GENERAL JACOB FRY, who built the first house in Carrollton and was one of Greene county's most honored citizens, was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, September 20, 1799, spent the days of his boyhood and youth in his native state and in early manhood went to Edwardsville. About 1819 he first visited Greene county and at that time it is said that he made from boards split from a walnut tree the first coffin constructed in the county. Following his return to Alton, Illinois, he hewed the timber for the first mill erected at that place. He had, however, been favorably impressed with Greene county and its possibilities and returned to this locality about the beginning of 1821. An account of the founding of Carrollton is given in a souvenir edition of the Patriot, in which it was said:

"On the 20th day of February, 1821, five sturdy pioneers met at a cabin on the Illinois prairie and proceeded in solemn and dignified horseback procession. They had an important duty to perform. They had been appointed by the law making body of a new state to locate the capital of a newer county.

"On January, 1821, a bill had been introduced in the Illinois legislature, then in session at Vandalia, to organize the county of Greene, fixing the boundaries and providing for the location of the county seat. The bill was passed on January 18, and was signed by Shadrack Bond, first governor of Illinois, on January 20. The county as then organized included the territory now comprising both Greene and Jersey counties, and to it was temporarily attached by this act the present counties of Scott, Morgan and Macoupin. Prior to this time the territory, and in fact all the northern part of the state, formed part of Madison county. The new county was named for General Nathaniel Greene, of Revolutionary fame. The commissioners appointed to give the same some appropriate name; provided the owner or owners of the land whereon said seat of justice is about to be fixed give to the county commissioners a good deed of conveyance, in fee simple, for not less than twenty acres of land, for the use of the county. After some consultation, it became evident that the commissioners were unanimous in their opinion that the court house should be built on the land of Mr. Carlin. The town was immediately laid out and named in honor of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Maryland."

Mr. Carlin offered to Jacob Fry the land if he would build thereon a house and the offer was accepted. He was a prominent man in the new county of Greene, promoting many of the movements which resulted in substantial growth and improvement and taking a very active part in its public life. He was a member of the first grand jury, was deputy sheriff in 1822 and was elected sheriff in 1828, filling the office for ten years. He was married to Miss Emily Turney, daughter of Attorney-General James Turney, in May, 1826. It was not many years after this that the Indians went upon the warpath and General Fry served as colonel in the Black Hawk war, while after its close he was elected a major general of the militia. Further official honors awaited him, for in 1837 he was appointed commissioner of the Illinois & Michigan canal and in 1856 was collector of customs at Chicago. During the Rebellion he commanded a regiment which did valiant service at Shiloh.

In 1850 he crossed the plains to California and assisted J. D. Fry in the conduct of a store in the mining districts for a time. Subsequently they sold out and removed to Sacramento, where they opened a general mercantile establishment, which they conducted for some time. In 1856 he and his son Captain Fry returned to Illinois and for two years the General resided in Ottawa, LaSalle county, but in 1858 he again located on the old homestead, six miles south of Carrollton, where he died in 1882.

The important part which he bore in the early development and later growth and progress of his county entitled him to distinctive mention as one of its most honored pioneers and one to whom the county owes a debt of gratitude.

In his family were five children, but Captain William Fry is the only surviving son. James B., who was a graduate of the West Point Military Academy and continued in the regular army, took an active part in the war of the Rebellion, during which time he was provost marshall general with headquarters in Washington, D. C. He was also actively engaged in the war. Sarah was the second of the family and William M. the third. Edward became a resident of Chicago and afterward of San Francisco, California, where he died. Julia, the youngest is now living in Jerseyville.