I had long heard about Captain Jesse Perry (1805-1887) and his farming skills from my grandmother, Helen Harriet (Whitney) Clark (1910-1999), great grandaughter of Jesse Perry but did not know where this "farm" was other than Shrewsbury, Massachusetts until receiving an email from an interested relation of RH Harlow whose family member Elizabeth Alma (Brown) Gates (1860-abt.1956) had been taken in by the Perry's during a difficult time after her fathers death. I have since learned the farm was located on 177 Spring Street, built in 1776. Below are some historical references to the property.
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| Shrewsbury 1859 |
Research is still needed to determine the original owner as Captain Perry did not move to Shrewsbury until sometime between 1836 and 1840.
Perry
Acording to Biographical Review, Containing Life Sketches of Leading Citizens of Worcester County..
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| George Perry |
George Harrison Perry (1836-1911), of Shrewsbury is the owner and proprietor of Spring Brook Farm, a valuable estate that seems very appropriately named, as the fields formerly contained many springs of pure water that now, as brooks, are no longer visible, owing to an extensive system of under draining. He was born August 30th, 1836, in Marlboro, Misslesex County, Mass., a son of Captain Jesse and Luara (Brigham) Perry. His paternal grandfather was Obadiah Perry, a prominent farmer of Sudbury, Massachusetts who died about thiry years ago.
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| Jesse Perry |
Captain Jesse Perry (1805-1887) was a tiller of the soil, and was especially noted as a superior dairyman and butter-maker. He derived his title of Captain from the militia, in which he commanded a local company; and he was also active in town affairs, serving as Selectman, Overseer of the Poor, and in other offices. He was a member of the Congregational church, toward the support of which he liberally contributed. By his wife, Laura Brigham Perry, who was one of a family of thirteen children, he had seven children, namely: Mary Elizabeth, wife of John S. Stevens, of Marlboro; Lucy A., who married S. I. Howe, of Shrewsbury, and is now deceased ; Caroline, wife of Stephen Reed, of this town; Ellen A., now Mrs. Everett Walker, also of Shrewsbury; Laura B. , who became the wife of S. I. Howe after the death of her sister Lucy; Franklin J who enlisted in Company H, Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in April 1863, and was killed at the Battle of Cold Harbor in the following June, the first engagement in which he participated, and George H., the subject of this sketch.
George H. Perry obtained a practicle education in the district schools of Shrewsbury, and afterward worked for a while in the shoe shops of that place. Preferring, however, the free and independent life of a farmer, he bought the farm on which his father had lived for about twenty years, having greatly improved it, and, emulating the latter's perseverance and industry, has since made it one of the most productive farms and comfortable homesteads in this locality. Among his improvements are a commodious house and a new stock barn. He makes a specialty of dairying and fruit-growing, selling his milk at the door to wholesale dealers who retail it in Worcester. In 1896 he shipped on contract six hundred barrels of apples. In politics he is a sound Republican, loyal to the interests of his party, and has served as overseer of the Poor and Assessor. He belongs to the Shrewsbury Grange, P. of H., and attends the Congregational church. Mr. Perry married in 1864 Miss Anna Pierce of Norhboro, who died in February 1892. Their three chldren died at an early age. In 1896 Mr. Perry married for his second wife Miss Laurilla Moore, daughter of Newell and Eliza Moore, of Holden, Mass.[1]
Harlow
The photo caption on an image of a horse pulled wagon in Michael Pernas book on Shrewsbury reads, " This wagon was used by Robert Henry Harlow (1882-1968) in his Spring Brook Farm milk business. It is shown here in 1910, a few years after the business was started. It was about this time that the business was moved from Gulf Street to Prospect Street. Harlow would buy milk from many local farmers, process it, and then deliver it throughout the town and even into Worcester. Trucks replaced the horse and wagon in the mid-1920s. The business was sold in 1946.[2]
Sources
- ↑ Biographical review , containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts 1899 Publisher Boston, Biographical review publishing company. p1077
- ↑ Perna, Michael P., Shrewsbury Publisher Charleston, South Carolina : Arcadia Publishing, Publication date 2001, Internet Archive p.32
