meat packer, philanthropist, b. Little Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire, England. He attended private schools in England, and came to Wisconsin with his parents in 1843, settling on a farm near Raymond, Racine County. In 1845 he moved to Milwaukee, where he and his father started a meat market under the name of J. & F. Layton, In 1852, Frederick Layton and John Plankinton (q.v.) founded the Layton & Plankinton Packing Company for the packing of pork and beef. With capital of $3,000 borrowed from the Marshall & Ilsley Bank, they built their slaughter and packing houses in the Menomonee valley. In the early 1860's Layton withdrew from the partnership and in 1863 organized Layton & Company, with himself, his father, and George Dickens as partners. After his father died in 1875, Frederick continued the business until 1900, when he retired and the business was incorporated. He was an incorporator of the Milwaukee City Railway Company in 1865 and a director of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company (1890-1911). He gave to Milwaukee the Layton Art Gallery and its treasures (1888), founded the Layton Home for Invalids (1908), and made large benefactions to Milwaukee Hospital and his native village in England. A. J. Aikens and L. A. Proctor, eds., Men of Progress. Wis. (Milwaukee, 1897); [F. A. Flower], Hist. of Milwaukee (Chicago, 1881); B. Still, Milwaukee (Madison, 1948); J. G. Gregory, Hist. of Milwaukee (4 vols., Chicago, 1931); J. S. Buck, Pioneer Hist. of Milwaukee (2 vols., Milwaukee, 1876-1881); Milwaukee Journal, Aug. 16, 1919, Feb. 22, 1935, Jan. 16, 1949; Milwaukee Sentinel, Apr. 6, 1888, Oct. 16, 1895, Aug. 17, 1919.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Memorial to Frederick Layton for details.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]