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SOURCE: History of Genesee County, Michigan
        pub. Everts and Abbott - 1879

        Page 247 - 248


                             SIMEON M. PERRY

  The oldest living male settler in Genesee County is Simeon M. Perry.  He
was born in Schenectady, N. Y., Sept. 22, 1804.  His father, Edmund Perry,
was the second settler in the county, and located the second farm in the
county.  Edmund Perry purchased of the government in 1824 two lots of land,
and in March, 1825, settled thereon with his family.  This was in what was
then called Grumlaw, now Grand Blanc.

  Simeon M., his sister, and a cousin (Thompson) came West with Edmund
Perry in March, 1825.  The father and sister returned to New York, while
Simeon and his cousin remained on the farm, and kept bachelor's hall until
the return of the family in the fall.  He remained with his father eight
years, helping him clear up the new farm.  On the 3d day of December, 1830,
he bought of the government the west half of the northwest quarter of
section 14, in Grand Blanc, and in 1839 the southwest quarter of the
southwest quarter of section 11, in that same town.  In 1834 he built a
small frame house on his "eighty," and moved into it.  He had prior to this
occupied a log house near where Seymour Perry's house now stands.  In that
log house Miss Isabel Perry, the first white child born in the county,
first saw the light of day.

  Simeon Perry is a man possessed of a strong constitution, and has been a
great worker.  He has helped to clear two hundred acres of land,--part of
it being the farm where he now resides, the balance the farms owned by his
father.

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Page 248

He has seen, as a pioneer settler, many hardships, and has been subjected
to exposures which have caused him many hours of pain.  In the first year
of his residence in the county his father's stock ran at large, and, in
searching for them through the marshes and swamps, he was often wet to the
skin for hours at a time.  Often the cattle would wander miles away,
causing him all-day tramps to find them.  He relates an instance, when he
had been looking for them all day, with nothing to eat, and had got some
ten miles away from home, suddenly he came upon an Indian seated at a fire
partaking of a muskrat-stew.  The Indian invited Mr. Perry to eat, which he
gladly did, and he now declares food never tasted better than did that
stew.  In 1865 he was prostrated by disease, which was brought on by his
hardships and exposures, and for five years he has been entirely helpless
and dependent upon the care of his daughter Isabel, who is devoting herself
with filial care to his every want.  Mr. Perry was formerly a Democrat,
casting his first vote for Andrew Jackson.  On the organization of the
Republican party he joined it, and has since been a member of the same,
although he has never solicited or held office.  He has been a member of
the Baptist Church for thirty-five years.  On the 19th day of March, 1828,
he married Miss Sarah Cartwright, daughter of Thomas and Isabel Cartwright,
who was born March 17, 1806, and died Sept. 17, 1875.  The result of this
union was six children,--Isabel C., born May 13, 1829; Emily A., born July
26, 1831; Joseph and Mary, born March 7, 1833; Mary E., born Aug. 31, 1837;
and Esther, born Nov. 22, 1840.

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