Child Obituary

Frank Samuel Child, D.D.S. was born in Exeter, New York, March 20, 1854. He was educated at Hamilton College and Union Theological Seminary and ordained to the Christian ministry in 1879. After two pastorate postings at Sound Beach and New Preston, Connecticut he became pastor of the First Church of Christ, Congregational, in Fairfield, Connecticut in 1888. He married Elizabeth Lilly (Bessie) in 1881; she died in Fairfield March 8, 1918. They had eight children. During his lifetime he traveled extensively in Europe, Palestine, Egypt, Mexico and throughout the United States. Returning from wintering in El Paso, Texas, Dr. Child died at Bridgeport Hospital following a brief illness caused by a scratch on his lip which infected and turned into a carbuncle on May 4, 1922. He was 69.

He was one of the foremost citizens of Fairfield and widely known beyond it. He was founder and president of the Fairfield Historical Society; founder and president of the Fairfield Fresh Air Society (a rented house that was used to give poor children -- over 2,000 by 1902 -- from New York a vacation in the country); president of the Fairfiled chapter of the American Red Cross; president of the board of directors of the Gould Homestead (the Gould Vacation Home for Working Women for single, white Episcopal working girls to spend a summer vacation near the Sound); and founder of the Fairfield Memorial Library. Dr. Child was a writer of renown, particularly in history and author of some twenty books along with numerous pamphlets and papers. He also was trustee of Alfred University in New York State and Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and received, honoris causa, the degree of D. D. from several colleges, including Hamilton, his alma mater, the degree of Doctor of Letters from Alfred University and, from Elon College in North Carolina the honorary degrees of Doctor of Divinity (1897) and Doctor of Laws (1911) where he was visiting professor from 1902 to 1922. Additionally he was a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and a trustee and corresponding secretary of the Francis Asbury Palmer Fund, out of the income of which hundreds of young men and women have been able to acquire college educations.