The first deed, the grantee deed, is dated may 28, 1828. John and Ann must have lived in Ohio for 10 years at this time. While Census records show Wierman N. Fry as having been born in Pennsylvania, they show James Porter Fry ‏(1820)‏ and Oliver Perry Fry ‏(1822)‏ as having been born in Ohio.

I have little doubt that these are the deeds of our first ancestor in the Fry lineage to move to Ohio: 1) the names match. Other deeds in Stark County at the time, which name a John Fry, show a different spouse in related grantor deeds, such as Catherine, eliminating them from consideration, 2) the location matches. My father, Walter Logan Fry, may have thought that John Fry moved to Lake Township, now the site of Uniontown and not to far from the Suffield Township farm in Portage County, but the Jackson Township location is only six or seven miles southwest of Uniontown, 3) there are no deeds to a John Fry ‏(or Frey for that matter)‏ in Lake Township for the period of John's arrival in Ohio, 4) the Jackson Township farm was 50 acres, small even for the period. The Suffield Township farm in Portage County was 100 acres. At twice the size, it offered the promise of a better farming operation and a better life in Ohio, and 5) the time line fits. James Smith Fry reported that his grandfather, John Fry, died in 1828, but death records fix the date of death as August 3, 1835. The Stark County deed to John Fry from George Row is dated May 31, 1928, while the deed from John and Ann Fry to Jacob Surby, Jr. is dated July 5, 1832. John expired four years later.

I need, of course, to find the deed record for John Fry in Suffield, but it is doubtlessly just prior to July 5, 1832. This would mean that John lived on his new farm for about three years, when he succumbed to fever.

Record source for Stark County Deed Records: ­http­://­app­.­recorder­.­co­.­stark­.­oh­.­us­/­DTS­/ ‏(after establishing a user name and password, jump to "Archive Search" on the following page)‏.