Biography - William H. Fry
William
H. Fry, of West Ridge, who is the grain agent at that place for T. D. Hanson
& Co., a position he has filled most acceptably to his employers and the
general public for the past eight years, was born in Camargo township,
Douglas county, Illinois, February 14, 1869. He is a son of Daniel and
Millie Ann (Braughton) Fry, who were born respectively in Pennsylvania and
Kentucky. His grandfather, Henry Fry. who was born in Pennsylvania, came
west and became one of the pioneer settlers in Camargo township. Daniel Fry,
who came at the same time, was born in 1830 and died in 1881; his wife died
in 1893 in the forty-first year of her age. To their marriage were born four
children: William H.; Mrs. M. Entler, residing near the Mt. Gilead church;
James W. and G. W. G. W. Braughton (grandfather) was of English ancestry, a
native of Kentucky, and settled in Camargo township at about the same time
the Fry family located there.
William H. Fry was reared on the farm, and after attending the graded school of Camargo was one year at the Bloomington normal; leaving there he entered DePauw University at Greencastle, Indiana, where he continued his studies for three years. After leaving college be taught for three years in Douglas countv, at the end of which time he accepted his present position at West Ridge. On December 1, 1899, he engaged in mercantile business also at West Ridge, and accepted the position of postmaster under the administration of President McKinley.
On February 22, 1892, he married Miss Cora A., daughter of W. H. Dodson, a justice of the peace of Tuscola. Mr. Fry owns twenty acres of land in Camargo township, besides property in the village of West Ridge. He is a Knight of Pythias, and he and his wife are members of the Christian church of Tuscola. Mr. Fry is one of that useful class of young men in every county whose intelligence, sturdy integrity and restless energy add stability and force to its business affairs.
Extracted 12 Apr 2017 by Norma Hass from the Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County, Illinois, published in 1900, pages 134-135.
