• General Notes

  George Washington Fry was born November 17, 1870 to Benjamin Franklin Fry and Martha Elizabeth (Phillips) Williams. Benjamin was an old man of almost 70 when he married Lizzie at 39. His first wife Nancy Garden had died in 1867 in Jeddo, Texas. He had lived in 1850 at Cincinnati, on the Trinity River. October 1869, he married Lizzie, widow of "Buck" Williams. Buck and Lizzie had four children - Starling born 1850, Mitchel born 1855, Christiana born 1858, Lizzie born 1863.
  
  The 1870 Census, Aug 3, 1870, Mindy County, Texas listed Fry, Benjamin, 69, Baptist Minister and Farmer, b. -George, Married within the year - Oct.; Mrs. Lizzie, 40, Hse Kpr, Miss.; Williams, Sterling, 20, Frm Lbr, La.; Mitchell, 15, La.; Christiana 12, La.; Lizzie, 7, La.
  
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  "Benjamin Fry Family" told to Iva Blalock by Elliot Fry and Zona Knight Barnett. (Benjamin Elliot Fry - son of George W. Fry; Arizona Knight Barnett - daughter of Lizzie Williams Knight)
  
  Benjamin Fry was close to 70 when he married Martha Elizabeth (Lizzie) Phillips Williams, Buck Williams widow. Martha Elizabeth and Buck had two children. They were Christi Ann Williams, who married Lum (Columbus) Morgan, and Lizzie Williams who married William (Billy) C. Knight. (Benjamin Fry had children by his first wife. Some of his boys fought in the Civil War. (Benjamin's' wife died.)
  
  Benjamin and Martha Elizabeth had one son, George Washington Fry. When George Washington was one year old, Martha Elizabeth Fry died, Benjamin Fry gave George W. Fry to one of his granddaughters and her husband to raise. (I believe their names were Hopkins and they lived at Waelder, Texas.) George W. was about two years old when his father, Benjamin Fry died.
  
  George W. thought he was a Hopkins until he was 7 years old. He was standing in the chimney corner one day and overheard Mrs. Hopkins reading a letter from one of his (George's) half- sisters, saying she felt George W. was still living. George W. came in the house and told the woman what he heard, and begged to go live with his sister. The old lady told George W. that she loved him and couldn't give him up.
  
  As time went on, George W. began to notice the Hopkins family showed a difference between him and their own son, Sam. George W. had to do his chores and Sam's too. If Sam didn't want to bring in wood or carry water, George W. had to bring it all in. George W. had to hoe his row of cotton, and help hoe Sam's row, for Sam would lag behind. George W. made up his mind, when he got a little age on him, he was going to run away.
  
  Years later, Mrs. Hopkins died (Aug. 18. 1881, when George W. was 11, nearly 12.) and George W. was placed in a distant relative's home. His home life was no better there. They had a large family and all worked hard.
  
  At 14, George W. ran away and went to work on a cattle ranch. The family did not think enough of him to look for him. George W. worked hard for a few years building fences, rounding up cattle and helping to feed and brand them.
  
  When he earned enough money to buy a horse and saddle from the rancher, he quit the job and started on his way to San Jacinto County to live with his half-sisters Christian and Lizzie Williams. He rode in the day and slept at night under the stars with the saddle pad under his head for a pillow. He staked his horse nearby to graze on grass. George W.'s food consisted mostly of parched corn.
  
  It was late one afternoon, when he got to the Trinity River. After crossing the ferry, he asked the man f he knew Christian and Lizzie. "I don't know them son, but you can come home with me. My wife might know them." When they reached the ferryman's home, the old lady hugged the boy. "Are you really George Fry?" she asked, "I thought you were dead. Eat supper, son, and spend the night with us. I will tell you in the morning how to get to your sister's house. I'm too old and shocked to talk about it now."
  
  The next morning the old lady told George W. that Christian had married Lum Morgan, and Lizzie was married to William (Billy) C. Knight. She showed him a trail and told him to follow it and it would take him to the cotton gin where W. C. Knight worked
  
  When he reached the gin, Lum Morgan was there with a wagon of cotton to be ginned W. C. Knight and Lum were picking the cotton up in a basket and throwing it in the compress to be ginned and baled "Wait until I get through here son," said Lum, "and I'll take you to see your sister."
  
  Christian was at the well drawing a bucket of water when Lum drove up in the wagon and George W. followed on horseback. She set the bucket down and ran to meet them. "You're George W.," she said, hugging the hay. "I'd know you anywhere." I never did believe you were dead even though they wrote that you were. I'll take you to see Lizzie."
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  San Jacinto County, A Glimpse Into The Past, Volume H, By: Iva Aden Blalock. pg. 30 -
  
  It was a fall evening, just before sundown in the year of 1892, (More likely 1885 since family tradition says he returned when he was about 16. He would be 16 in November.) when George W. Fry came to the East side of the Trinity River at Ryan's Ferry. He hallooed for someone to come and ferry him and his horse across the river. When Ryan and George W. Fry came to the Ryan cabin, Mrs. Ryan was so glad to see the 16 year old boy she hugged and kissed him. "Honey, you were about two years old when your father took you away, but I would recognize you anywhere," remarked the old lady.
  
  The Ryans gave George W. his supper and a warm bed to sleep in. The next morning, Ryan went with George W. to the Durdin cotton gin to meet William C Knight who worked at the gin. Knight had married George W.'s half-sister Lizzie Williams Caswell Knight.
  
  Told to me by Aunt Oma - Ben took George W. to his granddaughter by horseback and before arriving they got caught in a thunder storm. Ben wrapped the baby in a saddle blanket to keep him warm and dry while he got soaked, contracting pneumonia and dying of complications shortly after arriving.
  
  She said also that when George W. worked on the cattle ranch, he received room and board and very little money. While at the ranch he realized the need for an education and acquired a tutor to teach him, at night, to read and write, while working on the ranch by day.
  
  In 1893 George Washington Fry married Sarah Margie Warren on November 30, 1893 at Cold Springs, San Jacinto County, Texas. They moved to Bell County where their first three children, Ben Elliot, Gazzie and Jeff were born.
  
  Probably in the fall of 1900, G. W. moved his family to Shockley Community, Walker County, Texas where Harvey, Oma and Murphy were born.
  
  History of Shockley Chapel Cemetery, By: Mrs. R. H. Aden, says the last Church-School was built in 1910. George Fry helped build the church. "He hung the bell in the tower," said Elliott Fry. Gazzie Fry said, "You could hear the bell all over the community. It told us when it was time for church and time for school." Methodist ministers were Reverends Robert (Bob) Mann, John Mann, and Luther Ellisor, and the Baptist Ministers were Reverends John Bartee, W. Burton, Robert Day, Tom Richardson, Riley Wilson, and George Fry.
  
  Families in the community were; Winters, Wilson, Mann, Knight, Roark, Carter, McClendon,
  
  Hoot, Scofield, Love, Wimberly, Dixon, Ellis, Barnett, Bartee, Copland, Green, Fry, Webb, Burton, Hughes, and others.
  
  Giorge Knight recalls - "It was during family visits between my grandmother Lizzie (Elizabeth Williams, Caswell, Knight) Aunt Zona and Dad (John Allerson Knight) that I overheard references, with apparent fond affection, of Preacher (George Washington) Fry.
  
  "It was on one of these occasions that Dad and Aunt Zona were teasing grandmother Lizzie about how she used to pull Preacher Fry's coat tail as he walked back and forth preaching if she felt it was time for him to end his sermon. From their talking, I saw him as a thin, tall, red headed man that loved the Lord and the preaching of His word.
  
  "I have often wondered where my parents came up with the name of George for me, since I wasn't aware of any relatives by that name. Since Grandmother Lizzie lived in the home with my mother and father, I am now convinced that my mother and grandmother had a shared interest in naming my brother and me because my brother was named after my grandfather, William Knight, and my mother's oldest brother, Preston White. Apparently, I was named after my grandmother's beloved half-brother, George Washington Fry, and my half-uncle, Albert Knight. I am happy to believe that I could have been named George in honor of George Washington Fry."
  
  About 1911, G. W. and family moved to Black Jack Community, Walker County.
  
  Huntsville and Walker County, Texas, A Bicentennial History, By: D'Anne McAdams Crews, 1976. Page 436 - Early settlers of the Black Jack Community include the... George W. Fry family,... Hiram and Fannie Vause Little,...Steely,... Ellisor,... Niederhofer,... Coward,... Allen,... Palmer,... Sheppard, etc.
  
  March 15, 1915 - Sarah Margie Warren Fry fell asleep in Christ March 15, 11 P.M. 1915. Had been bedridden from stroke for some time.
  
  March 25, 1923 - G. W. married Mrs. J. S. Hollis.
  
  George Washington Fry was a Baptist Minister from 1916 to 1929. He was instrumental in the forming of a Baptist Church at Cut and Shoot, Montgomery County, Texas. He was unable to preach in '29 because of cancer of the throat.
  
  May 27, 1929 - G. W. Fry died and is laid to rest in Shockley Chappel Cemetery, Walker County, beside his wife Sarah Margie Warren.
  

Details of George's family with Sarah Margie Warren

Details of George's family with J S Hollis