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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