The Captain David Perry Web Site
KING GEORGE'S WAR
1. Childhood
1741-57
FRENCH & INDIAN WAR
PRE-REVOLUTIONARY YEARS
1st WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
(Revolutionary War)
WAR'S END, CONFEDERATION & CONSTITUTION
PARTISANISM
and
2nd WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
(War of 1812)
Family & Close Relations
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LIFE OF DAVID PERRY. ADDENDA.
Family & Close Relations
of Capt. David Perry
compiled by Denise G. Jones © 1999-2012.
NOTE: The information presented here has been compiled from multiple sources, most of them secondary & unverified.
This site is not error-free & documented additions or corrections will be apprecitated.
[ To order a hard copy of Recollections click here. ]
[Eliakim Perry, father] [Sarah Joy, mother]
["Uncle" David Joy, mother's brother]
[Sylvanus Perry, brother]
[Nathaniel Perry, uncle who lived in Easton (coming)]
To go to PAF files (web pages created with the Personal Ancestral File program) click here.
liakim Perry was born 8 May 1716 in Sandwich, Barnstable
County, in the Massachusetts Bay colony. His father Benjamin
Perry is listed as a member of the First Church of Sandwich.
Benjamin Perry, said to be a weaver or tailor by trade, moved to Stoughton,
Norfolk (then part of Suffolk), Mass. before 1734, settling in
what is now Sharon, and taking with three of his sons: Josiah,
Benjamin and Nathaniel. In 1738, Abner and Eliakim followed
him. Eliakim was taxed in Stoughton at age 22 in 1738 and
was one of the petitioners of a church there. He is said to
have moved to Rehoboth in 1740 where he is said to have "purchased a
considerable estate" (C.B. Perry, Perrys of RI and tales of Silver Creek).
Eliakim Perry married Sarah Joy, born 17 July 1720, Hingham,
Plymouth, Massachusetts, the daughter of David (1693 - 1739) and
Ruth [Ford] Joy (1698-1792) of Rehoboth. Their marriage was performed
by the Rev. John Greenwood on 18 Dec. 1740, and was
recorded in Rehoboth, but banns were apparently published
in Stoughton as well. Their children -- David [b: 8 Aug. 1741],
Sylvanus [b: 31 Aug. 1743], Abigail [b: 3 Jun 1745] and
Elizabeth [b: 3 May 1747] -- were all born in Rehoboth. David
and his younger brother Sylvanus were both christened in the
Second Congregational Church of Rehoboth at Palmer's River
(I have a photocopy of the records). On the date of David's
christening, 18 Oct. 1741, his father Eliakim ("of Stoughton")
was baptized into that congregation as well. His mother Sarah
renewed her covenant at the same time
— perhaps as a part of the "churching of women" after childbirth.
David was born 7 months and 21 days after his parents' marriage. Of the possible explanations
for his early birth, other than his parents being married of necessity, the most likely seems that he was premature.
One fact that tends toward this conclusion is the lapse of nearly 2 1/2 months before his christening;
another is that, at the age of sixteen, he was so small for his age
that "[p]eople said [he] would not 'pass muster'".*' A third
condsideration
is that his five-year-old brother Sylvanus, and not he as a seven-year-old, was by all evidence taken to live with their widowed grandmother or another close relative
upon the death of their mother at age 28. David and his baby sisters were taken to live with their mother's brother, newlywed David Joy (see below).
Eliakim Perry served at the taking of Louisbourg, Cape Breton,
Nova Scotia, in 1745 under Gen. William Pepperell in King
George's War, as did his brother Abner, and Sarah's brother
David Joy. One source lists him as a captain in those forces,
but may have confused him with his son Capt. David Perry
(see Bertram Adams, The Descendants of John Perry of London,
p. 413). There was a good deal of moving around among the leadership of the ranks due to casualties, and
the lists are incomplete. Eliakim is definitely listed as a subordinate officer, but also was apparently mentioned
as a captain by Pepperell in his "journal," this according to information gleaned from the Rhode Island Historical Society
holdings.
His brother Capt. Nathaniel Perry settled in Easton,
as did that of their sister Remember [Perry] [Tupper] Willis, and
and it is probably these families
that Eliakim and Sarah Perry
were visiting
at the time Sarah [Joy] Perry became ill. Based on David
Perry's memoir, Sarah died in Rehoboth in the autumn of 1748, though her burial place has not yet been found.
Eliakim broke up
housekeeping and "put his children out" — a relatively common practice for
those who had lost a spouse and had young children they found themselves unable to care for.
The children all remained in Rehoboth within the closely knit Joy family.
David and his little sisters went to live with their mother's younger brother,
Lt. David Joy, a man of great kindness.
David Joy was 23 years old, had been married less than a year, and his wife was expecting their first child.
Sylvanus went to live with his maternal grandmother Ruth [Ford] Joy or another close relative:
he is listed as a laboror in Rehoboth in a property deed for her
in 1765 (Harold Porter, Jr. American Genealogist 66:179; Bristol, MA deeds 51:).
Like his brother David, Sylvanus became a shoemaker, and
was possibly even indentured to the same tanner and shoemaker, Mr. David Walker of Dighton, Massachusetts,
which would mean that the brothers' apprenticeships overlapped by a year or so. If Sylvanus was
not in the provincial forces in 1761, the brothers would have had this year together at the Walker's as
David applied himself diligently to his trade this year, taking a break from military service.
Sylvanus' term of apprenticeship would have been up in 1764, the year David was married.
The
families seem to have remained close, Sylvanus and David marrying
sisters: David, Anna Bliss (1764); and Sylvanus (1769/70), Rebecca Bliss, both dauthers of
John and Rebecca [Whittaker] Bliss of Rehoboth. The
brothers were both married in the Putnam Heights Church,
once a part of Killingly, Windham, Connecticut, the town in
which they settled about the time of their marriages. Their
little sister Abigail Perry married John Wilson at Rehoboth
and had 10 children, all born in Rehoboth. Some of her descendants
lived in East Providence, RI (the location of Old Rehoboth town center before
state borders changed in the latter 1800s). Their youngest sister Elizabeth
married Simeon Read at Rehoboth and had 9 children, all
also born in Rehoboth. One of her great-grandchildren,
Miss Annie M. (or A.) Read, was still living in the
Rehoboth area in the early 1900s.
A letter from George A. Perry to Charles A. Perry 1 Apr 1898, says
�Miss Annie A. Reid...though I have never seen her, is one of my best friends--a charming lady.�
After the death of his wife Sarah [Joy] Perry in 1748, Eliakim
Perry moved to Norwich, New London, Connecticut (probably
to the area that is now Lebanon, CT), where he married
Hephzibah (various spellings) Ladd of Norwich, the widow
of Alexander Gaylord, abt 1749. They had Seth [8 Jun. 1750],
Eliakim [b: 22 Feb. 1752], Ezekiel Perry [b: 26 Oct. 1753], Azor
Perry [b: 12 Dec. 1755], Ozias Perry [b: 20 Jun. 1757], Phillipa
or Phillipy Perry [b: 24 Apr. 1759], and Sarah or Sally Perry
[12 Sep. 1762]. All seven of Eliakim's sons (two by his first
wife, five by his second) served as patriots in the Revolutionary
War and Eliakim Perry is said to have signed the Association Test of Suffolk
County, Mass.[?] during the Revolution (declaring himself a patriot thereby)
which suggests he still owned land there.
ylvanus Perry (David's brother) answered the Lexington Alarm, April 19, 1775, and served almost continuously through
1781. He was made ensign in the 5th Company, 3rd Batallion
(Wadsworth's brigade) raised in June 1776 to reinforce Gen.
Washington in NYC & Long Island; was commissioned 2nd Lt.
in Chandler's Regiment. Jan 1, 1777, and 1st Lt. in Col. Samuel
Wyllys Reg. helping to repel the British raid on Danbury, Conn.,
Apr 26, 1777. He served in the Conn. 1st Brigade under Putnam
through 1778, and in 1779 encamped at White Plains with
Washington's army, wintering at Redding (1779) and serving
in Gen. Heath's wing on East side of Hudson during operations
of 1779. He retired by consolidations Jan 1, 1781. Sylvanus
is said to have been a man of substance and standing in Killingly
whose memory is revered among his descendants as that of
a worthy patriot and an honored officer. He is listed as a pensioner
1818. Although he spent time occasionally in Oneida, NY with
his descendants, he lived most of his life in Killingly, CT.
A lieutenant during the Revolution, Sylvanus probably became a captain in the
militia afterward, like his brother David did. He died 5 Oct 1821 in Killingly, Connecticut and is
buried in the Aspinwall Cemetery in Putnam.
[Click here for more information on some of Sylvanus Perry's descendants:
web pages created using the Personal Ancestral File [PAF] program.]
The two families of Capt.[?] Eliakim Perry seem to have retained
close ties, even though his four children by Sarah (Joy) Perry did
not remain with him after her death (1748). They were all born
in Rehoboth, Mass. but are listed in the Norwich, CT records
along with those of Eliakim and Hephzibah Perry. Also, David
was offered a captain commission by Col. John Durkee of Norwich,
CT in 1776, although he never lived there. Both David and his
brother Sylvanus did settle in Killingly, CT -- 'just up the creek'
(in this case CT River) from Norwich. Eliakim and at least some
of his descendants from both marriages settled eventually in
southern Vermont, David moving to Ira, VT, after 20 years in
Chelsea. Jabez Downer Perry, son of Seth Perry (David's half
brother) was a shoemaker in Ira, VT, in 1860, and I can't help
wonder if he had been apprenticed to his uncle David Perry.
Jabez's daughter Ruth apparently married a son of Lois Perry,
daughter of Sylvanus Perry, the oldest son of Capt. David Perry and
apparent namesake of his uncle, David's brother Capt. Sylvanus Perry.
avid Joy, or "Uncle David," married on 1 Dec 1747 Elizabeth Allen; both
were born in 1724, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
Besides raising three of the four children of his sister Sarah
[Joy] Perry after her death in 1748, the couple had
eleven children of their own: John Joy [b: 27 April 1749],
Abel Joy [b: 26 Oct. 1750], Sarah Joy [b: 23 Aug. 1752],
David Joy [III, b: 5 July 1754], Comfort Joy [b: 18 Mar 1756],
Elizabeth Joy [b: 2 Oct 1757, d: 23 Feb 1760], Jesse Joy
[b: 28 Dec. 1759], Abathiar Joy [b: 20 Mar 1762], Lewis Joy
[b: 31 May 1764], Benjamin Joy [b: 17 Feb 1767], and
Elizabeth Joy [b: 10 June 1769].
"Uncle David" Joy served
as a lieutenant in King George's War at Louisbourg, the French
and Indian War served 1758-59 (Mrs. Grace Joy Mac Donald,
DAR Vol 106, p. 187, rec 105594, and Mass. Officers).
David Joy fought in the Crown Point expedition under Gen. Jeffery Amherst in 1759
at the taking of Fort Ticonderoga, serving as a "platoon officer" (second lieutenant)
under Col. Timothy Ruggles• of Hardwick, Massachusetts. Ruggles was promoted to general in 1760.
(Source: Mrs. Grace Joy MacDonald. quoting Thomas Joy & His Desc. p. 74;
Voye, Nancy S., ed. Massachusetts Officers in the French and Indian Wars, 1748-1763
[Boston: Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1975], entry 3756;
and Rita Orton, corr. 14 Nov. 2003).
Lt. David Joy could not have served under Timothy Ruggles in the year 1775, as one source reported.
When the American Revolution broke out that year, Ruggles, a loyalist and "president of the 'Stamp Act Congress'" (Lossing, Chap. 22•), "left Boston for Nova Scotia with the British Troops" (Rita Orton).
(See "An Annapolis County Loyalist"• by R. S. Longley; Timothy Ruggles [1711-95]; Vol #31 [1957]).
During the War for Independence at least three of "Uncle David's" sons fought in the Revolutionary forces:
1) Abel Joy (1750-Rehoboh, Mass.-1813, Brattleboro, Vermont). (Source: Joy Gen by Bourne 929.273 J84l, p.79 and 121.)
[Go to PAF files]
2) David Joy III (1754, Rehoboh, Mass.-1813, Fabius, Onondaga, New York) enlisted from Litchfield, CT, and served as a soldier of the Revolution from July 17
to Dec 19, 1775 in Capt. Tuttle's Co. of Col. Charles Webb's 2nd[?] Connecticut Regiment
(Thomas Joy & His Desc, p. 81; DAR rec. 68166).
[Go to PAF files]
3) Abiathar Joy• (1762, Rehoboh, Mass.-1851, Lafargeville, Jeff. Co., New York) served in Capt. James Glakeslee's [Blakely's?] Co. of Brattleborough VT. Abiathar
"enlist[ed] in Apr 1778 at Guilford, Windham Co, VT" (Martha S. Magill, THE TOWN OF RUSSIA HERKIMER COUNTY, NY, 1997 - 2003. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyherkim/russia.html.
See also "Family Information from the book Russia Union Church, 110th Anniversary, 1820-1930" c1930 Russia Union Church; Web Edition c1998 Jane Dieffenbacher.).
He was a major in the War of 1812; resided in Brattleboro, VT and Russia, Herkimer Co., NY.
"Uncle David" was a yeoman farmer (the term "yeoman" means he was a land holder, after the yeomen of England, free men who owned and farmed
their own land rather than subsisting as tenants on land owned by the nobility and landed gentry).
His holdings gradually extensive enough to earn him the title "Esquire".
In the 1760s, he moved from Rehoboth to Guildford, then on land claimed by New York and then by New Hampshire
in what was called the
New Hampshire Grants• --
land later became the state of Vermont.
A deed dated 23 Sept. 1765 in reference to his mother Ruth [Ford] Joy's real estate lists him as "David Joy of Guilford, NY"
(source: Rita Orton, Corr. 18 Nov 2003, citing Harold Porter, Jr. American Genealogist Vol.66-67, 1919-92 abstract of Bristol Co. land records 51:355-356).
In Guilford town records "the name of David Joy Esq. appears as moderator of a
town meeting on May 18,1773," and on April 7, 1777, his son David Joy "Jr." (David Joy III) was elected Constable.
The dispute over land caused divisions among the residents of the towns involved.
Many like "Uncle" David Joy who had moved to New York, as they
thought, understandably wanted to remain part of New York. Others wanted to unite the Grants under
the name of Vermont, after the Green Mountains that ran through the land.
Feelings for parties -- the Yorkers or the Vermonters -- ran high, especially during the American Revolution;
strife over the "New Hampshire Grants" sometimes resulted in hostilities.
In Guilford, on 10 January 1781, a town meeting was convened by citizens "all of them that mean to stand in opposition
against the pretended state of Vermont." David Joy Esq. was elected moderator•
as the first order of business. The citizens then "Voted to defend themselves against the insults of the
Pretended State of Vermont" which probably meant Ira Allen and his Green Mountain Boys (Rita Orton, corr., 19 Nov 2003;
Guilford by Gen. J. W. Phelps,• 1842, transcribed by Rod Skinner, c1998-2003).
After New Hampshire and those for Vermont paid New York state for the land in 1777, Vermont became an independent
republic and remained so until 1791, when it became the 14th state, the first new state in the United States of America.
It seems the dissent continued to have repercussions, with those who sided with New York suffering persecution from the victors.
In Vermont Warnings Out (Alden M. Rollins. Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1995. Vo. 2)
for Brattleboro, Vermont just north of Guilford, says
David and Elizabeth Joy were warned out 17th of Sept. 1804. David Joy Esq. lived near the Brattleboro
line on the "Northeast corner Lot"• of the "District of Guilford" (Phelps, Guilford).]
David's son Jessie and his family "were warned out of Brattleboro on the 17th of Sept. 1807, and also from Marlboro on the 27th of July 1810." (Rita Orton, corr., 19 Nov 2003.)
Further research is needed to determine why; since his lot bordered Brattleboro, it was possibly an
issue still attendant on the turmoil over the New Hampshire Grants.
Jesse Joy apparenly remaind on his land since he died in Marlboro in 1821. During the War of 1812, Jesse's son Abiathar was killed at the Battle of Little York [Toronto], Canada, in late April 1813,
"by explosion of the magazine, when Little York was evacuated by the British troops." He was probably buried there.
(Joy Genealogy by Helen Joy Bourne Lee, 175.)
David and Elizabeth Joy moved to Russia,• Herkimer, New York, perhaps as a result of the
problems with Brattleboro in 1804. In Russia, NY, he is said to have served as a Justice of the Peace. Locals called him
"Squire Joy" (Joy Fam of NY 1876), probably because of extensive land holdings (which meant wealth).
His tombstone in Gravesville Cemetery in Russia, NY, lists him as "Esquire"
(FHL film #1,435,717, page 161).
He died Jan. 26, 1811, at the age of 86.
Other Joy's burried in Gravesville Cemetery (p. 161):
Harriet M. Joy, wife of Henry L. Joy [rin 3497] d:
2 July 1854, age 27 yrs (b: abt 1827) Henry Eugene Joy,
their son, d: 1853, age 5 yrs. (b: abt 1848), Roxa Joy d:
June 10, 1825 age 22 (b: abt 1803) Urilea Joy d: 23 Aug. 1824
age 31 (b: abt 1793), Ebin B. Joy d: Sept 15, 1806 age 2 yrs
3 months (b: abt June 1804). Connection undetermined at
this time.
A David Perry, considered the same person as Capt. David Perry's son David,
died in Herkimer County, NY, in 1827. This circumstance and, even more, the tenor of Perry's Recollections are
ample assurance that, though they differed in their stance on Vermont, Capt. David Perry
and his "Uncle" David Joy remained firmly rooted in good feelings toward each other.
[Click here for more information on descendants of "Uncle" David Joy;
web pages created using the Personal Ancestral File [PAF] program.]
________________________________
Selected Source Information:
The information presented here has been compiled from multiple sources,
some of them secondary & unverified (see unedited, individual notes in PAF Files). This site is not error-free &
documented additions or corrections will be apprecitated.
See also Selected Genealogical Sources.
Joy Family of NY = cited by one source, probably refers to Cornelia C. Joy Dyer's A brief history of the Joy family by one of them
(New York : Printed for private circulation, 1876) (N.Y. : T. Whittaker)
Porter, Harold F., Jr. �The Ancestry of Sarah Cummin(g)s, wife of Benjamin Joy of Rehoboth, Mass., Killingly, Conn. and Plainfield, N.H.� The American Genealogist. New Haven: D.L. Jacobus. Vol. 66 (1991) pp. 176-183.
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