Thomas Robinson Fries and Bessie Gardner Finley

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Husband Thomas Robinson Fries ¹

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           Born: 23 Feb 1864 - West Newton, South Huntingdon Twp, Westmoreland Co, PA 2
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         Father: Jesse Fries (1829-1906) 3 4
         Mother: Harriet Robinson (      -Aft 1918) 5 6

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       Marriage: 12 Dec 1900 4

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Wife Bessie Gardner Finley ⁷

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           Born: 
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           Died: Aft 1918
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         Father: Michael Gardner Finley (1834-1898) 7
         Mother: Eliza Jane McVay (      -1898) 8

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Children

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1 M Jesse Russell Fries ⁴

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           Born: 31 Aug 1901 4
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           Died: 4 Mar 1903 4
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         Spouse: Did Not Marry

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2 M Thomas Malcolm Fries ⁴

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           Born: 14 Jul 1903 4
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3 F Dorothy Maude Fries ⁴

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           Born: 3 Jun 1905 4
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4 M Kenneth Finley Fries ⁴

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           Born: 18 Feb 1907 4
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5 F Albertha Fries ⁴

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           Born: 19 Jan 1909 4
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General Notes: Husband - Thomas Robinson Fries

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The preliminary portion of his education was received in the public schools of West Newton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Although the rural community of that time could not possibly afford the necessary training for the young man in his scholastic studies, he, by dint of hard work and strictest attention to his work, managed to prepare himself satisfactorily and he later entered the Indiana State Normal and still later Duff's College at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from which he eventually graduated. After graduating from the above mentioned institution, Mr. Fries obtained a position in the railroad mail service, and finally entered the farm and dairy business and in connection with this the breeding of fine cattle. He conducted his dairy business on a wholesale scale and was one of the largest shippers of milk in that part of the county. He also devoted a large portion of his acreage to general farming operations in which he was highly successful. He was always keenly interested in the subject of breeding and was most successful in this line with his cattle, carrying on the breeding of these animals on a large scale. About 1914 he began to withdraw from active business, but this in no way involved a retirement from active life. He conducted his farms as energetically as ever, but purely for his own interest and pleasure and no longer as a business proposition. He was regarded throughout the locality as an authority on agricultural subjects in general and particularly on the subject of cattle and their breeding. Mr. Fries was also connected as a stockholder in a large number of important business interests in the community, so that in this direction also he is still in immediate touch with the active business world and played a prominent part therein.
Mr. Fries always interested himself in public affairs and, as in all spheres of activity in which he has engaged, was an influence therein. He had no ambition, however, for public office or for political preferment of any kind, and though a staunch supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party, was in no sense of the term a politician. In his religious belief, Mr. Fries was a devoted member of the United Presbyterian church. He is associated with a large number of important business and social organizations, and was a life member of the Holstein-Fresian Association of America, and of the West Newton Board of Trade, in which capacity he did much to encourage the growth of business there.

1 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 1036, 1244.

2 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 1036.

3 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. III (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 201.

4 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 1037.

5 George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 366.

6 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 1038.

7 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 1037, 1244.

8 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 1244.