Michael Frank (December 12, 1804December 26, 1894) was a German American pioneer, newspaper editor, and politician. He was the first Mayor of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and is regarded as the father of Wisconsin public schools. Early life Michael Frank was born in Virgil, New York, his father, John Frank, was an immigrant from the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, in modern day western Germany. He came to America for economic opportunity, but arrived in the midst of the American Revolutionary War and decided to join the rebel cause. At the end of the war he was granted an honorable discharge and received a grant of land. Through toil, he transformed the wild land into a farm where Michael was raised. From an early age he developed an interest in reading and study. He consumed books and newspapers, and was eager to engage in conversation about public affairs. He became interested in social reform movements as a young man and was involved with the temperance and abolitionist movements while living in New York. At the time, abolitionism was seen as a fringe ideology and the few abolitionist papers in the country were denounced by the major parties and their publications. Nevertheless, Frank subscribed to the abolitionist paper the Emancipator, but his postmaster refused to deliver it until he pledged not to distribute it further. Wisconsin He moved to Southport, Wisconsin Territory, (now Kenosha, Wisconsin) with his wife, Caroline, in October 1839. Here he sought to continue his social causes. A few months after his arrival he organized a lyceum which became influential in the young settlement. He also resumed his interest in the Temperance movement, participating in the first temperance convention in the territory and drafting an address for the Wisconsin Enquirer to advocate the temperance issue. In January 1840 he met Christopher Latham Sholes, and, in June of that year, they partnered to publish and co-edit the Southport Telegraph. The paper was continuously published for many years, supported the temperance, free soil, and anti-slavery movements. Frank then founded the first literary magazine in Wisconsin in 1843: The Garland of the West. He was active in encouraging literary and lecture interests in Kenosha. In 1860 he hosted a number of prominent lecturers, including Horace Greeley, Frederick Douglass, and John P. Hale. Frank was commissioned Colonel of the 4th regiment of Wisconsin militia by Governor Henry Dodge in 1840. The title "Colonel" stuck with Mr.