James D. Fry
Birth Year: 1835
Birth Place: Augusta, VA
Residence at Enlistment: Not stated
Regiment(s): Co H, 1st AR Cav
Military Notes: He enlisted at Benton County, AR, on 1 Oct 1862 and served under the name “James Sinclair,” with a unit that operated in an area with a large number of Confederate sympathizers. (Arkansas, a secession state, had only recently come under Union control when he enlisted). Most of his duty during service was as a teamster with transports in northern Arkansas. The 1st AR Cav was organized at Cassville and Springfield, MO. Men were mustered in at Springfield, MO, on 7 Aug 1862 and mustered out 23 Aug 1865 at Fayetteville, AR.
Death Year: 1891
Death Place: Arenzville, IL
Burial Place: Arenzville, IL
Cemetery Name: Arenzville East Cemetery (unmarked grave)
Find-a-Grave#: 293947057
Remarks: Buried in Arenzville
His death record shows that he died in Arenzville on 25 Dec 1891 and was born in 1841, but his military enlistment in 1862 states that he was 27 years old at the time. Family researchers give the date of his birth as 4 Aug 1835 but do not cite a source. Cemetery records of the Village of Arenzville indicate that he is buried in the Arenzville East Cemetery. The 1880 federal census shows a boarder by the name of James Fry (hired hand) in the household of Edward E. Beard, living near Arenzville. This man was born about 1837 in “old Virginia,” and his parents were born in Pennsylvania.He served in Co H, 1st AR Cav, enlisting under the name James Sinclair. He applied for and received an invalid’s pension in Feb 1891 (applying from Illinois). The pension record confirms that he served under the alias “James Sinclair.”
