Frederick Follett was born in 1804 in Gorham, New York. In 1819 he began learning the printing trade in the office of his brother, Oran. When Oran moved to Buffalo, New York in 1825, Frederick took over the management of the newspaper. In 1826, when riots broke out in New York after the alleged murder of William Morgan by the Masons, Frederick took an active role in defending Masonry. In 1836, after meeting Stephen F. Austin and Dr. Branch T. Archer during a visit to the White House, Follett sold the paper and went to Texas to serve with the "army of liberation" in the struggle against Mexico. The major battles had already occurred when he arrived, but he remained in Texas for some time to see the country.
Other members of the family represented in the collection are Benjamin F. Follett, probably son of Frederick and brother of Frederick M., who in the 1880's lived in Kokomo, Colorado, and F.E. Follett (relationship unknown) who in 1909 lived in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Correspondence, financial papers, essays, diary (1853), autobiography, appointments, and other materials on Follett's career in Batavia, New York, newspaper publisher (1825-1843) and postmaster (1843-1849), New York canal commissioner (1849-1856), and New York City customs house employee (1865-1891). Also included is information on Follett's treaty negotiations for the U.S. government with the Tonawanda band of Seneca Indians (1859), and his recollections of riots in western New York after the alleged murder of William Morgan by the Masons in 1826. His reminiscences (ca. 1859, also on microfilm) of a tour through Texas in 1836 describe its countryside, villages, and people, the progress and adventures of his party; and anecdotes of frontier life. Other papers concern his son Frederick M.'s military career in the Civil War and at various army posts, with comments on public issues of the 1860's; his son Benjamin F.'s property and mineral interest in Colorado (1880's-1890's); and other family affairs and business interests.
Duplicate microfilm negative is restricted.
Frederick Follett and Family Papers,1841-1912, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.