Eliza Nelson Fryer

He died at an early age during an epidemic of dysentery, leaving his young wife and two small children.

At the age of 16, she determined to support herself by teaching, and by that means, go on with her own studies, first at Griffith Institute at Springville, New York, and afterwards at Alfred University,[1] from which she graduated.

Friends who knew her at this time recall her physical frailty, self-denial, cheerfulness, and excellent scholarship.

D. H. Davis and his wife, she sailed from San Francisco in the steamer City of Tokio, December 27, and arrived at Yokohama on January 18, 1880.

In spite of the illness and consequent weakness, she undertook school work both inside the city and outside the West Gate.

In spite of severe illness and consequent weakness, she organized various schools, both at Shanghai and in the surrounding area.

[3] From that day, she was a devoted wife and also a kind mother to Dr. Fryer's four young children by his previous marriage.

During her life at the Kiangnan Arsenal she availed herself of opportunities to meet and help many Chinese women of the higher class.

Often she traveled the five miles to Shanghai in a ricksha to stay with the sick and more than once, she ordered provisions or clothing to be sent to the really needy.

For years she led the Band of Hope in Shanghai, taking a deep and abiding interest in the children.

[4] Since living in California, Fryer returned to China on two occasions, the last time in 1908 when she accompanied her husband on a tour around the world, which also included India and Egypt.