My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM B. PERRY, one of the old and efficient justices of the peace in the town of Ripley, was born in the town of North East, Dutchess county, New York, September 10, 1821, and is a son of Samuel and Minerva (Mather) Perry. His paternal grandfather, Benjamin Perry, a miller by trade, was born in Connecticut but died at Kinderhook, Columbia county, this State. He married a widow Spencer, of Georgia, by whom he had three sons and four daughters. On the maternal side William B. Perry is descended from the celebrated Cotton Mather, the distinguished divine who took so prominent a part in the early history of the New England Colonies. One of his descendants was John Mather who was the father of Charles Mather (grandfather). Samuel Perry (father) was born in Connecticut in 1794, removed to Dutchess county and on June 16th, 1833, came to Chautauqua county where he purchased a farm, lived, and died October 4, 1856. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade, a democrat in politics and a universalist. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity and married Minerva Mather, who was born in Saratoga county, in 1798. Their family consisted of four sons and two daughters; of the former Charles M., was formerly a merchant but is now a farmer in Michigan; James H., taught school for some years, now resides in Utica, Winona county, Minnesota, and is one of the commissioners of the county; and Lee H., who died in 1860.

William B. Perry received his education in the early common schools of New York, and at Westfield academy. Leaving the fountains of theoretical knowledge he learned the carpenter’s trade at which he worked during the summer seasons for eighteen years and spent the winters in teaching. He then purchased a farm that he sold some time after and then bought the small place upon which he now lives and has cultivated and managed it ever since.

In 1846 he married Martha McHenry, who was a daughter of Alexander McHenry, an early settler of Ripley, and she bore him five children: Ella S., married Fletcher Dawson and is now dead; Charles (deceased); Florence is the wife of Clarence Mason, who is engaged in grape culture; and Ida A., who married G. W. Hitchcock. Mr. Perry then united in marriage with Helen J., a daughter of Dr. Shaw, of Kennedy, and by this marriage came one son — William S. William B. Perry married for his third wife Dora M. (Kistead) Whitman, who is yet living and has borne one child — Harley Chapin.

Politically William B. Perry is a democrat. He has held the offices of town clerk and assessor, and has served continuously since 1860 as a justice of the peace, excepting one term of four years. He is a member of the Universalist church and is a highly esteemed citizen.