CAPTAIN WILLIAM M. FRY. No history of Greene county would be complete without mention of the Fry family. Captain William M. Fry, still one of the respected and valued citizens of the county, was born in Carrollton on the 16th of August, 1831, and is a son of General Jacob Fry, who built the first house in the county seat. A sketch of the latter appears elsewhere in this volume.

Captain Fry spent his school days in Lockport, Illinois, and in 1850, when nineteen years of age, he started across the plains with his father and two friends from Lockport, arriving in Sacramento, California, on the 1st of August, 1850. Although the train was a long one over the hot sandy plains and over the mountain passes, the party had no trouble with the Indians. General Fry and his uncle, J. D. Fry, who had gone to California in 1849, opened a store in the mining districts and General Fry assisted in the conduct of this commercial enterprise. Subsequently, however, they disposed of their store there and removed to Sacramento, where they opened a general mercantile establishment, which they conducted for some time. In 1856 the father and son returned to Illinois and for two years General Fry resided in Ottawa, LaSalle county, but Captain Fry returned at once to his home in Greene county in 1856, locating on the old Fry homestead, six miles south of Carrollton, where he was joined by his father in 1858.

Theirs was an elegant residence, well built, and it is now occupied by Thomas S. Parker. It continued to be the home of General Fry, however, until his death. Captain Fry remained there until 1870, when he removed to Carrollton, which has since been the place of his abode, and he now occupies a nice residence in the north part of the town. He owns a farm of eighty acres, which yields him a good income.

During the period of the Civil war Captain Fry served as provost marshal for the tenth congressional district. He had previously filled the office of deputy sheriff and in public matters he has ever been loyal in citizenship and progressive in promoting all measures which he has deemed would prove of benefit to his community. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, having been made a Mason at Ottawa, Illinois, in 1854, and is today one of the honored pioneer residents of the county, the history of which is familiar to him through almost the entire period of its existence.