San Diego County
Biographies
FRANK HERBERT CUNNINGHAM,
a prominent citizen of San Diego County, was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, December 5, 1855. His parents were both natives of New Hampshire, to which State their ancestors early emigrated from the Scotch lowlands. His mother, Miriam Putney Roby, was born in Sutton, of a family of Revolutionary heroes who had gained conspicuous honors at Bunker Hill and Bennington. She was both a beautiful and remarkably intelligent woman, possessing robust health and a benevolent Christian character. His father, Benjamin Pierce Cunningham, was born at his father's farm at Hillsboro, from which at an early age he set out, learned the tinware trade, and soon after established himself in the house-furnishing business, in which he amassed a fortune. He was a pushing business man, a skillful financier and a good citizen, and was honored by his neighbors and associates for his sterling worth. Frank Herbert, the second son, would have been as tall, broad-shouldered and vigorous as his parents had not an unfortunate fall, during infancy, produced a curvature of the spine. For this no cure was found, although the best authorities were consulted; their treatment resulted in such a loss of strength that until his twelfth year he was compelled to use crutches. His mind, however, was unusually active, and having early acquired a taste for good literature, his greatest pleasure throughout life was found in reading a favorite author. Afflicted as he was, his struggle for health, education and for business success seems truly remarkable. Until 1869 he was unable to attend school, but two years later we find that he secured the highest percentage of the sixty-nine applicants for entrance at the Roxbury Latin School, where he proposed to prepare for college. Such a course was thought beyond his strength and he therefore entered the Boston Grammar School, completing the usual four years' course in half that time. In 1873, while attending the Roxbury High School, he was obliged to abandon further study, and to confirm his health and care for certain Southern investments, he passed the greater part of the next year in Georgia and Florida.
In 1878, upon the death of his father, Mr. Cunningham determined to acquire a higher education, and with that purpose entered, in 1879, the Phillips Academy at Exeter, New Hampshire, from which, three years later, he was graduated with high honors. At Exeter, despite the severe winter temperature, his health became greatly improved and he was therefore able to take an active interest in many of the sports that pertain to school life. He was likewise active in the various school societies and a favorite in his class as well as a welcome guest at the houses of the citizens.
Although passing his examination for Harvard College, he decided to finish with a year course at the Cambridge Law School. During this year Mr. Cunningham wrote a centennial history under the title of " Familiar Sketches of the Phillips (Exeter) Academy," a book of nearly 500 pages, published by the Osgoods. This volume not only received the approval of the Alumni of that celebrated institution but also found its way into all the public and many of the private libraries. Its circulation is said to have been the means of largely increasing the endowment of the academy through the complete exposition given to its affairs. While at Exeter Mr. Cunningham had decided upon a business career. He seems to have inherited a restless energy and an aptitude for commercial pursuits, which for a long time had warred against his fondness for literature and his fitness for such work. He established his headquarters in Boston and for several years made a specialty of Kansas mortgage investments, later extending his operations and journeys to the Pacific coast. At the same time, as the head of the Cunningham Manufacturing Company, he was interested in the manufacture of patent machinery, shipping the same to all parts of the world. Repeated visits to the southwest led him to study that section and to conclude that Southern California possessed elements to attract and support a very dense population, under proper system of irrigation. Therefore forming a partnership with other gentlemen of means, Mr. Cunningham removed to Oceanside, California, where in 1887 he consummated the purchase of the water rights of the Sari Luis Rey river, the most considerable stream in San Diego County, California, and also the reservoir sites, to be used therewith, proposing to utilize these for the irrigation of some 200,000 acres of fruit land, as soon as capital could be secured for that purpose. This became the San Luis Rey Flume Company, succeeded in 1889 by the San Luis Rey Water Company, of Illinois, a sale of the controlling interests in that enterprise having been made to C. B. Holmes and others of Chicago. This undertaking has developed into one of the largest and most beneficent irrigation works in California, results due to the efforts of Mr. Cunningham and his associates.
Since coming to California Mr. Cunningham has taken an active part in the work of developing the country. He organized and was the first president of the San Diego County Agricultural Association. He has served as an officer of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, directing his attention particularly to colonization, and in 1889 represented his county on the State Arid Land Committee. He has served as city trustee and as a delegate to the county and State conventions. He has always been an ardent Republican, and to-day takes a warm interest in political affairs. He has traveled extensively in this country and in most parts of Europe.
In January, 1888, Mr. Cunningham married Marion Lyons Kress, the oldest daughter of Major John A. Kress of the United States army, a lovely lady, whose death the following June was much lamented. Mr. Cunningham makes his residence and business headquarters at Oceanside, California.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 292-294
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler