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- Thomas Fry (1632) born in England near Yarte Farm, Membury,
who came to Newport, Rhode Island area as early as 1669, lived in Newport area of Rhode Island and served his State as a General Sergeant from 1676 to 1691.
Thomas Fry (1632) was one of the 13 Chief Founders of East Greenwich, Rhode Island. He came to Greenwich and and was granted land there for his contribution in King Phillip's War - though as a Quaker he probably did not fight, but may have contributed food, transportation or other support to the cause. In an effort to expand colonist's holdings in Rhode Island, a town (Greenwich) and land grants were set up. Thomas Fry's grant was part of 5,000 acres of what is now East Greenwich and surrounding farmland. 500 acres, near the bay, were divided into 50 house lots. "shall be by the sea as commodious as may be for a town." The remaining 4,500 acres were divided equally into 50 equal shares (great divisions) and the founders of the town were entitled to one house lot in the town and one of the "great divisions" for farmland. 48 men were "judged fit to be supplied" by the Assembly, among them Thomas Fry (born 1632). There is no record of what these men did to further King Phillip's War, but they may have actually fought, given food or lodging to those who fought in this war largely fought by Connecticut and Massachusetts men, but fought on Rhode Island land. Some of the men, for whatever reason, did not take their claim. There were no allowed to sell the land for at least 10 years, to pro-actively stop land speculation.
Greenwich was founded in 1677 by the General Assembly in an attempt to solidify land claims against those of Connecticut and the Narragansett Proprietors. The Assembly designated 5000 acres to the new town and provided lots to settlers who would agree to live there. Locals quickly took the assembly up on this offer, and the quick establishment of the town helped hold back plans of Connecticut in pushing their border eastward. East Greenwich was therefore the only Rhode Island town established by an act of government, not commercial interests. In 1687, the Narragansett Proprietors attempted to settle land north of Wickford which overlapped with the land of East Greenwich; however, the Massachusetts governor Sir Edmund Andros, who had authority to settle the dispute, ruled in favor of the existing East Greenwich settlement.
Thomas Fry (1632) was one of the original deeded founders in 1677 - given hundreds of acres of farmland just outside of town and a lot or more than one lot within the area they were building into a town, but lived there only a little while. Thomas Fry (1632) had a very large lot in what is now downtown East Greenwich. In 1689 he deeded to his eldest son, Thomas, living in East Greenwich, all rights in the land he then owned, reserving only the profits of one hundred acres for life.
Thomas died January 11, 1794. It is his son Thomas who holds East Greenwich's interest. For thirty three years Thomas lived a public life, serving as Deputy to the General Assembly for twenty-seven years, and for the three years 1727, 1728 and 1729, as Deputy Governor of Rhode Island. That he was a man of learning we know, for he with Andrew Harris "transcribed, fit and prepared for the press, all the laws of the colony", being allowed 10 pounds for "his trouble and pains in getting the laws of the Colony printed." He owned two or three farms but the one which was laid out for him on January 27, 1694, and on which he built his home, has always remained in the Fry family, and is the farm where Louis Fry resided in the 1980's, just outside of East Greenwich. The first house was burned down and the present one rebuilt on the site of the old one by a descendant, Joseph Fry. Few, if any, of the Greenwich families, have this distinction of having always lived on the lands of their forefathers. Thomas Fry was called a glazier by trade, but he also kept a shop probably on the site of the Hotel Central, where he sold apothecary wares, syrups, indigo, Spanish fly, silk, wafers, etc. No doubt his ship owning interest gave him the greater part of his income. His wharf and warehouse was about where the Champlin Lumber Yard was in the 1990's. At the time of his death, his inventory was over $22,000 pounds. which made him a man of great wealth for those times. Classed with his sheep, swine, etc., are his four African boys and African woman Juda and her three children. The Fry's were some of the first families to keep slaves, and there are still living in the East Greenwich area descendants of these, who still go by the name of Fry, as it was the custom for the slaves to take the name of their master.
Thomas Fry (1632-1704) of Newport received one of the land grants from the colony when it chartered the town of East Greenwich in 1677. He moved to the new town, but the prospect of starting over must have been too daunting to a 45-year-old, so he went home to Newport, and in 1689, deeded his lands to his eldest son Thomas Fry. The 1716 survey of the town farms shows that Thomas Fry saw an opportunity in a new town, as he had accumulated five large farms, and several smaller parcels. The farms were sizable: South Peirce Road, 77.5 acres; Howland Road, 110.5 acres; Middle Road, 111.75 acres; Frenchtown Road, 139.5 acres, and South County Trail, 119 acres.
This land Thomas Fry (1632) passed on to his son Thomas Fry (1666) all but 100 acres.
Original owner of the farm that is now Lived in The Joseph Fry House, 2153 South County Trail, East Greenwich, Rhode Island, National Preservation Farm
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1632 - 1704 (72 years)