Los Angeles
County
Biographies
WILLIAM
HAYES PERRY
Capitalist, organizer and one of the
leading figures of the west coast, the late William Hayes Perry had a most
unusual, constructive and inspirational career. What he accomplished was so
large as to make his life one of distinction. His works, of lasting advantage
to several communities, have been of special value to Los Angeles, in which
city he centered his operations. Virtually the whole of his active career was
given to this community and to the upbuilding of
California.
William Hayes Perry was born at
Newark, Ohio, October 7, 1832, and died in Los Angeles, California, October 29,
1906, at the age of seventy-four years. He was a son of John Brown and Ann Perry
and a member of an old and distinguished family, the surname being one of the
most ancient and honored within the boundaries of the United States. In the
public schools at Newark he secured a sound common school education and early
in life became apprenticed to a cabinetmaker. He saved his money and in 1853,
when twenty-one years of age, was thereby enabled to join a party of men and
women, headed by Colonel Hollister, on the way to California. The little band
of pioneers crossed the Missouri river at Bennett’s Ferry near Council Bluffs,
Iowa, and after a perilous journey beset with the hardships usual to the time,
including several attacks by Indians, reached Los Angeles. This was in
February, 1854.
When Mr. Perry reached the City of
Angels he had no capital with which to begin business operations. Through
working at his trade, however, he secured funds with which to
engage as merchant, opening the first furniture store in the community and
handling his own goods. Later he added stock brought down from San Francisco.
His business prospered and he expanded the scope of his activities. In 1858 he
entered the lumber business, taking as a partner Wallace J. Woodworth. The
Perry & Woodworth Lumber & Mill Company, located at Aliso
and Alameda streets, continued in force for twenty-five years. In 1865 Mr.
Perry secured a franchise to light the city of Los Angeles by gas. He organized
the first gas company here, the Los Angeles Gas Company, and directed it as
general manager for five years. In 1873 he organized the W. H. Perry Lumber
& Mill Company, which he followed by organization of the Los Angeles &
Humboldt Lumber Company at San Pedro, the Pioneer Lumber & Mill Company at
Colton and the Los Angeles Storage, Commission & Lumber Company. He set up
the first steam engine in Los Angeles for the use of his projects. In 1879 Mr.
Perry was elected president and manager of the Los Angeles City Water Company,
an office which he retained for twenty-five years. The principal offices held
by him in his later years were those of president of the W. H. Perry Lumber
& Mill Company; president of the Pioneer Lumber & Mill Company;
president of the Los Angeles City Water Company; president of the Crystal Springs
Water Company; president, director and stockholder in the Southern California
Pipe & Clay Company; stockholder in the Cosmopolis
Mill & Trading Company of Grays Harbor Washington; president of Charles
Nelson Shipping Company of San Francisco, the Baird Oil & Asphalt Company,
the Olinda Crude Oil Company, the Gas Consumers
Association and National Electric Company of San Francisco; stockholder in the
Western Union Oil Company of Santa Barbara, the Reed Oil Company of Kern
county, California, and the Home telephone Company of Los Angeles. He was also
a director of the Farmers & Merchants Bank of Los Angeles, a stockholder in
the American National Bank of Los Angeles and a member of the board of the
Nevada Bank and the Union Trust Company of San Francisco, the American National
Bank, the Citizens National Bank, the Security Trust & Savings Bank, the
Southern Trust Company, the James H. Adams Company and the Citizens Trust &
Savings Bank.
Mr. Perry was married in 1858, in
Los Angeles, to Elizabeth M. Dalton, daughter of George Dalton, a pioneer of
this city. To this union were born four children, as follows: Mrs. Charles Modini Wood; Charles Frederick, deceased; Eugene Ames,
deceased; and Mrs. Florence (Perry) Johnson, widow of the late Edward Purnell Johnson, Jr., insurance broker, developer and
prominent citizen of Los Angeles.
Many contemporary interests of his
time were maintained by Mr. Perry. Fraternally he was affiliated with the Blue
lodge, chapter, commandery and consistory of Masonry,
attaining the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite.
He gave his influence to the support of all worthy movements for the betterment
of his community and is recalled by a number of prominent figures here as a
friend and associate in enduring projects. His home was for many years the
musical center of Los Angeles. Not a musician himself, but having a rare
appreciation for the best in music, he was a constant inspiration to artists in
this field.
Transcribed By:
Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages
173-175, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Cecelia
M. Setty.
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BIOGRAPHIES