AMOS PERRY. There is but one first settlement
of any country, and the men and women of Delaware county who, by their own
unaided efforts, have had the pluck and courage to settle and reclaim from the
savages and wild beasts of the prairie this land of "milk and honey,"
are indeed worthy of great credit, and their names and deeds will be remembered
by generations yet to come, and be in a measure looked upon with that sentiment
of heroic worship which clusters about the memory of the first colonial
settlers in America. Such a one is Amos Perry, the subject of this notice, who,
having been prominently identified for nearly two-score years with the growth
and development of Delaware county, is
deemed worthy of a prominent place in this volume. He is of New England descent having been born near Pen Yan, Yates county, N. Y., April
9, 1834.
His father,
Matthew H. Perry, was a native of Massachusetts, born in the year 1796. When about
ten years of age he moved with his parents to New York State, where he resided until 1835, when he
immigrated West and took up government land in Kane
county, Ill., being one of the pioneer settlers of that county. He
followed through life the occupation of a fanner and wagon-maker, was noted for
his thrift and industry, and ended his days in Kane county,
dying March 1, 1890, at the advanced age of ninety-four
years.
Of the
paternal ancestry of this good family little or nothing is known, the vail of oblivion having been drawn so closely about its
early history as to leave no certain clew from which to trace its origin. A
distant relationship to Commodore Oliver H. Perry, who won fame in the War of
1812, was claimed by the father of our subject, and if this is true it established
England as the country from which the ancestors of the Perry
family in America originally came.
The mother of the subject of this notice bore the maiden name of Parmelia Briggs. She was a native of Rhode Island, was born about the year 1797, and
was the mother of eleven children, six boys and five girls, eight of whom are
still living. She was a kind Christian
mother and reared her children to lives of honesty and industry, and when the
war of the rebellion cast its dark shadow over the country, five of her sons
left the endearments of home and fought bravely for the preservation of the
country they so dearly loved. Of these five brothers only three returned, two
having died of sickness while in the service; a third brother lost an arm at
Mobile, Ala., in the charge on Fort Blakely, and also received a wound in the
breast.
In
religious matters Mrs. Perry adhered to the Free-Will Baptist faith, and throughout her long and useful life was a
consistent Christian, ever striving to contribute her mite toward the
betterment of mankind. Her gentle spirit, full of angelic sweetness, passed the
portals of this life to the better world beyond in 1876, when nearly four-score
years of age.
Amos Perry,
our subject, moved with his parents, when about one year old, to a point on the
Illinois river, south of Joliet, where the family settled and remained about
one year, when they changed their location to Ohio Grove, in Kane county, the
same state. The county there was new and undeveloped, and at that time was
considered the Western frontier. There he spent his early boyhood days
attending school, and laboring at odd intervals on his father's farm. The
schoolhouse, in which he learned to spell and read, was one of those primitive
old log houses with a shake roof, and wooden slabs with pin legs for seats. The
writing desks were made by driving long wooden pins into the log walls of the
building and resting thereon slabs of wood which extended around the room.
Though his opportunities were meager, he improved his time and gained the
rudiments of an education which, together with his good practical sense,
furnished the basis for his long-successful life.
From ten to
twenty years of age, Mr. Perry lived with a brother-in-law in the same county,
and was engaged
at farm work and tinkering at the
wagon-maker's trade, never thoroughly learning the latter. He began doing for himself at the age of
twenty, and earned considerable money chopping wood along the Mississippi river during the winters and laboring on
the farm in the
summers. Having saved a small sum of money from his hard-earned wages, he decided to invest it in government land on the Western
frontier, with a view of making that his
future home. In pursuance of this idea,
he and his father set out in October, 1854, traveling by wagon to Belvidere, and
from there to Council Hill, near the
Mississippi river, by rail, that being
the terminus of the road. The remainder of the distance was made on
foot, and in the course of their journeyings they passed through this
county, going westward through Independence, then just
starting, and then in a northwesterly direction to Bremer county. Not finding in all their travels of over
one hundred miles any better land or more desirable location than Delaware county afforded, they returned and
purchased three hundred and twenty acres each, in sections 33 and 34 in Coffin's Grove
township, paying seventy-five cents per acre. On their way out, in passing through
the county, they found no houses from Bailey's Ford until they reached the old
Nelson place, east of Coffin's Grove. As near as Mr. Perry recollects, at that
time there were but ten families living in the grove. The country was wild and
but little land as yet had been broken.
Wild game was plentiful, and in walking over the land they had purchased, they
saw a drove of deer peacefully
grazing in the narrow valley near by. The father and son went back to Kane county, Ill., the same fall, and the following
spring the father returned to Iowa and erected a small log house of
poplar poles on his land, and made other minor improvements. In the spring of 1857, Mr. Perry, our
subject, also returned for permanent settlement, reaching his land May 27. He at once erected a pine board shanty,
12x13 feet, in which he "kept bach" for one
year. He broke out some land on his
own place, a small amount for his father, and forty acres for Judge Coffin,
receiving for the
latter $3.37 1/2 per acre. He
put out a crop of wheat and oats,
but received little in return for his labor, owing to a
driving hail storm, which came near ruining the entire crop. He continued to cultivate his farm till the
fall of 1861, when, the war of the rebellion being under full headway, and the
demand for reinforcements being urgent, he responded nobly to his country's
call, and, bidding farewell to his bride of but a few months' duration, joined the
Third Iowa battery September 18, and was soon off for the scene of the
conflict. For four long years he fought nobly for the preservation of the
country he dearly loved, participating in the hardly-contested battles of Sugar
creek, Pea ridge, Helena, Pemberton (at
the head of the Yazoo river), and others of minor importance. He experienced all
the hardships and vicissitudes
of camp life, and, being taken with
a fever, was confined for
several months in a hospital at Duvall's Bluff, Ark.
The building, if such it might be, called, in which he was confined, was
made of old boards gathered at random, and had only a roof with no siding, so
that the inmates were exposed to the wind and rain, which greatly retarded
their recovery. The three years for which he had enlisted
having nearly expired, he, in April, 1864, re-enlisted, and, taking a thirty day
furlough, came home. At the expiration of his furlough he joined his regiment
at Little
Rock, Ark., where he remained on duty until
July 1, and was sent to Fort Smith on the border of the Indian Territory to do guard duty during the
negotiation of a treaty with the Indians. After remaining there for several
months he was returned to Davenport, Iowa, and the twenty-third of October, 1865, was mustered out. Returning home, he settled down to the
peaceful pursuits of farming, and from that day to the present his life has
been one of hard and honest toil. He has been both industrious and economical
and from time to time has invested his means in land until he now owns a number
of good farms in Delaware county,
comprising in all about eight hundred acres, the greater part of which is well
improved and under a high state of cultivation. In addition to this he owns a
large plantation of nine hundred and seventy acres in Louisiana, which he purchased in 1884. His
residence, located on a prominent elevation just east of Masonville,
is a neat frame, surrounded by a beautiful grove of thrifty growing maples, and
possesses all the modern conveniences essential to comfort and happiness.
Mr. Perry
took as hls life companion, February
17, 1861,
Miss Violet E. Minkler, a most estimable young lady,
who was born in Erie county, Ohio, June 6, 1844. Their congenial union has resulted
in the birth of seven children, all of whom are living, as follows—Effie L.,
born February 10, 1862; Edith A., born November 12, 1866; Gertrude A., born
March 4, 1868; Willard H., born July 29, 1869; Ernest A., born December 18,
1871; Lillian E., born July 30, 1873, and Maud, born March 16, 1880. To Mrs.
Perry, the mother of these children, is due the credit
of having been one of the pioneer mothers of Delaware county, and, during the many hardships
and privations incident to pioneer life, to have borne her share of life's
burdens with that Christian fortitude which is characteristic of her sex. In
religious matters she is an adherent of the Baptist faith, and a consistent
member of that organization in Masonville. Mr. Perry, while not a member of any Christian organization, is,
nevertheless, a believer in the great plan of salvation, and is liberal in his
gifts to both religious and benevolent institutions. In political
matters he affiliates with the republican party, and
is a strong supporter of its principles, believing that its timely action was
the means of preserving the Union.
Mr. Perry,
now well advanced in years, is one of the few remaining pioneer settlers who
link the past with the present, and whose names will long be remembered in
connection with the early history of Delaware county.
'ments'of home afnd
fought bravely for the preservation of the country they so dearly lovecl. Of these five brothers only three returned, two
haying died of sickness while in the service; a third brother lost an arm at Mobile, Ala., in the charge on Fort Blakely, and also received a wound in the
breast.
In
religious matters Mrs. Perry adhered to the Free-Will Baptist ifaith, and throughout her long and useful life was a consistent
Christian, ever striving to contribute her mite toward the betterment of
mankind, iler gentle spirit, full of angelic
sweetness, passed the portals of this life to the better world beyond in 1876,
when nearly four-score years of age.
Amos Perry,
our subject, moved with his parents, when about one year old, to a point on the
Illinois river, south of Joliet, where the family settled and remained about
one year, when they changed their location to Ohio Grove, in Kane county, the
same state. The country there was new and undeveloped, ajid
at that time was considered the Western frontier. There he spent his early
boyhood days attending school, and laboring at odd intervals on his father's
farm. The school -house, in which he learned to spell and read, was one of
those primitive old log houses with a shake roof, and wooden slabs with pin
legs for seats. The writing desks were made by driving long wooden pins into the
log walls of the building and resting thereon slabs of wood which extended
around the room. Though his opportunities were meager, he improved his time
and gained the rudiments of an education which, together with his good practical
sense, furnished the basis for his long-successful life.
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