Edmund Perry (abt. 1588 - abt. 1636)

Born about 1588 in Devon, England

Husband of Sarah (Crowell) Perry — married 10 Oct 1614 in Bridford, Devon, England

Descendants

Died about 1636 at about age 48 in Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Randall Brock [send private message], John Putnam [send private message], and Mike Perry [send private message]

Biography

CAUTION: There are no records, other than family histories, for this family. The one primary source for the Wiltshire baptism of Edmund Perry, son of Jo Perry, may or may not apply to the Edmund Perry of this profile.

Edmund Perry was born in 1588 in Devon, England. He was baptized 27 Jan 1589 at Warminster, St Denis, Wiltshire, England.^[1][2][3][4]

There is no evidence Edmund Perry's parents were John Perry and Sarah Gibbons. Miner says parents John Perry and Judith Vassell are also probably incorrect.^[5]

"He was the son of John PERRY and [__?__]. His mother was probably not Judith VASSELL (1567 – 1650). He married Sarah BETTS in 1613 in Bridford, Devonshire, England. Edmund reportedly emigrated to Plymouth Colony (Sandwich) in 1637 and died shortly thereafter. Another source says Edmond Perry and his wife Sarah came to America in 1639 on the ship “Lion.” However Irving says Edward died in 1614 before the rest of his family emigrated to America. This theory says that Sarah Perry, the widow of Edmund Perry, emigrated to America with her children, but no husband."^[5]

Edmund Perry reportedly emigrated to Plymouth Colony (Sandwich) in 1637.^[2]

Arrival 1637, Plymouth, Massachusetts is doubtful. If he did arrive, no records have been found.

Arrival 1639 on the Lion. Not located any records for the Lion sailing in 1639.

According to family histories in general, Edmund Perry married in Devon, 1614, Sarah Betts, nee Crowell, born in London, Middlesex, England, 1592; she died in Sandwich before 7 June 1659.^[2][5] Many sources say her maiden name was Crowell, she was born in London, and her parents were John Crowell and Elishua Miller. Miner doesn't think so because John and Elishua were the parents of Sarah’s daughter-in-law Elizabeth, her son Arthur’s wife. Sarah’s maiden name may be lost to history. Sarah Perry died 7 Jun 1659 at Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts.^[5]

There is no source confirming Ezra Perry as a son; however, the following court record allows an Esra Perrey to be the executor of Sarah Perrey's estate:

7 June 1659 At a General Court at Plymouth. "Esra Perrey is allowed by the Court to bee exequitor of the estate of Sarah Perrey, there being noe other, (although shee hath many other frinds in the countrey,) that claimeth any interest into the said estate, haueing put in cecuritie into the Court to bee accountable for the estate encase it shalbee required by any that hath better title thereto.^[6]

Of Ezra’s appointment as executor of Sarah Perry’s estate, Brownson [NEHGR] says, "Most printed accounts appear to base their claim that Ezra Perry and his ‘brother, Edward Perry the Quaker, were sons of the widow Sarah Perry of Devonshire, England’ on this statement. But the wording of the record makes it clear that neither Ezra nor any of the other Perrys in Sandwich were closely related by blood to the deceased widow Sarah. There is, however, an implication that Ezra Perry had some claim on the estate (perhaps for himself, possibly on behalf of others also), perhaps based on right to a dower residue of the estate of a step-mother. It could be argued that the Perry family group came to Sandwich with a widowed step-mother in order to live under the protection of some one of the pioneer Sandwich families to whom the widow’s husband and/or these minor children may have been closely related. Such a suggestion is, however, sheer conjecture.”^[5]

Children of Edmund Perry and Sarah (Crowell) Betts

Miner, among others, lists the following children (note: no records exist to link them to their purported parents).^[5] There is a source that states the following:

On the early records of Sandwich appear the names of Sarah Perry, a widow, and Ezra, Edward, Margaret and Deborah Perry. The last four are believed to be children of Sarah, the widow of an Edmund Perry of Devonshire. This relationship cannot be proven conclusively from the records, but it is implied in several entries. Ezra Perry is appointed "exequitor of the Estate of Sarah Perry." Family tradition sports this inference from the records. Dr. George Hazard Perry, who at the time if his recent death was probably the oldest surviving descendant of Edward Perry, writes that it "was so generally held in the time of his grandfather," George Hazard Perry, a great-grandson of Edward Perry of Sandwich. Mrs. Smith writes in her notes: "Ezra, Edward, Margaret and Deborah seem to have been possessed of both education and property, and to have belonged to the very best class of emigrants—to have been among the gentry, and they all seem to have married in this country into families holding a similar rank."^[7]

1. Arthur Perry, tailor, born 1615; died in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, 9 October 1652; married in 1636, Elizabeth Crowell, daughter of John and Elishua (Yelverton) Crowell, born about 1625; died in Boston, 22 February 1698. Arthur was town drummer; one of the original members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company (1638); freeman (13 May 1640). By wife Elizabeth he had Elishua (1637), Seth (1639), John (1642), Elizabeth (1647), Sarah (1647), and Deborah (1649). See Savage, 3:399. The most reliable published list of the CHILDREN OF JOHN CROWE would have to be his entry in The Great Migration, Vol. II, p. 246, as follows: YELVERTON (abt. 1615- ?) m. Elizabeth _______
   ELIZABETH Crow (abt. 1617-?) m. 1) Arthur Perry; 2) John Gillet; 3) William Wardwell
   JOHN (abt. 1635-?) m. Mehitable _______
   MOSES (bapt. 1637) no further record^[8]
2. John Perry, born in Devon, England, 1616; died 21 September 1642 (Stafford, CServe message, 21 April 1997). Note, however, that there was a John Perry rated as able to bear arms in Taunton in 1643 (NEHGR 4:259) and a John Perry who died in Watertown in 1674, age 61 (NEHGR 38:73). John Hansett / John Hanchett married, as his second wife, at Roxbury 2 April 1644 Elizabeth Perry, almost certainly the widow of JOHN PERRY [GMB 3:1442-43].^[9]
3. William Perry (Thomas William Perry), born 1620; died about 1693; married Susanna Carver, daughter of Richard and Grace Carver. Appears to have been a resident of Scituate from 1637 and of Marshfield from 1657. A recurrent error has this William and/or Thomas Perry married to Sarah Stedman, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Stedman. However, as shown by Robert S. Wakefield in "The Family of Isaac Stedman of Scituate and Muddy River, Massachusetts," TAG (July 1994), pp. 155-159, this Sarah actually married Samuel Perry, son of John and Anne (Newman) Perry. Susanna Carver emigrated with her parents from Norfolk County, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1637.
4. Margaret Perry, born in Devon, 1623; died in Sandwich, 5 November 1688; married Edmond Freeman, 18 July 1651. Edmond Freeman was Deputy to the General Court for Sandwich (1666-1673) and Assistant to the Governor, 1666-1686 and 1689-1691. See TAG 40:2.
5. Anthony Perry, born in Devon, 1625; died in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, 1 March 1683; married Elizabeth Perry in 1646. Grand Juryman, May 1654; on a committee to buy Joseph Peck's house to make it fit for the ministry, 2 November 1663; constable for Rehoboth, 1665 (Peirce's Colonial Lists. Civil, Military and Professional Lists of Plymouth and Rhode Island Colonies); received one share of the land granted to Rehoboth by Plymouth Colony Court on 10 April 1666 (Bowen, Early Rehoboth, VI, 40-41); on a committee to finish the meeting house (1678) and then to sell it (1680); Deputy to the Court, 1673; Surveyor of Highways for Rehoboth, 1679 (Pierce's Colonial List); Townsman, 8 May 1680. Representative to the General Court in Boston; made a donation of £14 2d to "Phillips War."
6. Ezra Perry, born in Devon, England, 1627; died in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, 16 October 1689, the day he made his will; married in Sandwich, 12 February 1652, Elizabeth Burgess, daughter of Thomas
7. Edward Perry, born in Devon, 1630; died in Sandwich, 16 February 1695; married Mary Freeman (1631-1695). Progenitor of Naval heroes - Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, Commodore Matthew Perry, and others.
8. Hannah Perry, born 1632; died in Sandwich, 9 June 1673; married Henry Dillingham, 24 June 1652. Hannah and her husband are supposed to have become Quakers.
9. Deborah Perry, born in Devon, 28 November 1634; died in Sandwich, 14 October 1665; married Robert Harper, 9 May 1654, in Sandwich.

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Research Notes

So far no hard records have been found for this couple (except Sarah Perry's death), their alleged parents, or their relationship with their alleged children. Not listed in Savage's Gen. Dictionary, Anderson's Great Migration Directory, Farmer's Genealogical Register, Holme's Directory of the Ancestral Heads of New England Families. Savage's Dictionary lists his alleged sons, but says nothing about their father, or that they are related to each other.

Sources

1. ↑ Wiltshire baptisms index 1530-1917 - Edmund Perry, son of Jo Perry : accessed 16 Mar 2018. Findmypast.com. Subscription required.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Bingham Family History - Perry : accessed 16 Mar 2018.
3. ↑ Five Families - Edmund Perry b. 1588 : accessed 16 Mar 2018.
4. ↑ Ancestry.com, England & Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2008).
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5} Miner Descent - Edmund Perry : accessed 15 Apr 2018.
6. ↑ Shurtleff, Nathaniel (editor). Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, In New England. Court Orders: Vol. III 1651-1661 (Boston: Press of W. White, 1855. pp 163/4.)
7. ↑ The Perrys of Rhode Island, and tales of Silver Creek : the Bosworth-Bourn-Perry homestead, revised and enlarged from a lecture...at the Public library, Cambridge, N.Y., April 13, 1909 by Perry, Calbraith Bourn, 1846- : Publication date 1913. Topics Perry family (Edward Perry, 1630-1695?), Wallace family, genealogy. Publisher New York : T. A. Wright. p. 44. : accessed 15 Apr 2018.
8. ↑ Descendants of Crowe : accessed 17 Mar 2018.
9. ↑ Jenningsweb.us - John Hanchett : Citing The Great Migration Begins Newsletter, Vol 11, 7 June 2002. : accessed 15 Apr 2018.

See also:

• Descendants of John Perry See Generation 2 #2. Edmund Perry Caution: no primary sources, some incorrect information, i.e. William Perry, son, did not marry Sarah Stedman. Sarah married Samuel Perry.

• Rosengarten, Ruth Vesta Pope Werner. Ezra Perry of Sandwich, Massachusetts, and Some of His Descendants in Saratoga County, New York. (Washington, D.C., 1955). Availabe at Archive.org as a free download. See especially pp. 12 - 14, where one may find a summary of records pertaining to Sarah and Edmund Perry and their purported children.

England and Wales Christening Index

Edmund Perry in the England & Wales, Christening Index, 1530-1980

• Name: Edmund Perry
• Gender: Male
• Birth Place: Bridford, Devon,, England
• Christening Date: 27 Jan 1588
• Christening Place: Warminster, Wiltshire, England
• Phillimore Ecclesiastical Parish Map
• Father: Jo Perry
• Search Photos: Search for 'Warminster' in the UK City, Town and Village Photos collection

Source Information Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Christening Index, 1530-1980 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2008.

Original data: Genealogical Society of Utah. British Isles Vital Records Index, 2nd Edition. Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, copyright 2002. Used by permission.

Description This database contains information extracted from birth and christening records from various counties in England and Wales. The records date from 1530 to 1906.