Windham

FRYE, James Nichols

Men of Vermont: Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters & Sons of 
Vermont. Ullery. Brattleboro: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, part III, 
pp 9-10 of 20 unnumbered leaves (portrait p 10)

James Nichols FRYE, of Brookline [Windham County, Vermont], was born 03 
October 1828 in Concord [Essex County, Vermont], son of Capt. David and Betsy 
(JOSLIN) FRYE. In him may be found a type of the sons of Vermont, whose 
ambition has led them to leave their native homesteads in search of broader 
opportunities of endeavor. The family is of rugged New England stock. 
Tracing back its ancestry, it appears that the first of the name to come to 
his country left Basing, County Hants, England, in 1633, and Mr. [James 
Nichols] FRYE's generation is the tenth of the name in America. His great 
grandfather served from 1755 to 1761 as captain in the colonial service, and 
was deacon of the church at Sutton [Worcester County], Massachusetts. His 
grandfather moved from Royalston [Worcester County], Massachusetts, to 
Vermont in 1795, and his tombstone in the quiet burying ground at Concord 
still bears the inscription: "He was one of the first settlers in the town 
of Concord. He lived respected and died lamented." Through his mother's 
line, Mr. [James Nichols] FRYE is connected with the old colonial family of 
JOSLIN, among whose ancestors was Sir Ralph JOSLIN, Lord Mayor of London in 
1464.

Mr. [James Nichols] FRYE passed his boyhood days on the farm whose acres had 
been wrested from the wilderness by his grandfather. His first education, 
like that of all New England boys of the time, was in the district school. 
This was supplemented by careful home training received at the hands of his 
father, whose influence and example did much to ensure his success in later 
life. After the death of his father [the death of Capt. David FRYE], in 
1843, he [James Nichols FRYE] remained for a few years upon the farm, and 
then feeling that the opportunities for education afforded by his native town 
were not all that he would wish, he entered the Academy at St. Johnsbury; his 
name is on the roll of alumni of the class of 1849. While studying there he 
held a position in the local post office, and through acquaintances formed in 
this connection, was tendered a situation in the wholesale hardware house of 
Montgomery Newell, then at 83 State Street, and went to Boston in April 1849. 
It was characteristic of his energy of purpose that he entered upon his 
duties on the afternoon of the day on which he reached the city; from the 
outset made the interests of his employer his own; and in five years was 
admitted to partnership in the concern, which dated its beginning from 1816. 
The subsequent changes in the style of the firm were: 1853 Wells, Coverly & 
Company; 1855 Coverly, Frye & Company; 1858 Coverly, Frye & Knapp; from 1860 
to 1864, during the latter three years of which period Mr. FRYE was sole 
partner, Coverly, Frye & Company; during the thirty-one years from 1864 until 
the present time, Frye, Phipps & Company.

It is worthy of comment in these days of frequent changes and reverses in the 
commercial world, that this concern has maintained an uninterrupted and 
honorable existence for eighty years, has met and surmounted crises during 
that period, as in 1872, when its establishment on Federal Street was 
obliterated by the "great fire," yet within twenty-four hours the firm had 
re-established itself in new quarters, and had resumed its business with 
undaunted determination. Today it stands high in its line of trade, and Mr. 
FRYE has been honored with the position of vice president and member of the 
executive council of the Massachusetts State Board of Trade, besides being 
the representative in that body of the New England Iron and Hardware 
Association, of which he is an active member.

From the earliest boyhood Mr. FRYE has been devoted to open-air sport. He is 
a finished woodman. The Adirondacks, the Rangelev region, and Moosehead Lake 
were familiar ground to him long before they became the beaten path of the 
tourist, and with the late Rev. A. J. GORDON, D. D., Rev. Dr. Jacob M. 
MANNING, and W. H. H. MURRAY, he has camped, fished, and hunted in every nook 
of the Adirondack wilderness. He was an early member of the Megantic Club; 
upon his withdrawal from this joined the Winchester Club, whose game 
preserves lie near Caxton, Canada; was a member of the old Tremont 
Sportsman's Club, of Boston, one of the pioneer trap shooting associations of 
the country; was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Rifle Association 
formed in 1875; later became its president, and on his retirement was elected 
honorary life director. When Creedmoor was the Mecca of American riflemen he 
was a yearly attendant at the meetings of the National Rifle Association; in 
1881 won the coveted gold medal of the association by twice scoring, at 200 
yards, off hand, strings of five consecutive bullseyes. At that period this 
performance was noteworthy; its achievement practically carried with it the 
American rifle championship for the year; holds many trophies that have come 
through his skill with rifle and shotgun, but more highly than all he prizes 
the unbroken health and the strength of limb resulting from his days spent in 
field and forest.

Beyond taking a healthy and active interest in national and local affairs, 
Mr. FRYE has refrained from entering into political life. A Vermonter by 
birth, it hardly need be said that he has been an unswerving adherent of the 
Republican party since its inception [1854]. As early as 1850 he became a 
member of the Mercantile Library Association, and he always gives his support 
to institutions designed like this to promote good citizenship. At the 
outbreak of the war, finding himself alone in the management of his business 
and surrounded by a family of young children, he was unable to take an active 
part in the contest, yet he was an earnest supporter of the Union cause, and 
was one of the organizers of a Home Guard battalion, in which he served until 
its disbandment. Though for so many years a resident of another state, he 
has never lost his affection for Vermont. The title of his old homestead in 
Concord stands in his name, and while intensely loyal to Massachusetts, he 
yet claims that he is still a Vermonter. When the Vermont Association of 
Boston was founded in 1886, he was one of the leading spirits in the 
undertaking, and at the present time is serving as its vice president.

On 01 January 1854 at Boston [Suffolk County, Massachusetts], Mr. [James 
Nichols] FRYE was married to Sabina BACHELER, daughter of the late Origen and 
Charlotte (THOMPSON) BACHELER. [Also spelled BATCHELDER.] His wife 
[Sabina (BACHELER) FRYE] is a lineal descendant of John ALDEN, of Plymouth 
and "Mayflower" fame. He [James Nichols FRYE] has three children: (1) 
Charlotte Maria, deceased; (2) Alice Mary, the wife of James E. LEACH, Esq., 
[an attorney] of the Suffolk [meaning Suffolk County, Massachusetts] bar, and 
(3) James Albert, engaged in literary work, married to the daughter of Hon. 
Horatio COLONY, of Keene [Cheshire County], New Hampshire. [Note the wording 
"he has three children" instead of "they have three children," which could 
imply a previous marriage for James Nichols FRYE.]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly