HON. FRANKLIN WHITE PERRY

BIOGRAPHY

AS RECORDED IN:

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF TOLLAND AND WINDHAM COUNTIES CONNECTICUT.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES.

PUBLISHER: J.H.BEERS & CO., CHICAGO; 1903 P. 474

HON. FRANKLIN WHITE PERRY is a prominent business man of Putnam, Windham county. Mr. Perry is a member of the hardware firm of Perry & Brown, a veteran of the Civil war, and a former representative from the town in the General Assembly of the State. He is one of the useful citizens and substantial men of Putnam.

Mr. Perry was born June 15, 1841, in the town of Dudley, Mass., a son of George Nelson and Sarah (White) Perry, and a grandson of Eliphas and Deidamia (Bacon) Perry. The grandfather was a farmer on the old home place at Perryville, a little New England manufacturing point on French river, in the extreme southeastern part of the town of Dudley. The town took its name from the Perry family, who had lived there and owned the farm and waterpower (which is ample the year round for mill purposes) from generation to generation since the period of the Revolution. Eliphas Perry, grandfather of Franklin W., was born Oct. 16, 1767, and died Aug. 28, 1847; his widow surviving four years, died Feb. 3, 1851.

George Nelson Perry, the father of Franklin W., of Putnam, was born in Perryville, and married Sarah Ann White, who was born in Thompson, Conn. Mrs. Perry was a descendant of Capt. Stephen Crosby, who fell at the battle of Long Island.

Mr. Perry later moved to Dudley and was engaged largely in the lumber trade and in agricultural pursuits. He was a man of energy and action, and became one of the substantial citizens of his town. In his early life he taught school, and he always took an interest in educational matters, serving on the school board and being connected with Nichols Academy. His political affiliations were with the Republican party and he was active and zealous in party work. Mr. Perry served his town as selectman and in other capacities. His church connection was with the Congregational Society at Webster, and later at Dudley. Mr. Perry died of typhoid fever in the very prime of manhood, Nov. 27, 1858, when forty-five years of age.

To the marriage of George N. Perry and Sarah Ann (White) were born children as follows: Edwin, married (first) Hester Phipps, and (second) Mrs. Mary Park Warren, and resides in Pomfret; Emma, married Austin C. Burnett, resided in Webster and there died; Franklin W., mentioned below; Lucy, married Eugene Allen, of Dudley, now of Harriman, Tenn.; and Addie F., married Charles A. Joslin, of Thompson, the latter now deceased.

Franklin W. Perry attended the public schools of his native town and the Nichols Academy, from which he was graduated. He then passed one year at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. Early in the Civil was – in the fall of 1861 – young Perry left the schoolroom for the tented field, enlisting Oct. 2d of that year as a private soldier in Company D, 25th M.V.I. After three years of active service he was mustered out of the United States service as sergeant with an honorable war record.

Returning to his home Mr. Perry again took up his books, entering Howe’s Business College, at Worcester, Mass., and at the completion of his course of study he became one of the corps of instructors in that institution. After a short experience in teaching he became bookkeeper for the hardware firm of Kennicutt & Co., of Worcester, a position he held until 1870. In that year, associated with Charles H. Brown, Mr. Perry formed the hardware firm of Perry & Brown, at Putnam, Conn., and established the business which has been carried on by these gentlemen from that time to the present – a period only a little less than a third of a century. The firm is now the oldest one of Putnam, as well as one of the most substantial, its members being men of character and high standing in that community. Both gentlemen have filled seats in the General Assembly of the State and held other public trusts of the city and town. They have also held positions of honor and responsibility in private corporations and enterprises.

For a number of years Mr. Perry was a director in and president of the Putnam Light & Power Company, and for two years was president of the Woodstock Agricultural Society. He is a staunch Republican, and a citizen who has not shirked public duty. He has served as grand juror, as a member of the school board, and for one year was chairman of the Republican committee of Putnam city. He represented Putnam in the General Assembly in 1899 and 1900, serving on the committee on Human Institutions. In 1901 Mr. Perry was chosen as alderman-at-large for the city of Putnam. He was appointed by the Legislature in 1901 a trustee for four years of the State Insane Asylum, at Middletown, and is also a member of the board of trustees of the Day Kimball Hospital. Mr. Perry is a member of A.G. Warner Post, No.
54, G.A.R., of Putnam, and of the A.O.U.W.

On April 12, 1866, Mr. Perry was married to Cornelia Maria, daughter of Col. Calvin Day and Marcia Abeline (Gilbert) Williams, of Pomfret, Conn. Col. Williams held several public offices in his native town. He was a prominent Republican, and served for two sessions in the General Assembly; was a colonel of the State militia for many years. He was an active member of the Congregational Church of Pomfret, holding the office of deacon at the time of his death, which occurred Dec. 18, 1892, at the age of seventy-nine. Mrs. Williams still survives.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Perry are active members of the Second Congregational Church at Putnam, which he served several years as deacon. Mrs. Perry is a member of Elizabeth Porter Putnam Chapter, D.A.R., of Putnam, being a descendant of Capt. John Day, a large landowner in Killingly, now Dayville, Conn., and a soldier in the Revolutionary war.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin W. Perry are: (1) George Williams, born May 24, 1869, in Worcester, Mass. He attended the Putnam high school, in 1890 was graduated from the Worcester (Mass.) Polytechnic Institute, and for ten years he has been a successful mechanical engineer at Waukegan, Ill., with the firm of Washburn & Moen. On Sept. 3, 1891, he married Jennie Gertrude Fisher, daughter of the late Oscar Fisher, of Woodstock, Conn., and their children are Gertrude Williams and Gilbert Fisher. (2) Edward Franklin, born Oct. 8, 1871, in Pomfret, Conn. He was graduated from the Putnam high school, and also from the McGaw Institute, at Merrimac, N.H.,
after which he passed two years at Amherst College. In 1897 he was graduated from the Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, N.Y., and after one year’s service in Brooklyn City Hospital took a special course of study in one of the hospitals in New York City. He is now practicing medicine successfully at Wellfleet, Mass. On May 10, 1899, Dr. Perry was married to Edith Lillian Smith, daughter of Albert M. Smith, of Washington, Conn. (3) Robert Gilbert, born June 27, 1874, in Putnam. He was graduated from the Putnam high school, and in 1897 from Amherst College. Two years later, in 1899, he was graduated from the New York Law School, and is now successfully engaged in the practice of law in New York City.

Reproduced by:

Linda D. Pingel – great-great granddaughter of Cyrus White of Rockville, Ct.