The Hospitality of “Bathing” – The Fry Family, part 2

Charles William Fry (1842-1922) was one of seven sons of Philip Slaughter Fry and his wife Pamelia Anderson.  He grew up in Orange county Virginia, and at the age of seventeen or eighteen he set out to teach school in Chicot county Arkansas.  It is not certain what drew him there, but he clearly had a relationship with the Abner Gaines family (former Virginians), with whom he lived.  He returned to Virginia for the term of the Civil War, and served with distinction.  But, following the war he again made his home in Arkansas, where he married Fannie Davies, the daughter of Anthony Harpin Davies and Mildred Pollard Gaines.  Fannie Davies Fry died young, leaving him with two children.  A more detailed biography of Charles William Fry can be found at the Family Stories website.

Charles Fry was known by friends as “Willie” Fry, and by family members as “Uncle Willie”.  Many records show him as CW Fry.  Willie Fry remained in Chicot county Arkansas for a number of years after his wife’s 1870 death.  He never remarried.  In 1878 he determined to remove to Hot Springs Arkansas, and following up on the “family tradition”, became involved in the Hot Springs bathing, health, and tourist industry.  Charles William Fry was a resident of Hot Springs Arkansas for more than forty years.

In 1832 the US Congress set aside the area now known as Hot Springs National Park to preserve the springs for public benefit.  Because the land was reserved for federal use, it became known as the Hot Springs Reservation.  But, despite this designation, many private citizens laid claim to land, and by 1875 there were “five bath houses, twelve good hotels, and many smaller hotels and boarding houses” making use of the Springs.  Finally, in 1877, the US Supreme Court ruled against the private land owners, and the government established greater control of the area. 

CW Fry served the Hot Springs community in a number of capacities - real estate agent, circuit court clerk, and early bath house operator.  He may have been attracted to the area by his mother-in-law’s brother, William Haney Gaines, a significant figure in the development of the Hot Springs bathing and tourist industry.  In 1888, CW Fry was identified as the manager of the newly built Horseshoe, along bath house row.  Albert Belding Gaines, son of William Haney Gaines, was one of the primary owners.  The Horseshoe was named for its Moorish, horseshoe shaped windows – and it charged $3.50 for a series of twenty-one baths.  An 1890 report to the Secretary of the Interior states:

It [the Horeshoe] obtains water from the spring at the northeast corner of Big Iron. There is no cut off valve. This being one of the new houses, it is in a fair state of preservation and with proper attention and repair will probably last from eight to twelve years yet. The management seemed to be better than the average.

By the 1880s much of the bathing was overseen by physician who prescribed detailed regimens for the “invalid”.  The hot baths were usually taken once a day for three weeks, when a rest was necessary . A second three weeks' course was then taken, followed again by an abstinence from bathing for several days. The usual stay at the springs was from one to three months. Drinking the water, taking supplemental medicines, resting, and participating in light exercise were all a part of the healing process. Vapor cabinets also became popular.  Beyond the bathhouse activities there were all kinds of amusements and entertainments to enliven the visitors. 

Willie Fry eventually managed two of the largest Hot Springs establishments, the Majestic Hotel Baths and the Arlington Hotel Baths.  The Arlington, which still graces the Hot Springs Historic District, was originally opened in 1875, and was rebuilt in a much grander style in 1893. The finance partners were Samuel Fordyce, William H Gaines, and Samuel Stitt (married to William Gaines sister).  The 1893 building was under the management of CW Fry around the turn of the century.

The history tab of today’s Arlington Hotel website gives this description of the 1893 structure:

The original building was razed to make way for a new 300-room Spanish Renaissance structure in 1893. The new Arlington was referred to as “the most elegant and complete hotel in America” in Charles Cutter’s 1892 Guide Book. Designed in three sections, but with five levels, the “new” Arlington featured a spacious veranda with arcades running the full length of the hotel. Photographs and records in the 1894 and 1896 Cutter’s Guide show a rotunda, grand ornamental oak stairway circling a beautiful glass dome, the lobby, a pink parlor, and grand ballroom. The building was destroyed by fire April 5, 1923.

Charles William Fry died on the 6th of September 1922, seven months before the burning of the Arlington Hotel.  He is buried in Hot Springs’ Hollywood Cemetery. 


For more details on Charles William Fry visit his page at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.


Further Reading:
The Hospitality of “Bathing” – The Fry Family, part 1
Bath House Row; from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

About the photos:
Bath house row, Hot Springs, Arkansas; Detroit Publishing, c.1900; Photograph retrieved from the Library of Congress.
note – This lovely photo from the LOC collection is of the Horse Shoe Hotel on Bath House Row.  It has been identified from a less accessible photo that describes the horseshoe shaped window.

Moving back in time: 
Charles William Fry 1842 > Philip Slaughter Fry 1801 > Reuben Fry 1766 > Rev Henry Fry 1738 > Joshua Fry c.1700.
Charles William Fry is my 2nd great-granduncle.

The Hospitality of “Bathing” – The Fry Family, part 1

In the early years of my family history searches it was mentioned that my greatgreat-grandfather’s brother, Charles William Fry, operated a bath house in Hot Springs Arkansas in the 1880’s and 90’s.  This seemed an intriguing story, and I thought I would pursue it someday.  Eventually I did learn a bit more about Uncle Willie Fry’s bath house, and as I studied my more extended Fry family I discovered that “the hospitality of bathing” was rather a family tradition.  Actually, Charles Fry’s great-uncle had operated a bath house in Virginia in the 1830’s and 40’s, and Charles’ father and a cousin were invested in other Virginia bathing projects. 

The first bath house to come under the Fry family influence was located at Warm Springs in Bath county Virginia.  John Fry, “proprietor”, was born about 1775 in Albemarle county Virginia, son of Rev Henry Fry and Susan Walker. He married Deborah Haywood (Heywood), and by 1820 they had taken up residence, with their eight children, in Bath county. 

It is difficult to say exactly when John Fry took over the running of the Warm Springs, but it was probably during the 1820’s. Perceval Reniers’ 1941 account of the Virginia Springs area gives delightful “snapshots” of Colonel Fry and his Springs:

People loved the Warm as they did the companionship of an old friend, for its very homeliness, for the luxury of the pool, for the food and particularly for Colonel John Fry.  As long as that short-legged, fat, joking, jumping-jack of a man was on hand, the huts and mean pillows could be overlooked . . . Even Harry Humbug  . . found handsome things to say of Fry: “one of the most polite, accommodating and facetious landlords that ever lived”. 

Further extracts from Reniers’ book, related to Warm Springs, can be found under John Fry at the Family Stories website.  Long after John Fry’s death in 1844, the Warm Springs resort became known as Jefferson’s Pools.  The Gentlemans and Ladies Bathhouses still stand today, but in a poor state of repair.  In the 1960’s the bathhouses were placed on the National Historic Register, but in 2017 they were closed from public use.  Preservation efforts are under discussion.

The second Fry family “bathing” story centers on John Fry’s nephew, Philip Slaughter Fry (1801-1859). He was the son of Reuben Fry and Anne Coleman Slaughter, and he served as Clerk of the Orange county Virginia courts for more than thirty-five years.  Philip Fry never operated a bath house, but he was an investor in the development of Rawley Springs in Rockingham county Virginia.  Rawley Springs saw its first commercial use as a spa in the 1820s, mostly under the hands of the Waterman and Sites families.  Then, “in 1836, Sites sold a one-half interest in the property to Philip Fry and John Blakely, from Orange County, for $1250.”  It is not clear what involvement Philip Fry had as an investor, but over the next twenty-five years the area saw many changes.  Rawley Springs was never large, or grand, but it prompted plenty of visitors to its “healing waters” in the 1840’s and 50’s.  Following Philip S Fry’s death in 1859, his ownership was sold off to several newer investors who carried it forward to its “heyday” in the 1880’s. 

About the same time Philip Fry was promoting the Rawley Springs enterprise, a Fry cousin was discovering his own water connection - Fry’s Spring – today a historic neighborhood in Charlottesville Virginia.  In the 1850 Virginia census, James Francis “Frank” Fry owned substantial real estate in the area of Fry’s Spring valued at $15,000. Frank Fry (1799-1880) was the son of Henry Fry and Mildred Maury, and the great-grandson of old Joshua Fry.  He came into possession of the Fry Springs property in the 1830’s, when it was conveyed to him by his father-in-law, Nelson Barksdale. About 1839 he built his home there, known as Azalea Hall.  There is no clear story of when the nearby spring – actually two abundant natural springs - became known as Fry’s Spring.  There is no evidence that Frank Fry ever operated a bathing establishment connected to Fry Springs, but in the latter part of the 19th century his successor (and likely cousin), S Price Maury, set out a plan under the guise of the Jefferson Hotel and Land Development Company.  His grand plans for a hotel, lake, and summer cottages never met with much success, but it did lay the ground work for what latter became the Fry’s Spring neighborhood. Today Fry’s Spring neighborhood is a National Register Historic area.

This Fry family penchant for bathing carried forward.  Uncle Willie Fry’s bath house in Hot Spring Arkansas is the subject of an upcoming blog post.


For more details on John Fry, Philip Slaughter Fry, and James Francis Fry visit their pages at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.


Further Reading:

Taking the Cure - Colonial Spas, Springs, Baths, and Fountains of Health; Harold B Gill Jr; published in the Colonial Williamsburg Journal, 2002.

19th Century Watering Holes – From Infirmary to Social Itinerary 1820-1870; from the Newport Mansions website; includes a drawing of the Warm Spring Spa.

The Springs of Virginia: Life, Love and Death at the Waters, 1775-1900; Perceval Reniers, 1941.

Historic Jefferson Pools Suffering from Neglect, from the blog of The Cultural Landscape Foundation; 10 December 2012.

Mixing Pleasure and Profit at the Springs:  The Harrisonburg-Rawley Connection; Diane Rafuse; published in the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society News, Spring 2009. (available online)

Fry’s Spring Historic District; adapted from Maral S. Kalbian and Margaret T. Peters’ nomination document, 2014, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.


About the Photos:
This photo of the Gentleman’s Bathhouse at Warm Springs (Bath County Virginia) was probably taken in the mid-20th century.  It appears on many websites and blogs around the internet, but I have not been able to apply original source information.  Today the Warm Springs resort area is known as Jefferson’s Pools.
Fry Springs Neighborhood sign, in Charlottesville, Virginia.


Moving back in time: 
John Fry 1775 > Rev Henry Fry 1738 > Joshua Fry c.1700.
James Francis Fry 1799 > Henry Fry 1775 > Rev Henry Fry 1738 > Joshua Fry c.1700.
Charles William Fry 1842 > Philip Slaughter Fry 1801 > Reuben Fry 1766 > Rev Henry Fry 1738 > Joshua Fry c.1700. 
Philip Slaughter Fry is my 3xgreat-grandfather.

Elim, A Fry Family Home in Virginia

And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? . . . And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.  Exodus 15: 24 and 27

The Biblical Elim was an oasis in the desert, a place where God showed his compassion to the thirsty refugees traveling out of Egypt, toward the Promised Land.  When the Fry family built their home in what was then Orange, or perhaps Culpeper county Virginia, they may have been looking toward God’s provision in an oasis. 

Two plantations are attributed to Joshua Fry in the beautiful countryside surrounding the city of Charlottesville Virginia.  Elim, located near the community of Locust Dale is about thirty-five miles north and east of Charlottesville, while Viewmont is ten miles south of Charlottesville.  Viewmont was probably built and occupied by the Joshua Fry family about 1744, when they moved west from Essex county Virginia to Albemarle county Virginia.  Elim was constructed sometime between 1745 and 1766.  Opinions differ on whether it was the home of Joshua Fry, or his son Henry Fry (my 5x great-grandfather). 

Henry Fry was married to Susan “Sukey” Walker in 1764, and Elim was the home where they raised their large family.  The home remained in the hands of descendants (the Lightfoot family) into the early 1900s.

Today Elim operates as an upscale Virginia Wine Country Bed and Breakfast - The Inn at Meander Plantation.  Online reviews are highly complementary.  Ten guest rooms are provided, including the lovely Colonel Fry’s Suite.

The Inn’s website gives this brief historical context:

The plantation was patented in 1726 by Col. Joshua Fry, a member of the House of Burgesses and professor at William and Mary. Col. Fry and his partner Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas Jefferson, surveyed and drew the first official map of the area known as Virginia. Fry commanded the Virginia Militia at the start of the French and Indian War, with George Washington as his second in command. After Col. Fry died [1754] from injuries sustained in travel to battle, Washington assumed command of the forces and “locals” say Washington encamped here [Elim] for about a month to pay tribute to Fry’s widow and children.

Originally named Elim, the manor was enlarged in 1766 by Joshua’s son, Henry Fry. (He is buried in the family cemetery located in the field behind the house.) His lifelong friend, Thomas Jefferson, visited here often, as did General Lafayette.  William Wirt, famous 18th Century American lawyer and counsel for the prosecution against Aaron Burr in 1807, spent much of his youth here. At that time, the plantation encompassed more than 3,000 acres.

During the Civil War, the mansion housed a Union official, Col. Baynard.  Numerous important Civil War battles were fought near the property, which is only 4 miles from Cedar Mountain, site of one of the war’s largest and fiercest cavalry battles.  Local historians believe the Battle of Cedar Mountain actually began at Meander’s front gates.

The property name was changed to Meander in the early 1900s by owner George Shearer, who maintained the property as an estate for his daughters, Judith and Julia. They lived their entire adult lives here, and as noted breeders of horses, cattle and dogs, the colorful, locally-storied sisters are credited with introducing Whippets to America. The Meander Whippet still sets the breed standard.

Suzie Blanchard and Suzanne Thomas bought the property in 1991 with the specific intentions of converting it to its current status as a 10-room Virginia wine country inn. A working agricultural property thoughout its history, the land continues to be farmed for hay, corn and soybeans, as well as a small vineyard producing cabernet franc, petite manseng and cabernet-norton hybrid wine grapes.


For more details on Joshua Fry or his son Henry Fry, visit their individual pages at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.
And, be sure to visit The Inn at Meander Plantation website.

Moving Back In Time:  Albert Luther Clarkson 1901 > Aubin Mildred Fry 1878 > Reuben Macon Fry 1847 > Philip Slaughter Fry 1801 > Reuben Fry 1766 > Henry Fry 1738 > Joshua Fry 1700.

Joshua Fry at William and Mary College

When Joshua Fry removed from England to America in the 1720s, he settled himself in the bustling town of Williamsburg Virginia.  In short order he took up the position of Master of the Grammar School at the College of William and Mary.  Whether he came to Virginia for that specific purpose, or received the appointment after his arrival is unknown.  For a single young man in his twenties, with considerable energy and industry, this was an opportunity.  Eighteenth century teachers were noted with respect in a community.

The College of William and Mary

 

The College of William and Mary had been opened in 1694, after years of dreaming and preparation by its founders.  The Rev James Blair held the position of President, from the founding until his death in 1743. The initial plans for the college called for “a college president and six masters or professors”.   Five of the masters would lead classes in Greek and Latin (the grammar school), mathematics, moral philosophy, and divinity.  The sixth master would head a separate school  “for the instruction and conversion of the Indians”.  For the first thirty-five years, the grammar school was the center of the college, usually serving from twenty to forty students.  The upper divisions of the college were spare in both students and faculty. 

The year 1729 was pivotal in the life of William and Mary College.  By former agreement, the direction of the college was transferred from the hands of eighteen trustees to the faculty itself.  A full faculty was functioning by that time, and, according to the record, “Joshua Fry, a gentleman of Williamsburg, was appointed master of the grammar school, which was early established ‘for the immediate education of the youth of the colony in the Latin and Greek tongues.’”  We know, by a deed of 1726, that Joshua Fry was already serving as master at the college at that time, so it is likely that he headed the grammar school for at least five years, until 1731. 

The chief aim of the grammar school was to instruct young boys in Latin and Greek, in preparation for entrance into the School of Philosophy.  A proficiency in Latin and Greek was necessary, as most textbooks of the day were written in those ancient languages.  As the eighteenth century moved towards its mid-point, more texts were being developed in English. 

The Grammar School Classroom

Before entering the grammar school at about age twelve, a boy had to be able to read, write, and understand simple arithmetic, and the basics of language.  If the number of students was large, the schoolmaster was assisted by an usher (under-teacher).  The grammar school course was studied over a term of three or four years, and besides languages, included mathematics, writing, and exercises in logic.  The school master also gave regular instruction in the catechism of the established church, and attended twice daily chapel, and all meals with his students.

An earlier William and Mary Grammar School master, Mungo Ingles, described a typical day in the classroom, in a letter of 1704: 

It is nothing to be (all ye year long except in ye breaking up) Confin'd to College from 7 to 11 in the morning; & from 2 to 6 in the afternoon, and to be all day long spending ones Lungs upon a Compa. of children, who (many of them) must be taught ye same things many times over.

Today, Colonial Williamsburg preserves several rooms of the old Wren Building at William and Mary College in their colonial appearance.  The Grammar School classroom, which sits just to the north of the main entrance, is one of those rooms.  I had the opportunity to visit the room in the 1990’s.  What fun to sit upon one of the classroom benches, and imagine my great-grandfather at the head of the class!

In 1731, Joshua Fry left the Grammar School to become the college’s Master of Natural Philosophy.  This likely suited him well.  In basic form, Natural Philosophy was the study of the “workings of nature”.  Individuals had long studied the natural world, but in the mid eighteenth century, it was still a fairly new topic of study in the classroom.  At William and Mary College it probably included physics, astronomy, and mathematics. 

One of Fry’s predecessors at the college, Rev Hugh Jones, had proposed in 1722, that William and Mary College serve as a “training school for the civil service of the colony.”  This was a revolutionary idea.  He suggested that county clerks, assessors, and surveyors might be trained, and then appointed by the college.  It is not clear that such a plan was adopted by the college at that time, but it seems reasonable that Joshua Fry, during his time at William and Mary College, trained many young men in the craft of surveying.  By the latter half of the eighteenth century county surveyors were appointed by the governor, “after a candidate had been examined and approved by the faculty of the College of William & Mary.”

It is not certain exactly what year Joshua Fry left his work at the college to pursue new things.  It was probably sometime between 1732 – 1737.  He had led a bachelor’s life for many years, and at about the age of thirty-five, he was ready for a wife and family.  Sometime between 1734-1736, he married Mary Micou, the daughter of Dr Paul Micou, and the wealthy widow of Leonard Hill.  Joshua Fry, in the twenty years that followed, accomplished extraordinary things. 

As surveyor, map-maker, explorer, husband, father, burgess, and head of the Virginia forces during the French and Indian War, he demonstrated that his years as schoolmaster at William and Mary College could be practically applied to a rich and full life.


For more details on Joshua Fry, visit his page at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.

Moving Back In Time:  Albert Luther Clarkson 1901 > Aubin Mildred Fry 1878 > Reuben Macon Fry 1847 > Philip Slaughter Fry 1801 > Reuben Fry 1766 > Henry Fry 1738 > Joshua Fry 1700.

Further Reading:
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series – The College of William and Mary, by Mary Goodwin, 1967.
The Development of a Curriculum in the Early American Colleges; Joe W Kraus; published in the History of Education Quarterly, Vol 1, No 2, June 1961.

Riding With Isaac Parker: Deputy Marshall RM Fry

In the 1980’s I made a trip, along with other family members, to Fort Smith Arkansas.  We were in pursuit of stories about our Clarkson and Fry ancestors, who had lived in Fort Smith during the latter 19th and early 20th centuries.  One of our exciting finds was the name of my 2xgreat-grandfather, Reuben Macon Fry, on the list of Deputies that “Rode With Isaac Parker”, the noted “hanging judge” of the US District Court of Western Arkansas.  It was an intriguing find, but it has taken me almost twenty-five years to set about learning more about this interesting grandfather. 

To give a brief biographical account – Reuben Macon Fry was born in 1847 in Orange Court House Virginia.  As a student of the Cadet Corp of Virginia Military Institute he may have participated in some minor skirmishing during the Civil War.  After the war years, as he moved into young adulthood, he removed with his older brother to Lake Village in Chicot county Arkansas.  There he served as county clerk, operated a retail business, and married Eliza Brooks Hutchins, a “refugee” from Natchez Mississippi.  Business losses probably induced him to move on, and in 1880 he settled his family in Fort Smith Arkansas. 

Reuben Macon Fry’s obituary, twenty-five years later, gives an account of his career in Fort Smith:
. . He followed mercantile pursuits for several years and then became connected with the revenue service.  He afterward served as deputy circuit clerk during the incumbency of AA McDonald [circuit court clerk] and was also chief deputy sheriff during the six years' administration of Sheriff William Bugg.  After Captain Bugg retired he was elected justice of the peace, which position he held until he died. 

Reuben M Fry was commissioned as a Deputy Marshal of the Western District Court at Fort Smith in February 1884, and again in November 1887.  These were the years that he served as a Revenue Officer, and one of his occupations was to incapacitate “moonshiners”.  In the summer of 1888 he participated in an operation in Montgomery county Arkansas, during which one of his fellow officer, John Trammell, was killed.  I have come across several accounts of this 1888 event in newspapers and biographies. 

A report in the St Louis Post Dispatch (St Louis Missouri); 28 June 1888, begins:

Hot Springs, Ark., June 28: News of a desperate fight between revenue officers and moonshiners; which took place near Black Springs, Montgomery County, yesterday, has just reached this city. Internal Revenue Collector R. M. FRY, in charge of a posse, was in that vicinity raiding moonshiner's camps and destroying illicit distilleries. They had succeeded in ferreting out and destroying three. Shortly after they had destroyed the last one they were attacked from ambush by a band of moonshiners armed with Winchester rifles when a desperate battle ensued,. . .

Reuben Fry was accompanied by Deputy Marshals, John D Trammell and Otis K Wheeler.  Trammell was killed in the ambush.  An inquest was held which revealed that two of Trammell’s killers were relatives, a brother and cousin, of Bill Cogburn who was being held in custody.  The primary characters in the bootlegging scheme were Carter Markham, Matthew Pervine, Joseph Pepper, J.D. Hollifield and several members of the Cogburn family.  Community fear held back any witnesses, and the murderers were never convicted. 

A detailed account of this incident can be found online in Brett Cogburn’s recently published book, Rooster:
The Life and Times of the Real Rooster Cogburn, the Man Who Inspired True Grit, 2012; beginning on page 52.

 For more details on Reuben Macon Fry, visit his individual page at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.


To learn more about the Deputy Marshals of Isaac Parker’s court:
Law West of Fort Smith; Glenn Shirley, 1957.
Larry McMurtry's 1997 novel Zeke and Ned tells the story of Zeke Proctor, one of Parker's deputy marshals.
Loren D. Estleman's 2009 novel The Branch and The Scaffold relates to Parker's tenure at Fort Smith.
Charles Portis features Judge Parker in his novel, True Grit, which has twice been adapted as films of the same name.
Movie – Rooster Cogburn, 1975, based on Charles Portis novel; starring John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn.

Into the FRY Pan!

This Family Stories Blog was established to share with family, friends and fellow genealogists some of the stories I have gathered during nearly thirty years of family history research.  It links with my companion website, Family Stories, pamgarrett.com, that houses my genealogy database and an extensive collection of documents, notes, biographies, and photos.  I’m delighted to announce that my database website is growing again!

Recently I have added about three hundred new family members to my online database, along with significant details about many of their lives.  This is my FRY family, descendants of my 6xgreat-grandfather, Joshua Fry of Albemarle county Virginia.  Joshua Fry is a most interesting grandfather – immigrant from England, teacher at William and Mary College, friend to George Washington and Peter Jefferson, significant player in the history of Virginia.  And, many of his descendants have led interesting and note-worthy lives. 

Joshua Fry, and some of his descendants, have been the subject of many biographies and histories.  Philip Slaughter’s, “Memoir of Col. Joshua Fry . .”, 1880, has made its way around the genealogy circuit for years.  I have not been interested in “duplicating” well established genealogies.  But, it is the nature of a genealogy database to link individuals and families together, and most of the well-known relationships of the Fry family are repeated in my database.  I have tried to include some new bits and pieces of information that might add to the Fry family story.  I have particularly emphasized my own “branches” of the Fry family – a visual of my branch, Moving Back In Time, is given at the close of this post. 

I am gathering materials for a few upcoming blog posts on my Fry Family.  Some proposed titles include: 
Riding with Isaac Parker
Joshua Fry in the Classroom, a Williamsburg Story!
The Hospitality of “Bathing”

I’m excited to introduce these ancestors, and to share a few of their stories.  I hope you will join me for the fun!


Moving Back In Time:  Albert Luther Clarkson 1901 > Aubin Mildred Fry 1878 > Reuben Macon Fry 1847 > Philip Slaughter Fry 1801 > Reuben Fry 1766 > Henry Fry 1738 > Joshua Fry 1700.