided electricity to Palatine Bridge
, Canajoharie
, Sharon Springs
, Ames
and Cherry Valley
, New York
.
. She had previously been married to the noted cartoonist, Bernhard Gillam
, who died in 1896. At the time of the 1910 Census, Barbour and his wife were residing in Canajoharie, and Barbour listed his occupation as vice president of a packing plant. Barbour resided in Canajoharie for the next 38 years. They lived in a stone home of East Hill in Canajoharie; the house was built in 1888 by Senator and Mrs. James Arkell, the parents of Barbour's wife. The home had extensive grounds and was considered "one of the beauty spots of the Mohawk valley."
Barbour died on February 4, 1948 at his home in Canajoharie. He was survived by his wife, Bertelle, and his brother, James R. Barbour. According to his will probated in Montgomery County Surrogate's Court in December 1948, Barbour left an estate of $1,308,151. Barbour's wife created the Arkell Hall Foundation which funded the Arkell Museum and provides residential and community facilities for the senior population in Canajoharie.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player, coach, and businessman. He played quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
for the Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
football team in 1890 and 1891 and helped lead the 1891 Yale team to a perfect 13–0 record and a national championship. He was the head coach of the University of Michigan football team
Michigan Wolverines football
The Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins and the highest winning percentage in college football history...
in 1892 and 1893, compiling an overall record of 14–8 in two years as head coach. Barbour later had a lengthy business career. After spending 17 years with the New York Central Railroad
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
, he joined the Beech-Nut Packing Company
Beech-Nut
Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation is a baby food company that is currently owned by the Swiss branded consumer-goods firm Hero Group.- History :...
in 1910 and established its chewing gum business. He remained with Beech-Nut for 38 years and served as chairman of the board from 1946 to 1948.
Early years
Barbour was born in Bangor, MaineBangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...
in 1870. His father, William McLeod Barbour (1827–1899), was a minister who emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1851, and became a professor of theology at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. His mother was Eliza A. (Ransom) Barbour, a native of New York. At the time of the 1880 Census, Barbour was ten years old and residing in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
with his parents and four older siblings. Barbour attended the public schools in New Haven, and subsequently enrolled at the Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
. He was the captain of Exeter's football team in 1888.
Yale University
Barbour attended Yale UniversityYale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and graduated Ph.B. at Yale's Sheffield Scientific School
Sheffield Scientific School
Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, the railroad executive. The school was...
in 1892. While at Yale, he was the quarterback of the Yale Bulldogs football
Yale Bulldogs football
The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision . Yale's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1872...
teams of 1890 and 1891. The 1891 Yale team was coached by Walter Camp
Walter Camp
Walter Chauncey Camp was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Fielding H. Yost, and George Halas, Camp was one of the most accomplished persons in the early history of American football...
and included College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
inductees, Pudge Heffelfinger, Frank Hinkey
Frank Hinkey
Frank Augustus Hinkey was an American football player. He was notable for being one of only three college football players in history to be named a four-time All-America. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.Born in Tonawanda, New York, he attended DeVeaux College and...
, Josh Hartwell
Josh Hartwell
John Augustus "Josh" Hartwell was an American football player and coach, military officer, and physician. Hartwell attended Yale University, where he played end for Walter Camp's Bulldogs football team from 1888 to 1891...
and Lee McClung
Lee McClung
Thomas Lee "Bum" McClung was an American football player who later served as the 22nd Treasurer of the United States....
. With Barbour as the starting quarterback, the 1891 team finished with a perfect 13–0 record and a national championship. In November 1891, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote: "Barbour has made great improvements since last year, and is one of the best men on the Yale team. He is cool, passes well and sure, uses his signals to good advantage and is an excellent player. He is considered a much superior player to the Harvard quarterback."
University of Michigan
In 1892, Barbour was hired as the head football coach at the University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. He was the school's second head football coach. In the three years before Barbour's arrival, Michigan had played a total of 17 games. As the coach of the 1892 Michigan Wolverines football team
1892 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1892 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1892 college football season. The team, with Frank Barbour as head coach, compiled a 7–5 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 298 to 170...
, Barbour expanded the team's schedule to twelve games and took the team on its first extended road trip to the West. Over the course of a two-week period from October 15 to 29, 1892, Barbour's team played five road games against Wisconsin
Wisconsin Badgers football
The Wisconsin Badgers are a college football program that represents the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. They play their home games at Camp Randall Stadium, the fourth-oldest stadium in college football...
(a 10–6 win on the 15th), Minnesota
Minnesota Golden Gophers football
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are one of the oldest programs in college football history. They compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. The Golden Gophers have claimed six national championships and have an all time record of 646–481–44 as...
(a 14–6 loss on the 17th), DePauw (an 18–0 win on the 22nd), Purdue
Purdue Boilermakers football
The Purdue Boilermakers football team is the intercollegiate football program of the Purdue University Boilermakers. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I Bowl Subdivision, and the team competes in the Big Ten Conference. The Boilermakers have an all-time record of...
(a 24–0 loss on the 24th) and Northwestern
Northwestern Wildcats football
The Northwestern Wildcats football team, representing Northwestern University, is a NCAA Division I team and member of the Big Ten Conference, with evidence of organization in 1876...
(a 10–8 loss on the 29th). The 1892 team also defeated Chicago
Chicago Maroons football
The Chicago Maroons are the college football team representing the University of Chicago. The Maroons play in NCAA Division III as a member of the University Athletic Association. From 1892 to 1939, the Maroons were a major college football power...
, 18–10, in a game played at Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, but suffered two losses to Cornell
Cornell Big Red football
The Cornell Big Red football team represents Cornell University in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Championship Subdivision college football competition as a member of the Ivy League. It is one of the oldest and most storied football programs in the nation...
.
Barbour returned the following year as the coach of the 1893 Michigan Wolverines football team
1893 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1893 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1893 college football season. The team, with Frank Barbour as head coach, compiled a 7–3 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 278 to 102...
. The 1893 team team improved to 7–3. The team closed the season with five consecutive wins over Purdue, DePauw, Northwestern, Kansas
Kansas Jayhawks football
The Kansas Jayhawks football program is the intercollegiate football program of the University of Kansas Jayhawks. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I, and the team competes in the Big 12 Conference....
and Chicago by a combined score of 202 to 24. The team's 72–6 victory over Northwestern was the team's second highest point total in the first 22 years of the program's history.
Barbour compiled an overall record of 14–8 in two years as head coach. He also returned to Michigan in 1894 for part of the season to assist in developing the football team. The 1894 team
1894 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1894 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1894 college football season. The team, with William McCauley as head coach, compiled an 9–1–1 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 244 to 84. The Wolverines played a home-and-away series...
compiled an 9–1–1 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 244 to 84.
At Yale, Barbour had played for Walter Camp, regarded as the "Father of American Football." At Michigan, Barbour was credited with bringing the "Yale methods" to Michigan and laying the foundation for the championship teams that followed in 1894 and 1895. In 1900, a student publication called The Inlander summarized Barbour's legacy as follows:
"In 1893 Frank Barbour, an old Yale quarterback, coached Michigan and taught the men, who afterward made Michigan famous, Yale methods. He was not a great coach in every sense of the term, but he knew the game and had a class of apt scholars. From him Michigan learned the style of interference which, with the right kind of men, has always been successful. From him 'Jimmie' BairdJames Baird (civil engineer)James Baird was an American civil engineer, football player and coach. He played football for the University of Michigan from 1892 to 1895 and was captain of the 1894 team. He was also an assistant football coach at Michigan from 1897 to 1898. He worked for the George A. Fuller Co. for 23 years...
learned the quarterback's duties so well that in the end the pupil undoubtedly passed the teacher."
Business career
Barbour also had a lengthy career in business. He was associated with the New York Central & Hudson Valley Railroad from 1892 to 1909. He worked as a traffic clerk for the New York Central RailroadNew York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
and lived in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
from 1892 to 1898. He also served for a time as a passenger agent for the Rutland Railway, which was owned by the New York Central Railroad, in Rutland, Vermont. In 1898, he was appointed as traveling agent for the railroad. In 1902, he was appointed general agent of the passenger department of the New York Central & Hudson River R.R. at Montreal, where he resided for a second time from 1902 to 1907.
Barbour's brother had been involved in founding American Chicle Company
American Chicle Company
The American Chicle Company was a chewing gum trust founded by Edward E. Beeman and Jonathan Primle.-History:It was incorporated in Trenton, New Jersey on June 2, 1899. Its market capitalization was $9,000,000 with one third of its stock preferred and 6% cumulative dividends...
, the originator of Chiclets
Chiclets
Chiclets is a brand of candy coated chewing gum made by Cadbury Adams. The colors of chiclets are: yellow, green, orange, red, white, and pink. The product's name is derived from Nahuatl word tziktli, in English chicle, the substance from which chewing gum was traditionally made...
. In 1910, Barbour went into business with his brother-in-law, Bartlett Arkell, who had founded the Beech-Nut Packing Company
Beech-Nut
Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation is a baby food company that is currently owned by the Swiss branded consumer-goods firm Hero Group.- History :...
. Until that time, Beech-Nut had been a producer of high-grade foodstuffs. On Barbour's recommendation, Beech-Nut entered the chewing gum business. Barbour traveled extensively in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, British Honduras
British Honduras
British Honduras was a British colony that is now the independent nation of Belize.First colonised by Spaniards in the 17th century, the territory on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, became a British crown colony from 1862 until 1964, when it became self-governing. Belize became...
(now known as Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
) and the Yucatán
Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
to procure the company's supply of chicle, the rubbery sap of the sapota tree that was the key ingredient in chewing gum. Barbour served as a director of Beech-Nut from 1910 to 1948 and became vice president in 1921. Chewing gum eventually became Beech-Nut's most successful product, providing $11 million of the company's $18 million in sales in 1935. As of 1925, Barbour and Arkell were the vice president and president, respectively, of Beech-Nut. In 1946, following Arkell's death, Barbour was elected as the chairman of the board of Beech-Nut.
In addition to his work with Beech-Nut, Barbour also served as a vice president and director of the Utica Mutual Insurance Co., and as vice president and director of the Montgomery Electric Light & Power Co., which provided electricity to Palatine Bridge
Palatine Bridge, New York
Palatine Bridge is a village in Montgomery County, New York, United States. The population was 706 at the 2000 census. The basis of the name is the community's location in a region settled by Palatinate Germans....
, Canajoharie
Canajoharie (town), New York
Canajoharie is a town in Montgomery County, New York, United States. The population was 3,730 at the 2010 census. Canajoharie is located south of the Mohawk River on the south border of the county. The Erie Canal passes along the north town line. There is a village of Canajoharie in the town...
, Sharon Springs
Sharon Springs, New York
Sharon Springs is a village in Schoharie County, New York, United States. The population was 547 at the 2000 census. Its name derives from the hometown of the first Colonial settlers, Sharon, Connecticut, and the important springs in the village...
, Ames
Ames, New York
Ames is a village in Montgomery County, New York, United States. The population was 173 at the 2000 census.The Village of Ames is in the south-central part of the Town of Canajoharie and is south of the Village of Canajoharie....
and Cherry Valley
Cherry Valley (town), New York
Cherry Valley is a town in Otsego County, New York, USA. The population was 1,266 at the 2000 census.Within the Town of Cherry Valley is a village, also called Cherry Valley...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Marriage and death
In September 1908, Barbour married Bertelle Arkelle Gillam in Canajoharie, New YorkCanajoharie (town), New York
Canajoharie is a town in Montgomery County, New York, United States. The population was 3,730 at the 2010 census. Canajoharie is located south of the Mohawk River on the south border of the county. The Erie Canal passes along the north town line. There is a village of Canajoharie in the town...
. She had previously been married to the noted cartoonist, Bernhard Gillam
Bernhard Gillam
Bernhard Gillam , was an English-born American political cartoonist....
, who died in 1896. At the time of the 1910 Census, Barbour and his wife were residing in Canajoharie, and Barbour listed his occupation as vice president of a packing plant. Barbour resided in Canajoharie for the next 38 years. They lived in a stone home of East Hill in Canajoharie; the house was built in 1888 by Senator and Mrs. James Arkell, the parents of Barbour's wife. The home had extensive grounds and was considered "one of the beauty spots of the Mohawk valley."
Barbour died on February 4, 1948 at his home in Canajoharie. He was survived by his wife, Bertelle, and his brother, James R. Barbour. According to his will probated in Montgomery County Surrogate's Court in December 1948, Barbour left an estate of $1,308,151. Barbour's wife created the Arkell Hall Foundation which funded the Arkell Museum and provides residential and community facilities for the senior population in Canajoharie.