Surnames: Cook, Failing, Goble, Seeber, Street
Regions: Montgomery, Oneida, Saratoga Counties, New York
Source: History of the Mohawk Valley - Gateway to the
West - 1614-1925
Covering The Six Counties of Schenectady, Schoharie,
Montgomery, Fulton, Herkimer and Oneida.
Volume IV, Illustrated; Page
839
Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1925
Stuart Henry Perry, realtor and head of the Perry Farm Agency at Canajoharie, was born in the town of Lee in Oneida County, New York, June 5, 1870, and is a son of Henry George and Martha (Cook) Perry. Henry George Perry also was born in the town of Lee. He died at Canajoharie on September 1, 1910. He was for years engaged in the piano business in Canajoharie. During the Civil war he served as a soldier of the Union, a sergeant in the Twenty-fourth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry. He fought under Grant and was wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor. He was a son of Bachus Perry, a wheelwright at Lee, who was born in Saratoga County, New York, and who died in Rome, New York. The Perry family is of Welsh ancestry. Martha (Cook) Perry, mother of Stuart H. Perry, was born at Lee in Oneida County and died at Canajoharie on February 26, 1924. She was the daughter of George and Alzina (Street) Cook, the later of whom was a descendant of Elisha Street, a soldier of the Revolution. George Cook was born in Scotland and died at Lee at the age of eighty-two years. He was a farmer.
Stuart H. Perry supplemented the schooling received in the high school at Canajoharie by attendance at the Albany Business College, where he was graduated in 1891. He became associated with the Brockport Piano Manufacturing Company of Brockport, New York, where he remained for one year, then entered the employ of the John Church Company of New York city and was there for seventeen years, having charge of the wholesale trade in the eastern territory of the United States. Since that time he has been associated with the A. B. Chase Piano Company and the United Piano Corporation at Norwalk, Ohio. Nine years ago Mr. Perry became engaged in the real estate business at Canajoharie, with particular reference to farm lands, and as head of the Perry Farm Agency has done much to stimulate realty activities hereabout. He is an active member of the Real Estate Association of the state of New York and is widely known among realtors throughout the state.
On October 4, 1893, at Canajoharie, Stuart Henry Perry was united in marriage to Miss Alice Failing, who was born in the town of Canajoharie on April 28, 1874, daughter of Harvey S. and Francis (Goble) Failing. Harvey S. Failing also was born in the town of Canajoharie, March 1, 1849. He died on June 21, 1917. The paternal grandmother of Mrs. Perry was a direct descendant of Johannes Wilhelm Seeber, who was born on November 15, 1721, and was the pioneer merchant of the Mohawk Valley, located at Fort Plain at what is called Sand Hill. He was a major under Nicholas Herkimer and was wounded at the battle of Oriskany, from which wounds he died twenty-six days later. His son, Captain Jacob Seeber, also received fatal wounds in the same battle. Adolph, the fourth son of Major Seeber, also was killed on the battle field of Oriskany. Johannes Wilhelm and John Conrad, two older sons, escaped uninjured. The name of Failing is an old and honored one in the Mohawk valley. In 1710 six brothers, Henry, John, Richard, George, Jacob and Peter Failing came from Germany with General Robert Hunter and settled in what is now Schoharie County, New York. John Failing was a captain in the Revolutionary war and his son, Henry, was wounded in the battle of Oriskany.
Mrs. Stuart H. Perry is a member of the Dutch Reformed church at Canajoharie and of the Colonial Literary Club of that place. She is a charter member of Fort Rensselaer Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and also is a member of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star at Canajoharie.
During the period of the World war Mr. Perry gave up his offices in the National Spraker Bank building in Canajoharie to the use of the Red Cross workers. He not only gave them free use of his offices, but he supplied heat and light and often his personal assistance. He is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Fort Rensselaer Club of Canajoharie. He is a member of the Dutch Reformed Church and is a republican.
