1881. He received a common-school education, was thrown on his own resources when he was fif- teen years old. and became a merchant in Albany. He was mayor of Albany from 1856 till 186.5, a member of the New York legislature, and in 1871-5 a member of congress, having been chosen as a Democrat. He was a candidate for a third terra as an independent Democrat, but was de- feated. Mr. Perry was noted for his large gifts to benevolent objects. He made during his lifetime generous donations to the Emmanuel Baptist church, of which he was a member, and in his will he provided that at the decease of his widow his estate, estimated at |400,000, should be divided among charities of the Baptist denomination.
PERRY, Enoch Wood, artist, b. in Boston,
Mass., 31 July, 1831. About 1848 he went to New
Orleans, and thence to Europe, where he studied
in 1852-'3 in Dusseldorf and Paris. After this he
spent some time in Rome and in Venice, where
he was U. S. consul from 1856 till 1858, in which
year he returned to this country, settling in Phila-
delphia. Here he remained two years, then visited
New Orleans, San Francisco, and other places in
the south and west, and about 1863 sailed lor the
Sandwich islands. Finally, in 1865, he went to
New York, where he has since resided. During
1871-3 he was recording secretary in the Academy
of design, and has held the same post in the Ameri-
can art union during its existence. He exhibited
first in the Academy of design in 1858, was elected
an associate in 1868, and academician in 1869. He
is also a member of the American water-color
society. Among his genre pictures are " The
Weaver " and " Fireside Stories " (1869) ; " Lost
Art " (1871) ; " Thanksgiving Time " (1872) ; '• The
Old Story," " Young Franklin and the Press," in
the Buffalo academy of fine arts (1875) ; " Words
of Comfort," " The Sower " (1877) ; " The Story "
(1878); "Tabouret" (1880); "Mother and Child"
(1881) ; " Afternoon Nap " and " The Story-Book "
(1882); "Grandfather's Slippers" (1883); "Soli-
taire " (1884) ; " The Letter " and " A Modern Eve "
(1885) ; " The Milkmaid " and " Fortunes " (1886) ;
and " The Wicker- Workers " and " The Cradle-
Song" (1887). His numerous portraits include
those of Jefferson Davis, John C. Breckinridge, and
John Slidell, painted about 1860.
PERRY, Horatio Justus, diplomatist, b. in
Keene, N. H., 23 Jan., 1824: d. in Lisbon, Portugal,
23 Feb., 1891. He was graduated at Harvard uni-
versity in 1844, and on 5 July, 1849, was com-
missioned secretary of legation in Spain. Mr.
Perry remained in this post many years, filling it
with great ability on account of his knowledge of
the Spanish language and people, and his thorough
acquaintance with foreign diplomacy. He acted
many times as charge cVaffaires ad interim. On
one of these occasions, while Pierre Soule, then
U. S. minister, was absent in France in 1855, this
country was on the brink of war with Spain. His
prompt and firm yet courteous bearing toward the
Spanish government settled the difficulty without
compromising our national dignity. Mr. Soule's
policy had been aggressive and warlike. On his
return he censured Mr. Perry in his despatches to
the government. The cabinet at Washington
secretly approved of Mr. Perry's course, but felt
obliged to reprimand him for what they deemed a
breach of diplomatic etiquette. Mr. Perry, con-
scious of the service he had rendered his country,
replied in terms more spirited than prudent, and
he was recalled. Mr. Perry married in 1853 Caro-
lina Coronado, poetess laureate of Spain. He was
again secretary of legation from 1861 till 1869,
when he was again removed on account of a differ-
ence with Minister John P. Hale (q. v.). He con-
tinued to reside in Lisbon, where he and his wife
occupied their time in literary pursuits.
PERRY, Nora, poet. b. in Dudley, Mass., in
1841 ; d. there, 13 May, 1896. In early years she
removed to Providence, R. I., where her father was
a merchant. She was educated at home and in
private schools, and at the age of eighteen began to
write for magazines, her first serial story, " Rosalind
Newcomb," appearing in " Harper's Magazine " in
1859-'60. For several years she was Boston corre-
spondent to the Chicago " Tribune," and she long
held the same relation to the Providence " Journal."
She contributed frequently to magazines, and was
the author of "After the Ball, and other Poems"
(Boston, 1874 and 1879) ; " The Tragedy of the Un-
expected, and other Stories" (1880) ; " Book of Love
Stories" (1881); "For a Woman" (1885); "New
Songs and Ballads " (1886) ; " Lyrics and Legends "
(1890) ; " Hope Benham " (1894) ; and " Three Lit-
tle Daughters of the Revolution " (1896).
PERRY, William, physician, b. in Norton,
Mass., 20 Dec, 1788; d. in "Exeter, N. H., 11 Jan.,
1887. He was partly educated at Union, and in
1807 he was one of the passengers on Robert Ful-
ton's steamboat. " The Clermont," on its first trip
down the Hudson. He was graduated at Harvard
in 1811, and at the Medical school in 1814, after
which he settled in Exeter. N. H., where he prac-
tised until a few years before his death. In 1835-6
he was lecturer on the theory and practice of medi-
cine at Bowdoin, and later he declined a profes-
sorship there. He was especially eminent as a sur-
geon and as an expert in insanity, and was the
first to suggest the erection of a state insane
asylum, of which he was a director. Until 1878 he
was frequently called into court to testify in cases
involving mental alienation, as well as those re-
lating to surgery. He operated successfully five
times for strangulated hernia after reaching his
eighty-seventh year, and once again with success
when he was ninety-two. Dr. Perry discovered the
true character of " British gum," or charred potato-
starch, which was formerly used largely as sizing
in cotton-mills, and liable to heavy duty. He en-
gaged in its manufacture at Exeter from 1828 till
1835. His son, John T. Perry, was for a time editor-
of the " Cincinnati Gazette."
PERRY, William Stevens, P. E. bishop, b. in Providence, R. I., 22 Jan., 1832 ; d. in Dubuque, 13 May, 1898. He was graduated at Harvard, was at the Virginia theological seminary, but he completed his studies, preparatory for orders, privately in Boston. He was ordained deacon in Grace church, Newton, Mass., 29 March, 1857, by Bishop East- burn, and priest in St. Paul's church, Boston, 7 April, 1858. He was assistant minister of St. Paul's church, Boston, in 1857-'8, rector of St. Luke's church, Nashua, N. H., in 1858-61, of St. Stephen's church, Portland, Me., in 1861-'3, of St. Michael's church, Litchfield, Conn., in 1864r-'9, and of Trinity church, Geneva, N. Y., in 1869-'76. For a few months in 1876 he was president of Hobart college, Geneva, N. Y., and he had served previously as professor of history in the same college in 1871-'3. For nearly twenty years he was busily occupied in church work, in addition to his parochial labors. He was deputy to the general convention from New Hampshire in 1859, from the diocese of Maine in 1862. assistant secretary to the house of deputies in 1862, secretary in 1865-'74, was appointed historiographer of the American church in 1868, and, in conjunction with Dr. J. Cotton Smith, edited " The Church Monthly " (Boston,
