The Fryer family, from California, included Joseph R. Fryer (1840-1892), his wife, Martha (1853-1931), daughter Nellie (1871-1956) and son Harry (1874-1962). In 1880, they were living in Harshaw, where Joseph was a laborer. Son Joseph “Kent” Kenneth (1888-1984) was born in 1888. In 1890, Nellie, age 18, married Francis Allison, age 34, a grocer, and the couple moved to Tucson, where they operated a successful grocery store and other businesses. Joseph died in 1892 at Nellie’s home, leaving Martha a widow with sole responsibility for Harry, 18, and Kent, 4.
In 1905, Harry laid claim to 160 acres in Township 22E, Range 17S, Section 25 of the San Rafael Valley, where he built a house, barn and corrals, and planted corn and Milo maize on 20 acres. Harry was awarded a homestead patent in 1917. He married Geneva Pavitte in 1904; by 1908, Geneva had filed for divorce and was living in Globe. She was an active member of the Socialist Party and died suddenly from a mysterious stomach ailment in 1909, according to an article in the Daily Arizona Silver Belt. Harry no doubt helped to raise Kent, and he and his mother, Martha, are listed as living together in the 1920 and 1930 U.S. Census.
Kent taught in several area schools until he was drafted into the Army in 1918. He served six months in France during World War I, receiving an honorable discharge in 1919. By 1920, Kent and his mother were managing Patagonia’s Commercial Hotel and were making plans to open a new hotel in Patagonia, according to the Tucson Citizen. The new hotel never materialized, and during the 1920s Kent had several run-ins with the law. He was charged with forgery while working for the Santa Cruz County school superintendent and issuing bad checks when he tried to reopen the Can Can Café in Tombstone.
When Martha died in 1931, Harry struggled to keep up the mortgage payments on their ranch. In 1934, the ranch was listed for sale by the Santa Cruz County Superior Court. Mrs. Maude B. Dickerman purchased Harry’s property in about 1935, and in 1940 sold the ranch to Buel and Katharine Hutchinson, who named it The Little Outfit Ranch and established a boarding school.
The 1940 and 1950 U.S. Census record Harry renting near Patagonia and working as a laborer, doing odd jobs. A tin box storing his “important” papers provides a glimpse of his life in the 1930s.
He was a Democrat and a member of the Townsend Club, which advocated for “old-age” government pensions. The Club’s efforts significantly influenced the eventual passage of the Social Security Act of 1935. Harry’s box contained many receipts and bar tabs. He probably frequented the Wagon Wheel Bar, where beer cost 20 cents and a pint of gin sold for $1.10. He shopped at Escalada Brothers Wholesale Grocers in Nogales and wore dentures.
Harry died in 1962, age 87, in Tucson.