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Research dossier · People & Ideas

Frank J. Washabaugh

American politician (1849-1902)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 14, 2026
Entity authorityQ16030701 ↗
Source-derived summary

Frank J. Washabaugh (July 2, 1849 – May 29, 1902) was an American politician and jurist.

Career

Born in Bedford, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Lafayette College. His father Daniel Washabaugh served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. He then moved to Yankton, Dakota Territory and then to Rapid City, Dakota Territory where he practiced law. In 1882, Washabaugh was elected to the Dakota Territorial Council. In 1889, Washabaugh was elected to the South Dakota State Senate from Deadwood, South Dakota, as a Republican. In 1898, he was elected county judge for Lawrence County, South Dakota. He died in Baltimore, Maryland where he had gone for medical treatment.

Legacy

The former Washabaugh County, South Dakota was named after Frank J. Washabaugh.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Frank J. Washabaugh” as american politician (1849-1902). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1849, 1902, 1882, 1889—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1849-07-02. The account is most persuasive where Frank, Washabaugh and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician (1849-1902). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16030701. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1849, 1902, 1882 and 1889.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Frank J. Washabaugh”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Frank J. Washabaugh primary sources, Frank J. Washabaugh archive and Frank research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Frank J. Washabaugh”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Frank J. Washabaugh” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.