Robert Olney Fry was born in New York in 1825, the first child and son of Olney and Celinda (Bennett) Fry. He was named after his father. His parents went on to have eight more children. In 1850, his family arrived in the Oregon Territory, having made the arduous trip with three wagons and oxen teams, plus misc. horses. In 1852, he married Mary Campbell Foster, another pioneer of Oregon. They were blessed with three sons and a daughter: Robert William, b. 1855, Franklin Pierce, b. 1856, John Olney, b. 1859, and Rosella, b. 1868. He homesteaded on a donation land claim that yielded richly all of the years that he farmed it in the Willamette Valley. Robert and Mary were together all of their lives, raising their family and living the lives of the Oregon emigrants. Mary passed from this life in 1892 and was buried at Riverside Cemetery. Robert followed her in 1905 and was buried by her at Riverside Cemetery in Albany, Linn County, Oregon. Each of their sons farmed their portions of the donation land claim until their health failed. Robert William married and farmed the land until he had to retire in 1910 due to stomach cancer, which took his life in 1931. Franklin Pierce did not marry, but farmed the land until his demise in 1936 due to heart problems and gangrene of his left leg and foot. John Olney's marriage ended in divorce, but a daughter, Zelma, who lived with him, cared for her father and the house while he farmed the land that had been bequeathed to him. Cousins, Melvin and Myrtle Markham and child, also resided there, Melvin helping with the farm and Myrtle helping with the house. John Olney Fry died in 1925 and was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Albany, Linn County, Oregon. Many Fry and Foster descendants live on, in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, their home.