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BIOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY

Jessie Nixon, PBS Wisconsin Education

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EDITED BY�Georgia Beaverson�Kaitlyn Beguhl, Section Elementary School, Mukwonago, WI

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SPECIAL THANKS TO

Bill Frost Jenkins

Trace Frost

Mike Baron, PBS Wisconsin

Holly De Ruyter, PBS Wisconsin

Debbie Burmeister, Tullar Elementary School�

First edition ©2021. Revised edition ©2021 Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

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Have you ever felt limited by a stereotype? A stereotype is a belief about how someone should behave or what they should do. Stereotypes can be based on your gender, your culture, where you are from, how old you are, or other factors.�

Carrie Frost grew up in an era of many stereotypes about what women should and should not do. She defied stereotypes by becoming a thriving business owner and creating work opportunities for other women.

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Carrie holds up a prized catch.

Photo courtesy of Trace Frost.

stereotypes (n): an over-generalized belief about how someone should behave��era (n): a long period of time marked by specific cultural or historical features

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Carrie Frost was born on October 14, 1868, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Her father, John Frost was a blacksmith with the railroad. Carrie’s family moved around quite a bit because of that. In 1870 they moved to Hokah, Minnesota, and later to Wells, Minnesota. Carrie spent her early grade-school years in these two towns. Her family moved to Stevens Point in 1885.

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Map of Stevens Point from 1877. Photo courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Archives.

Carrie loved the outdoors and spent much of her free time in the streams with her nine brothers and sisters. Her father was a skilled angler, and Carrie grew up watching him fish.

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At that time, fly fishing was considered a man’s sport. Many people thought it wasn't very ladylike, so most women and girls didn’t do it. But like her father, Carrie loved fly fishing. She loved the sunshine reflecting on the water, the little “whoosh” sound of casting a line, and the big fat trout you could catch in Wisconsin streams.

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angler (n): a person who fishes using a rod, line, and fly

�fly fishing (n): a way to fish that uses a human-made fly as bait attached to a line, which is cast into the water using a rod

Carrie worked hard to build up her fly fishing skills, and she learned to tie flies like an expert. Eventually, local fly fishers could not match her skill.

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fly (n): a type of bait used in fly fishing that mimics the motion of bugs on the water

Carrie and her father, John Clarke Frost. �This photo was taken a few years before John’s death in 1914. Photo courtesy of �Bill Frost Jenkins.

After high school Carrie did not have the freedom to do whatever she wanted. Given the right opportunities, men could become doctors, lawyers, or join other professions. Women had few options open to them. Like many single women of her day, Carrie earned money as a school teacher. But in her free time, she dreamed of forging her own path doing what she loved most in the world.

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Carrie (standing second from the left) poses with her sister Florence (on the far right) and three other friends for this photo taken in 1895. Photo courtesy of Bill Frost Jenkins.

One day while she was out fishing, Carrie noticed that the fish didn’t take the bait. At that time, most fly fishers used flies that were imported to the United States from Europe. Carrie believed that Wisconsin fish were not attracted to these flies because they were made of materials that were not from the area. She wondered what might happen if she made flies from the fur and feathers of local animals instead.��So, she got to work. She gathered local feathers, animal fur, and bristles from deer tails. She made new flies at her parents’ kitchen table. The fish began to bite those flies! Fly fishers in Stevens Point soon took notice. Demand for Carrie’s flies grew quickly, so she asked the housekeeper in her parent’s home to help make more flies.

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import (v): to bring goods to sell into the country from another country

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Some of her friends from town joined in, too. Soon, there was an all-female fly-making workforce in Carrie’s parents’ home. They even dyed feathers in the basement! So many people wanted Carrie’s flies that she opened her own fly tackle business in 1896.

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When Carrie first opened her business she used her initials C.J. Frost. As her business became more successful she made a point to let the world know that she was a female business owner using the name Miss C.J. Frost on the fly tying cards used to sell her ties in stores. Photo courtesy

of PBS Wisconsin.

It was very rare for a woman to own a business at that time. Carrie worried that men might not buy her flies if they knew a woman owned the company. So, she used her initials instead of her first name to help make the company more successful, despite the times she lived in. She called it the C.J. Frost Fishing Tackle Manufacturing Company.

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manufacturing (v): the act of making products at large scale using machines

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The business did well. Carrie kept moving to bigger and bigger buildings as it grew. Her business became so big that in 1906 she had a new brick building built. Her business outgrew that building as well, so in 1917 she added a second brick building.

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The C.J. Frost Fishing Tackle factory was built in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Photo courtesy of Bill Frost Jenkins.

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Carrie hired more and more women to tie flies. At one point, she employed over 150 people—almost all of them were women. Her business put Stevens Point on the map. It became known as the “Fly Tackle Capital of the World.”

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Carrie sits in the middle next to her brother, G.W. Frost, at a company picnic in 1911. Notice that all the employees in this photo are women. Carrie’s brother started his own fly-tying business around 1920 after Carrie retired in 1919. Photo courtesy of Bill Frost Jenkins.

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Few women of Carrie’s time had the chance to do what she did. Women were expected to stay at home to do housework and raise a family. Carrie never married or had children. She made a full life out of her business career and was an example for future women to create businesses. When she retired, her business was the largest manufacturer of flies in the United States.

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Carrie also owned her own land in Richford, with a cabin built next to a trout stream there. After she retired, she spent most of her time outdoors on her land. She fished with her pet cocker spaniel and her friends at her farm.

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Carrie truly lived for herself. She didn’t let the expectations that society had of women in her time control her life.

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Carrie enjoyed fishing at Wedde Creek near her farm. Today the farm is owned by her relative, Trace Frost, �who runs an alpaca farm with his wife. Photo courtesy of Bill Frost Jenkins.

In 1920, Carrie retired and sold her business. During her lifetime, she was able to see a lot of change made for women. The year she retired was a breakthrough year for female entrepreneurs and for women’s rights.

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Carrie died on October 6, 1937, at the age of 67. She followed her passions, challenged stereotypes, and created opportunities for others. What passions will you follow to make change?

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Here Carrie is holding a German Brown �trout caught in the Tomorrow River in �1917. Photo courtesy of Bill Frost Jenkins.

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