In 1891 William Parry landed in New York city, a young Welsh lad of some sixteen summers, his birth having occurred on the 7th of April, 1875. Immediately upon reaching this country he set out for rural New York and in Oneida county secured work on a farm in the neighborhood of Utica. The following spring, in spite of the fact that he was only seventeen years old and had been in this country but a year, he started out in business for himself in Deerfield as the proprietor of a small dairy. His beginning was humble and the work was both hard and long, but William Parry had a vision of what he wished to accomplish in the future and kept diligently at his task. Little by little his trade increased and the profits side of his ledger showed a larger figure at the end of each year. By 1903 he had entirely outgrown the little community of Deerfield and was ready to come to Utica where the opportunities for expansion and development were much greater. He is now the proprietor of the Court Street Dairy, a fine, up-to-date establishment equipped with all the modern dairy machinery and enjoying a prosperous trade. It ranks among the foremost of its kind in the city and its owner enjoys a prestige among the business men of Utica that he well merits.
Mr. Parry was married on March 25, 1902, to Miss Ann Brymer Jones, daughter of John B. Jones, of New York Mills. Mr. and Mrs. Parry have a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters. Two of the sons, Owen John and Andrew Stewart Parry, are associated with their father in the dairy business.
In fraternal circles Mr. Parry is a Mason and he keeps in touch with his fellow countrymen through his membership in the True Ivivites Society and the Cymreigyddion Society, Welsh organizations. He is as progressive in his views on public affairs as he has been in his business and takes a keen interest in civic affairs. Politically he follows an independent course. Mr. Parry has never regretted coming to this country, for he has prospered here to a remarkable degree and has found the United States all that he expected as a place to live and rear one's family. His career, thus briefly sketched, affords another telling illustration of the opportunities that await the stranger coming to our shores and shows the rewards which may be expected by those who build their lives on the firm foundations of industry and integrity.