Dr. Persiphor Frazer, Jr

http://www.archives.upenn.edu/faids/upt/upt50/frazerfam.html

Persifor Frazer, the son of John Fries and Charlotte Jeffers Cave Frazer, was born on July 24, 1844 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Frazer attended the school of St. Luke's Episcopal Church and then the classical school of Samuel Arthur. In 1858, he entered the University of Pennsylvania; he graduated in 1862 with an A.B. He was commissioned in the United States Coast Survey and assigned to a South Atlantic squadron under Dupont. At the beginning of the Civil War, he requested a leave of absence to serve in the First City Troop and fought in Gettysburg Campaign. In 1864, he served as acting ensign in the Mississippi squadron. Frazer received special commendation for the survey he took of the Charleston, S.C. harbor for preparation of the attack on Fort Wagner while under fire from Confederate boats. He was honorably discharged in 1865. That same year Frazer received his semi-honorary A.M. degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

At close of Civil War, Frazer studied six months in the laboratory of Booth and Garret in the study of practical chemistry. In May of 1866 until 1869, he attended the Royal Saxon School of Mines in Freiberg, Germany. Frazer passed with distinction in the examination on Mineralogy. He returned to the United States in 1869 and was appointed Assistant Geologist of Pennsylvania. As Assistant Geologist, he wrote the report on Mining and Mineralogy of Colorado and Wyoming. In 1870, Frazer was appointed Instructor in Natural History and Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. He was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1871 and to Professor of Chemistry in 1872, serving until 1874.

In addition to his tenure at the University, Frazer served as Assistant on the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, 1874-1882. In 1889, he was appointed Professor of Chemistry of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. He filled the Chair of Chemistry at Franklin Institute from 1891 to 1893. He was a founding member of Society of American Geologists and of the Franklin Institute Journal. Frazer was the first foreigner to receive the Docteur és Science Naturelles from the University of France, which was awarded to him in 1882. He was also awarded the decoration of the Golden Palms of the Academy from the French Government in July 1890, for public instruction.

Very active professionally, Frazer's publications include: Tables for the Determination of Minerals by the Physical Properties Ascertainable with the aid of a Few Field Instruments, Based on the System of Prof. Dr. Albin Weisbach, 1891; Biographical Catalogue of the Matriculates of the University of Pennsylvania, 1749-1893, 1893; Bibliotics, or Study of Documents, 1894; Cross Reference Catalogue of the Works of the Late E.D. Cope; Search for the Causes of Injuries to Vegetation in an Urban Villa Near a Large Industrial Establishment Together with a Bibliography on the Subject, 1907. He was editor of the Franklin Institute Journal, 1881-1892. Some of the organizations and associations of which Frazer was a member include the American Philosophical Society, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Society of American Geologists, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, the General and Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution, the Society of the War of 1812, the Society of Colonial Wars of Pennsylvania, the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Science, and the Reichsanstalt of Vienna. He served as the Secretary of the American Committee to the Congrès Géologique International in Berlin (1885), and as Vice President, representing the United States to the Congrès in London (1888) and in St. Petersburg (1897).

Frazer was internationally respected as an expert on handwriting. He devised a process for detecting forgeries through composite photography which led to closer study of handwriting. By powerful, microscopic viewing of handwriting, Frazer found that tremors or quivers appear uniformly throughout a person's handwriting. He linked these tremors or quivers to the nerve state of the penman. Therefore, by careful, microscopic examination, forgeries can be detected by matching these tremors from one example to another. He first published his findings in his work Bibliotechs, or the Study of Documents in 1894, which went many later revisions. His discovery resulted in a demand for his expert opinion on handwriting. He gave testimony at several big trials, in particular the Molineaux murder case in New York and the Miers-Tilton case in Camden. In the latter case, Frazer would not swear to his belief in the existence of God and was thrown out as a reliable witness. Frazer filed suit and subsequently published his reaction in his "Expert Testimony: Its Uses and Abuses," in which Frazer attacked the attitudes of the judges on the bench to expert witnesses.

Persifor Frazer married Isabella Nevins Whelen, daughter of Edward Siddons Whelen of Philadelphia; they had four children: Charlotte (b. 1872) who entered the Catholic Society of the Sisters of the Assumption; Persifor Frazer, Jr. (b. 1874); Laurence (1878-1881); Dr. John Frazer (1882-1964). He died on April 7, 1909. On the day after his death, a bill was passed by the Pennsylvania State Senate which allowed agnostics to testify as competent witnesses on affirmation.

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Jul 24 2020, 17:43:11 UTC