San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN C. PERRY
Finding the beautiful city of
Stockton an ideal home place, as well as a thriving business center, John C.
Perry located here in 1917, well satisfied to make it his permanent residence,
after an interesting experience of many years, during which he saw much of the
world while serving in the U. S. Army and traveling throughout the west,
working as a plastering contractor. Mr.
Perry was born in Elizabethton, Carter County, Tennessee, December
14, 1878. His father, George M. Perry,
was born in Elizabethton on the Watonga River, in Tennessee, and when nineteen years
of age entered the Confederate Army, serving through the Civil War. Grandfather Joseph A. Perry, of an old Scotch
family, was a prominent merchant in Watonga and was active in civic affairs,
serving as justice of the peace for about fifty years; he was descended from
Commodore Perry. George M. Perry was a
contractor and builder and married Kathleen Hilton, a daughter of John Hilton,
of Scotch-Irish and English descent, a pioneer of Tennessee who served in the
Union Army during the Civil War. John C.
Perry was one of a family of nine boys and four girls, and soon after finishing
his schooling, enlisted in the U. S. Army in June, 1899, in Company G, Twelfth
U. S. Infantry, for the Spanish-American War, and he spent three years,
retiring as a sergeant, and twenty-seven months of this time was spent in the
Philippines, serving in that hard-fought campaign. He participated in the taking of the railroad
north of Manila as far as Tarlac, after which his
company with two other companies was sent to the north end of Luzon Island,
where they continued the campaign for seven months against the Filipinos, after
which he rejoined his regiment in Manila and they returned to San Francisco on
the Transport Thomas, and he was mustered out at the Presidio.
After his discharge from the Army,
Mr. Perry learned the plasterer’s trade with Reed Bros., in Ogden, Utah, and
then went on to Wyoming for a time, later settling at Nampa, Idaho, where he
worked as a plastering contractor until 1910.
The next seven years he spent in traveling, working all over the west at
his trade, in Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, Oregon, Los Angeles, Yreka and
Roseville, California, making a number of trips to the Golden State. He was in Stockton during the summer of 1916,
and in May, 1917, he returned to make this his permanent location. He soon established himself here as a
plastering contractor, the superior quality of his work bringing him all the
business he could handle and for months his crew was never idle.
Mr. Perry’s brother, Frank R. Perry,
is the junior member of the firm of Perry Bros., and two other brothers are
working for him in Stockton, having learned their trade under him. Mr. Perry did the plastering contracting work
in twenty-five houses for the Sterling Building Company, the fine residences of
Bruce P. Martin and Robert Melville, the addition to the Hotel Lodi at Lodi,
the Union high school at Hughson, nearly all the work for the
Davis-Heller-Pearce Company, Stockton, including five garages, the Dodge Bros.’
garage, one of the finest garages in the state, most of the work for O. H.
Chain, the well-known contractor, including the Hobbs-Parsons Produce House, the
Silva Flats on North San Joaquin Street, addition to the St. Joseph’s Home, the
Jefferson school, the two-story brick block for Dr. Craviotto, the F. E. Murphy
residence, Tuxedo Park, the Steed Bros. & Laton
Garage, Bake Rite Bakery, the new Chamber of Commerce Building, new Victory
school, high school auditorium, Jefferson school addition, El Dorado school
addition and new Roosevelt school, also residences in various parts of the
county, First National Bank, Los Banos, and a large apartment house in Sacramento.
While living at Nampa, Idaho, Mr.
Perry was married November 27, 1902, to Miss Effie E. Randall, who was born in
Carthage, Missouri. Her father, Orville
P. Randall, was born in Elmira, New York, but removed to Illinois where he
enlisted in an Illinois regiment of Volunteer Infantry and served in the Civil
War. After the war he removed to
Missouri where he married Mrs. Violetta (Reed) Ritchie, a native of Kentucky,
whose mother, Susan Morse, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, was a granddaughter of
Stephen Morse, the inventor of telegraphy.
Their ancestry is also traced back to Commodore Perry. Orville P. Randall was a carpenter and
builder and removed with his family to Boise City, Idaho, later going to Nampa,
the same state, and afterwards to Grants Pass, Oregon, where he died. His widow survived him several years,
spending her last days in Los Angeles.
This worthy couple were the parents of three children, of whom Mrs.
Perry is the second born. The union of
Mr. and Mrs. John C. Perry has been blessed with four children: Ardroe, Olga,
Gordon and Beatrice. Mr. Perry is a
member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and in politics inclines to the
principles of the Democratic Party.
Besides his residence in Bungalow Park he is the owner of two acres of
choice land near the Stockton Golf and Country Club, a fine building site,
where he expects to erect an attractive country home.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1208-1211. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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