One of the oldest and most honored pioneers of Stephenson County, came to Illinois when a young man twenty-two years of age, strong in youth and hope, and with courage to cast his fortunes in the wilderness and build up from its undeveloped soil a homestead for himself and those who should come after him. He has now attained to the age of threescore years and ten, and recalls with a half melancholy pleasure the scenes of those early years when Northern Illinois was a wilderness, giving little indication of its future greatness. The large and flourishing town of Galena was then but a humble hamlet, distinguished principally by the lead mines which were then practically undeveloped, but it was the only market in either Stephenson or Jo Daviess Counties, and was very inconvenient for the settlers of Stephenson. Freeport had then just started, but furnished no facilities for disposing of produce. The method of transportation in those days was principally with oxen, and the settler who owned a team of horses was considered almost too stylish for that region.

In looking over his past life and the marvelous changes which have occurred during the lapse of fifty years, Mr. Perry, with the few who are now left of that time, recalls the incidents in everyday life which, viewed at this day, have a strong tinge of romance, and illustrated the oft repeated maxim that "truth is stranger than fiction." The hardy spirits of those times became intimately acquainted with dangers and difficulties which the citizen of to-day, brought up amid the comforts and surroundings of a later civilization, would view with dismay, and would be utterly unable to contend with.

Mr. Perry is a native of Lyme, Jefferson Co., N. Y., his birth taking place Sept. 2, 1817. His father, Freegift H. Perry, was born in Connecticut, and remained a resident of his native State until about nineteen years of age, when he migrated to Washington County, N. Y., and was there married. Circumstances afterward led him to change his location to the Province of Ontario, Canada, of which he was a resident at the time of the breaking out of the War of 1812. He then returned to the States, and settled near the town of Lyme, Jefferson Co., N. Y., where he purchased a tract of heavily timbered land on which stood a sawmill and a block-house. He utilized the mill and cleared a portion of the land, and then sold and purchased again about two miles distant. There he built a log house which served as a shelter for his family for a number of years, and wherein he breathed his last in September, 1819. The mother was left with a family of five children, the record of whom is as follows: David T. is now a resident of West Point Township; Freegift H., Jr., died in Jo Daviess County about 1880; Henry A. is a resident of Stockton; Martha married Jeremiah M. Clark, and died in Eleroy in 1870; Ezra T., of our sketch, was the youngest child. The maiden name of the mother was Chloe Bennett, and it is supposed that she was a native of Washington County, N. Y. She continued on the homestead in Jefferson County five years after the death of her husband, and died in West Point in 1875.

Our subject developed into manhood in his native town, and received his education from the pioneer schools taught in the log cabin. As soon as large enough he went out to work farming at $6 per month, and was thus employed during the summer seasons until thirteen years old. After reaching his majority he determined to seek his fortunes in the West, and on the 16th of September, 1839, started for the prairies of Illinois, embarking first on Lake Ontario whence he journeyed to Lewiston, taking his first ride on the cars from there to Buffalo. Again availing himself of the water route he not long afterward reached Chicago, which gave little promise then of its future greatness, being composed simply of a few wooden houses planted in the mud, and visited by a varied assortment of people - Indians, traders, stock-drovers and the numerous adventurers who from time to time passed through that region. From Chicago young Perry started on foot for this county, where two of his brothers had already located. He got an occasional ride but tramped most of the way, and after arriving at his destination made his home with one of his brothers, and for some years thereafter worked out by the day or month. In 1842 he bought a claim on section 32 of what is now West Point Township, which, however, he never entered, but made another claim on section 35 in the same township. In 1845 he went to Jo Daviess County, and in company with his brother engaged in farming there for a period of seven years, in the meantime securing the title to his last purchase, and making improvements as time and opportunity afforded.

In the meantime our subject had taken unto himself a wife and helpmeet, Miss Mary C. Howard, a native of his own county, and the daughter of Parker and Lovica (Boomer) Howard, to whom he was married in the fall of 1841, and of whose parents a sketch will be found elsewhere in this work. This move upon his part necessitated a shelter and conveniences for a home, and in 1852 he built a house upon his land into which he moved and resided for the following thirty years. Upon the homestead thus established he brought about great improvements, fencing the land, cultivating the soil, planting fruit and shade trees, and besides the house putting up a good barn and all other buildings required by the progressive farmer. He labored in this way continuously until 1884, when he sold out and removed to Lena. He was not content, however, with town life, and in April, 1887, went back to the farm where he now resides. The habits and employments of years could not be easily laid aside, and Mr. Perry, like many of his old friends, clings to rural scenes and country ways, and finds his chief happiness surrounded by the wood and fields. He has kept himself well informed in regard to passing events, and has always been a man of decided opinions, though never offensive in the expression of them.

When first exercising the right of suffrage Mr. P. was a stanch adherent of the old Whig party, but after its abandonment he cordially endorsed the principles of the Republicans. He has been closely indentified with local affairs, representing his township as Supervisor four years, and serving as School Trustee and Director. He has been principally engaged in mixed husbandry, raising excellent qualities of stock and grain, and taking pride in having all his work well done.

The four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Perry were, Lovisa, who married Harvey Latham, and is a resident of Franklin County, Iowa; James H., of Holt County, Neb.; Justus Charles, of Butler County, Neb., and Parker, who remains at home with his parents.

Contributed by Carol Parrish from Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. (1888), p. 617