Logan County, West Virginia Biography of THOMAS MAURICE FRY This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: ********************************************** ***The submitter does not have a connection*** ********to the subject of this sketch.******** ********************************************** This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 553-554 Logan THOMAS MAURICE FRY, president and manager of the Farmers Supply Company at Princeton, judicial center of Mercer County, and vice president of the Bank of Prince- ton, was born on a farm in Loudoun County, Virginia, Sep- tember 20, 1868. He is a son of Joseph and Sarah (Stone) Pry, both likewise natives of the Old Dominion State, where they passed their entire lives, the father having died in 1899, at the age of sixty-nine years, and the mother having passed away in May, 1918, likewise at the age of sixty-nine. Both were earnest communicants of the Lutheran Church. The two surviving children are Thomas M., of this review, and Mrs. Lena J. Cost, who still resides in the old home county. Prior to the Civil war the Fry family had been one of substantial prosperity, but the ravages of the -war brought disaster to this as to many other families in Vir- ginia. What remained of the old estate was sold by Thomas M. Fry after the death of his father, whose entire active career was marked by association with farm enterprise. Thomas M. Fry gained his rudimentary education in an old log schoolhouse that required yearly treatment with mud, which was crowded between the logs to keep the wind from entering too freely, the Civil war having so lowered the prosperity of the community that no means were avail- able for supplying a better school building. Later on Mr. Fry attended high school in the City of Washington, D. C., for one year. In 1888 he went to St. Johns, Stafford County, Kansas, where for three years he held a position in the First National Bank, at a salary of $35 a month. In 1891 he went to Kansas City, Missouri, and after having there been employed one year in the National Bank of Com- merce he returned to his native county. After remaining for a time on a farm he again went to Kansas, where he held a position in a bank at Downs until the institution failed. For a time thereafter he was clerk in a dry-goods store, and in May, 1893, he went to Hudson, Michigan, where for seven years he held a position in Thompson Brothers Savings Bank. For two years thereafter he was again on a farm in Loudoun County, Virginia, and he then became cashier of the Purcellville National Bank at Pur- cellville, that state. After retaining this executive office four years he came to Princeton, West Virginia, where for the ensuing eleven years he was cashier of the First Na- tional Bank. Since that time he has been vice president of the Bank of Princeton, and his has been a potent influ- ence in the upbuilding of this substantial institution. In 1919 Mr. Fry organized the Farmers Supply Company, and the Mercer Motor Company, handling Ford products, and he has since continued president of both companies, the business of which has become one of broad scope in the handling of automobiles, motor-trucks, tractors and all kinds of farm implements, machinery and general supplies. Mr. Fry has been identified with banking enterprise for more than a quarter of a century, and he reverts with agreeable memories to his pioneer experience in Kansas, especially in view of the fact that there, at St. Johns, was solemnized in 1891 his marriage with Miss Neva Benford, a native of Indiana. They have two children: Harry B. graduated from Roanoke College, Virginia, and thereafter attended the School of Finance & Commerce in New York City, where he now resides and where he follows his pro- fession as a certified public accountant; Dorothy is the wife of Dr. W. C. Epling, who is engaged in the successful prac- tice of dentistry at Prineeton. Mr. Fry is one of the liberal and progressive citizens and representative business men of Princeton, is a republican in politics, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in their home city, he being a member of its board of stewards.