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)
Sources & Acknowledgements
Click here
TO OBTAIN A COPY
of the new, hardback annotated, illustrated edition of
Perry's Recollections,
DGJ ed.
|
LIFE OF DAVID PERRY.
Sources
and Acknowledgements.
[ To order a hard copy of Recollections click here. ]
NOTE: See Appendix for bibliographical information on editions.
The author of this web site has researched the life and times of David Perry for over 30 years.
The combined, electronic edition is the result of meticulous comparisson of all editions;
the 1822 text formatting has been preserved only in the printed edition (ca. 2012).
A Selected Bibliography or Sources Cited page,
as well as documentation on Perry's life and military service,
is planned for this site. Some sources are posted on
"Fact or Fiction: References to Capt. David Perry's Words".
See also "Selected Genealogical Sources" below.�DGJ
hotocopies of each of the extant editions
were used in compiling
this edition, and I owe each my deepest gratitude -- for a photocopy of (1) the original 1822 edition: both the
Rhode Island Historical Society [RIHS•] and the Vermont Historical
Society [VHS•] ; for a photocopy of (2) the Alden edition [ca. 1903-1930]: Mrs. Walter Charles
[Mary] Perry of Hampden, NY, and also for a
faxed copy via ILL , Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225
; for a photocopy of (3) the 1928 Magazine of History
(Abbatt) edition, Dr. Fred A. Anderson, Dept. of History, University of Colorado,
and Dr. William Whiteman and Dianne Perry Whiteman (a 4th ggdau. of Capt. David Perry); for my first perusal of (4) the 1971 Polyanthos edition: the
Family History Library• in
Salt Lake City,• Utah;
and for various microform editions through Interlibrary Loan [ILL] and an extensive listing of those OCLC• libraries holding
copies of the various editions I must thank Julie Trimble at the Davis County Library,•
Farmington, Utah.
Dr. William Whiteman, who is currently (1999) preparing an excellent annotated edition of Recollections for his family and friends, has generously and unstintingly contributed to my own knowledge via photographs, books, discussion, etc. In addition, numerous librarians and historians in Canada (e.g., Bob Cuff•, Harry Cuff Publications Ltd, in Newfoundland; Jim Candow• and Barbara Schmeisser of Parks Canada in Nova Scotia) as well as across the U.S. (e.g. Steven W. Sowards, Social Sciences and Humanities Reference Librarian, Michigan State U.; and Dr. Fred Anderson, Department of History, University of Colorado) have freely increased my knowledge, understanding and resources. Not the least of these librarians are the staff at both the South Branch• and Headquarters of the Davis County Library System in Bountiful, Utah. Withouth their help in filling my incessant requests for interlibrary loans I could never have tackled so monumental a task. To Bob Cuff go additional thanks for suggestions on this web site and on the 2012 edition of Perry's Recollections, which greatly improved both. For information and documentation on David Perry, I am indebted to the extensive holdings of the Family History Library• in Salt Lake City which I have consulted concerning him for thirty years.
I am grateful, also, to Karen Maurer Green -- owner of Frontier Press•
in Cooperstown, NY, and purchaser of Polyanthos Press -- for allowing
me to buy at discount and distribute all but 5 of the remaining extant
1971 editions; to Leslie Warner of the William Reese Company•
in New Haven, CT for information on the one of the only two first editions that were
for sale in 2000 (both have since been sold, one to the author of this site).
Regarding the other, thanks go to John Johnson• for the image of his restored first edition,
for information on his discovery of it 30 years ago in an attic in Ludlow, Vermont, and
for cherishing Capt. David Perry's Recollections these many years [2-21-2000].*
I am especially grateful to Mrs. John Ferris Alden (a 2nd-great-granddaughter
of Capt. David Perry) and Winston DeVille for their respective editions without
which I never would have heard my ancestor�s life story with its admonition
and consequently would not have embarked on one of the greatest journeys
of my life -- that through both time and space to discover history, and my own
New England roots.
I owe all of these people my thanks and will include grateful acknowledgment in the forthcoming edition.
A listing of the locations* of extant copies of the 1822 edition will appear
in the 2012 edition currently in preparation. Information in brackets on this Web Site
adding proper names are my additions.
Neither my footnotes comparing editions nor my historical, genealogical, and
topographical endnotes are included in this Web Site at this time, although
knowledge gleaned from them has been used in selecting links to other
sites and in the selected endnotes. Perry's Recollections on this site is a compilation of all editions. Selected references and annotations
will be given in the 2004 edition; some of these
may be incorporated into this site in the future.
--DGJ, editor.
Selected Genealogical Sources:
The Bingham Family of the United States, especially of the State of Connecticut Compiled by Bingham, Brig. Gen. Theodore A. Easton, PA: Bingham Association, 1930. Copyright by Eugene C. Bingham. 3 Vols. [For Bingham descendants of Capt. David Perry only. Referred to herein as Thomas Bingham Genealogy.]
Benns, Martha Adela Halton, compiler. �Some Descendants of Ezra Perry.� Microfilm of manuscript at the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence, Rhode Island. FHL # 022,332, Item 7 & 17. (ca. 1941). �A combination of the records of J.O. Autsin, James N. Arnold, Rev. J.P. Roof and others; my own among deeds, wills, Bible records, cemeteries, and town records.� Signed 1942.
Brownson, Lydia B. [Phinney], and McLean, Maclean W., �Ezra Perry of Sandwich, Mass., c. 1625-1689" New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 115 pp 86-99 (Apr 1961), and pp. 191-198 (July 1961); pp. 268-289 (Oct. 1961); vol. 116 pp. 27-44 (Jan 1962); 100-103 (Apr 1962); 191-204 (Jul 1961).
Chelsea, Vermont. Land records, 1784-1878. Town Clerk. Montpelier, Vermont: Vermont Public Records Division, 1974. Vols. 1-7, FHL film 28,069 � 28,072.
Chelsea, Vermont. Town records, 1788-1890. Town Clerk. Montpelier, Vermont: Vermont Public Records Division, 1974. FHL film 982,532 Items 1-2.
Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham Counties, Connecticut:
Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens and of Many of the
Early Settled Families. Chicago : J.H. Beers, 1903. Vol. 1, pp. 522-524 and Vol. 2 p. 933.
NOTE: This source states:
"In the battles of Long Island• and Harlem Heights, in August and September, 1776, we find Lieut. David Perry, Ensign Sylvanus Perry, and their half brothers, Ozias and Seth. David, Ozias and Seth were in the 3d Regiment, raised in 1775, and commanded by Israel Putnam. Sylvanus was in the 3d Battalion, Co. 5, Wadsorth's Brigade..." (Vol. 1, 523).
I have been unable to verify this information, which may have been supplied by great-grandchildren
and likely deduced based on histories of the American Revolution and the service of
generals and battalions, rather than
on primary records of the individual soldiers, which records are incomplete.
The wording of Perry's memoir leads to the conclusion that he was not at those battles.
Gen. Israel Putnam was, but Perry was discharged from Putnam's Battalion in Sept. 1775. (See Heitman, below.) He did not serve again until the winter of 1776-77 at Providence, Rhode Island, in the Fourth Battalion of the the State Regiment of Connecticut.*
Hammond, Isaac W., comp. and ed. The State of New Hamphsire, Rolls of the Soldiers of the Revolutionary War 1775, to May 1777 with an Appendix, embracing Diaries of Lieut. Jonathan Burton. Concord, N.H.: Parsons B. Cogswell, State Printer, 1885. (Note: The David Perry listed in this publication is a different David Perry).
Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution, April, 1775, to December, 1783. Reprint of the New, Revised and Enlarged Edition of 1914 with Addenda by Robert H. Kelby, 1932. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1967, pp. 14-19, 437.
Hurd, D. Hamilton, ed. �History of Plainfield� in History of Cheshire and Sullivan Counties, New Hampshire. Philadelphia: J.S. Lewis & Co., 1886.
Hurd, D. Hamilton, comp. History of Bristol County, Massachusetts with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men. Illustrated. Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1883. (Note: the �David Perry� listed on page 463 is not the same person as the author of Recollections.)
Killingly, Connecticut. Land Records, 1709-1907. Town Clerk. V. 6-7 1754-1768, FHL Film 4,660.
Killingly, Connecticut. Records of births, deaths, and marriages, book no. 1, 1700- 1835. Town Clerk. Manuscript, FHL Film 1451024.
Larned, Ellen Douglas, History of Windham County, Connecticut. Worcester, Mass.: E.D. Larned, 1874-1880.
McColley, Laurel Catherine [Perry] [(1907-1969) of Flint, MI]. Genealogy papers and letters to Carrie Colvin Perry, Ira (West Rutland), VT dated 6 Dec. 1956 - 20 Dec. 1961, in Sevigny, Papers. Unpublished.
(Laurel Catherine Perry McColley was a descendant of Eliakim Perry and his second wife Hephzibah.
She was the child of Dorr Webster Perry, of Hiram Randolph Perry, of Lloyd Perry, of Alanson Perry, of Eliakim Perry (Jr.), of Eliakim Perry and 2nd wife Hephzibah.
Mrs. McColley diligently �tried to prove every name and date in genealogy.� (letter to Carrie Colvin Perry, 13 Mar 1958, in Sevigny Papers)
Montgomery, Alvin E., Ancestry and Descendants of Nathaniel Perry, Jr. (Capt. Nathaniel, Benjamin, Ezra) in Massachusetts, New York and Wisconsin. Typescript. (No pub.)
National Archives, Washington, D.C. Photocopy 16 July 1998 of complete file. (Two ledgers: both for Ely�s Regiment, Conn.)
New Hampshire State Archives. �A Return of the Captains of the Several Companies of the fifteenth Regiment of Militia�To His Excellency the President and the Hon[erable] the Council of the State of Vermont,� made by Maj. Joseph Kimball and �hon[ored] by Esq. Chase� dated Jan 15, 1788, in Plainfield, NH. (Copy courtesy Frank C. Mevers, Director and State Archivist.)
Norwich, Connecticut. Vital Records of Norwich, 1659-1848. Hartford : Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, 1913. Part One, pp. 424-425.
(Capt. David Perry and his three siblings, who were all born in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, are listed in this record, along with his step-mother and half-brothers and half-sisters;
evidently the information was given by his father Eliakim Perry, who had moved to Norwich, where he married his second wife).
Perry, Carrie [Colvin]. Genealogical papers and correspondence of Carrie [Colvin] Perry (Mrs. Walter Charles Perry), Town Clerk of Ira, Vermont, and member of the Senate of the state of Vermont, in Sevigny, Papers. Unpublished.
Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Record of Baptisms in the Congregational Church in Rehoboth, Mass., 1721-1814. Copied 1928 [by] F.T. Calif, M.D. Congregational Church. Microfilm of manuscript (71 p., handwritten) at the Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence, Rhode Island. FHL 22,366
Scoville, Lester S. and Holland, Vance M., compilers. Ancestors of the Bingham Family of Utah, Consisting of Pedigrees and Genealogies of the Allied Families. Salt Lake City: Vance M. Holland, 1963.
(Note: This source is probably the originator of an error that continues online today. It states that Capt. David Perry married, first, Hannah Sherwin. This is incorrect. Hannah Sherwin married Capt. David Perry's second cousin, also named David Perry, b: 1 Apr 1728, in Barnstable, Mass., the son of John Perry Jr., son of John Perry Sr., son of Ezra Perry -- Capt. David Perry�s great grandfather. The cousin, David Perry of Barnstable, married Hannah Sherwin 5 Mar. 1761, and lived in Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut; they had at least two children: Hannah (b. 21 Jan, 1762), and Silas (b. 18 Apr. 1763), and maybe David (b. abt. 1765, possibly in Hebron). Hannah Sherwin is listed in Scoville and Holland as having died in 1763. This is probably a false deduction due ther confusion between the two David Perrys, Captain David Perry having married Anna Bliss in 1764. Indeed, David and Hannah [Sherwin] Perry may have had more offspring at the same time Capt. David Perry and his wife Anna [Bliss] Perry were raising theirs. --DGJ]
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