In the 1900 Census, he listed himself as a farmer, and that his residence was a farm, but he also stated that he resided there as a renter, not an owner. Bessie was 13 in 1900, and lived on the farm with the family.

By 1910, Eli P. Hershberger and family had made its way to Suffield Township, where James Smith Fry lived. The 1910 U. S. Census reported him as a farmer residing on a farm, but this time he lived there as the owner. Bessie by that time was already married to the eldest son of James Smith Fry: Elson M. Fry.

I then came upon the 1907 Atlas of Portage County, Ohio ‏(see copy in "Media")‏. The pages for Suffield Township show both James S. Fry and Eli P. Hershberger. To my surprise, Eli P. Hershberger was assigned to the Mishler Post Office, not much more than a mile away from the Fry Farm. The post office was on the crook of Mishler Road where it met the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad. At that spot, there was not only a railroad depot, but also a pickle factory, elevator and School No. 6 ‏(See map of Suffield Township in 1900 Atlas of Portage County, Ohio (See "Media")‏.

Bessie could have easily walked from her home to the Fry residence a mile or so away.