The Perry Family

"The story begins in 1844 when William Henry Perry was born in Westford, MA. He was the oldest child of William Kittredge and Charlotte Jones Prescott Perry. William Henry's mother, brother, and sister all passed away of tuberculosis. When his father remarried, they moved the family to Fitchburg, MA to start farming. William Henry decided to return to Sacramento, CA around 1870 armed with knowledge of mines that he had gained as a child when his father took him to the California gold fields where they worked for a few years before returning to Massachusetts. At the age of 26, he became business partners with George Helm and they started their farming operation in Kern Valley, a town outside Bakersfield, CA. While on a visit home to Fitchburg, he met Mary Agnes Clark, an immigrant from Dublin, Ireland; they would marry in the year 1873. William Henry returned to California while Mary Agnes stayed in Massachusetts birthing their first child, Henry Jones in 1874. One year later, William Henry was reunited with his wife and first son in San Francisco. In that same year William Henry and George Helm sold their 160 acres for $2,000 in gold. Two decades later, oil was discovered on that property along the Kern River, and oil wells continue to produce oil to this day. 

Still in partnership, William Henry Perry and George Helm purchased sheep and took them to Arizona. They crossed Nevada and Utah, and finally set up winter camp in Badger Springs, AZ. William Henry Perry built a home there and decided to run the sheep from Badger Springs to Flagstaff and back. On one of those trips, their second child, Elizabeth was born in 1876. During the following seven years, three more children joined the Perry family in Badger Springs: Minnie in 1878, Grace in 1881, and William Kittredge born in 1883. William Henry moved his family to an area east of Cordes where he filed a homestead claim and formed the Perry Cordes Ranch. This is where his other four children were born: Mabel in 1885, Maud in 1887, Agnes in 1890, and Eben Prescott in 1892. William Henry and Mary Agnes would have nine children in span of 19 years, and the education of their children was a top priority. It was so important that William Henry hired a number of tutors to come to the ranch and teach the children. It was not until the birth of their sixth child that they decided that a school district was needed in the area around, so William Henry presented his petition to the Board of Supervisors asking for a school district. The Board approved the petition, and on September 17, 1888 Cordes, District 41 was established and William Henry Perry was chosen as Trustee. He served as Trustee from 1888 to 1891, and his wife followed from 1892 to 1902. 

In 1899 William Henry built a house at 113 E. 6th Street in Tempe so his children would have a place to live when they attended Tempe Normal, now Arizona State University. There were no dormitories at the time. All of the girls graduated from Tempe Normal while only one son, Eben Prescott, attended but did not finish. 

William Henry sold the Perry Cordes Ranch to his eldest son, Henry Jones in 1904 and moved with his wife to a 200 acre parcel along the Salt River near what is now 35th Avenue in Phoenix. They lived between there and the Tempe house until the death of Mary Agnes in 1915 at the age of 64. At that time William Henry sold the Tempe house and moved to the home of his son, William Kittredge, in Peoria Arizona where he lived until his death in 1929 at the age of 84.

Many of their children maintained ties to agriculture and to the field of education. Henry Jones took over the Perry Cordes Ranch: Charlotte Elizabeth and her husband Homer Redden traveled between the Perry Ranch and Phoenix Farm ending up in Kyrene district becoming ranchers themselves. Minnie Adeline graduated and was approved to become a teacher in Yavapai County in 1901. Grace and Mabel Perry attended Lamson Business College after Tempe Normal. Maud Perry was very involved at Tempe Normal becoming the editor of the newspaper there, and becoming a teacher following graduation. She returned to school at Northern Arizona State University where she earned her Atrium Baccalaureatus and Masters Degrees and then returned to teaching. Following her sister, Agnes Perry became assistant editor at the Tempe Normal newspaper and graduated with a Life diploma. Eben Prescott Perry only attended Tempe Normal for a couple years and dropped out to serve in the war. 

William Kittredge worked with his brother Henry on the Perry Cordes Ranch and the Phoenix Farm and operated a cattle ranch in Yavapai County. In 1907 he purchased from his brother, Henry Jones Perry, cattle, horses, a wagon and one-half interest in all buildings and property owned by Henry Jones. In 1916, he married Nellie Teresa Whelan who was a teacher for the Avondale School and later became a principal for the Murphy Elementary School. In 1917 William Kittredge and Nellie moved to Peoria where they had a dairy farm and later cotton and cattle holdings. They had two sons, Paul Edmund born in 1918 and William Herbert born in 1920. Nellie died in 1948 at the age of 65 and William Kittredge died in 1954 at the age of 71. Their sons, Paul Edmund and William Herbert continued the farming operation for several years until they separated the partnership and sold the farm. Both brothers purchased land in Buckeye, Arizona where they farmed until their deaths. 

Farming, ranching, and education have been very important to the Perry family throughout their history, and the descendants of Paul Edmund and William Herbert are continuing the family legacy" (pp. 12-13) 

(Arizona Farming & Ranching Hall of Fame 2019 Honorees Dinner, March 2, 2019, Wigwam Resort, Litchfield Park, www.azfare.org.)