Frederick Fraley

Frederick Fraley (May 18, 1804 – September 23, 1901) was an American businessman, politician, and civic leader.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Fraley joined the wholesale hardware business at the age of 16, and subsequently began importing hardware. Throughout his life Fraley was involved in a variety of business and commercial ventures, serving as the executive head of the Schuylkill Navigation Company, the Western Savings Fund Society, and president of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company; he was also associated with the Philadelphia Board of Trade and served as president of the National Board of Trade. In 1824 he helped found the Franklin Institute, and in December 1839 went to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as a delegate to the Whig Party's national convention, which chose William Henry Harrison to be its candidate in the 1840 presidential election. In 1853 Fraley became a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania. He also held a variety of positions in government, both on City Councils as well as in the Pennsylvania State Senate. For the last twenty-one years of his life Fraley was the president of the American Philosophical Society. He died in his home in Philadelphia from general debility.