Joseph Frye, born in Andover, Massachusetts, in April, 1711, was
enterprising and intelligent, and at an early age represented his
town in the General Court of the county. Entering the army, he
was present at the siege of Louisburg and wrote the terms of the
surrender. He was a colonel when Montcalm captured Fort William Henry
in 1757. Being seized and stripped by an Indian, he was led away to
torture; but overpowering and killing his captor, Frye fled into
the woods, succeeded in eluding the savages, and after several days
reached a place of safety. In June, 1775, the Provincial Congress of
Massachusetts appointed Colonel Frye a major-general, and the 10th of
January, 1776, Congress gave him the rank of brigadier-general in the
Continental army. His age and infirmities, however, compelled him to
retire soon after from active service. Removing with his family to the
frontier of Maine, he founded the town of Fryeburg, and died there in
1794.