PERRY

A story about a man of the frontier
 
As Told to me by Mama   by Anne Olson
 
Perry was born in Ohio in 1842; his mother died when he was young, his father was a
preacher or at least preached as a living. An aunt reared the young Perry. The father
and aunt wanted him to be a preacher and he did study for that for a time but it was
against his own desire and one night he threw the bible and said he would never study
the ministry again. He wanted to study the stars. He ran away from home and school
and went to California. There he did study Astronomy but quit after a time and found
work; later he left California and went to Northern Wisconsin where he lived with the
Oneida Indians and fell in love with a young squaw and married her against her father's
wishes. He went on trips but never told his wife where he went but on his return brought
her gifts. When he was interrogated by her father he said he was working in a smaller
town as a Mill worker. He rode different horses each time which made them wonder as
to what he really did. He explained that his boss had many horses and that explanation 
satisfied the bride. Horse stealing was practiced in Wisconsin and in later years certain
caves were shown as being hide outs of the thieves. When Perry felt he was being
hunted too avidly he suggested he and his wife should go to Ohio to visit his folks and
told her to get ready for the trip, which she did. They went to the station where her
bought two tickets and they boarded the train for Ohio. They traveled for a distance
together and at one stop he got off to get sandwiches and coffee, or so he said, but
when the train pulled out he was not on it. The wife soon realized she had been by
deserted and returned to her father's home.
 
Perry did go to his old home in Ohio and finally told of his Indian wife; his father told him
to bring his wife or return to her. He did go back to his wife but her father was
suspicious of his slyness and did not want him around. The sheriff hearing of his return
came to capture him and did; he was put in handcuffs and taken to jail. There because
of the dexterity of his hands he loosed the handcuffs and escaped, and took his wife 
with him to eastern Nebraska. Mrs. Perry's sister had married a Swedish lumber jack, a
Mr. Peterson, and had moved to Winnebago. Nebraska, some years before; he drank
and was abusive to his wife; the couple had at least one son who was called Lame Jim
since one leg was longer than the other; he was small and resembled a Frenchman
more so than an Indian. He was adept at working with leather and eventually ran
small shoe repair shop and for a time worked in a Harness shop. He would try to 
charge things even though he had the cash in his pocket; if he could not charge what
he wanted he would produce the cash. His shop was on the west side of Main street in later years and the interior was dark and smelled of leather. Lame Jim was a man who
seemed to pay no attention to anyone and to me he was an enigma and I furtively
stared at him whenever I saw him on the Street. He lived to be quite old and I believe ³
the latter part of his life was spent in Winnebago, Nebraska.
 
Mr. Perry, who b came known as Commodore Perry probably because of some story
he told of his earlier experiences (his relationship to the Commodore, as he said),
moved to near Emerson where he constructed a dugout where he and his family lived
for a time. Mrs. Perry (Nellie) became fleshy and looked like a squaw, though was
always neat and well liked by all who knew her. They had three girls Elsie, Nettie and
Dolly and one son Edward who died at age 16. The family mixed with white people
Commodore Perry worked in the railroad Coalhouse though kept immaculate when
away from his work, due to his wife's cleanliness. The girls were reared nicely, went to
the Emerson school and had many friends. Dolly was on the flirtatious side and flirted
with J.J. McCarthy (an early real estate man who had come from Wise) and other
young men.
 
Dolly married Oscar Wagner and they lived on land about a mile south of Emerson that
was allotted to her by the Indian Agency at Winnebago and they had a large family;
they were very fastidious dressers for those days. They were all dark with good in
features with a hint of their Indian heritage. Becky, the youngest, was inclined to
fleshiness and had more of the Indian features. The boys (Fred; Jerome, who married a
Miss Davis, a teacher; Perry; and Ralph) went with white girls and were popular and
married these girls. All were good musicians.
 
Nettie married a Mr. Harris and they lived on her Indian land west of Emerson and had
a large family. Some of the family were ambitious and studious, and all graduated from
High school. Charlie, the oldest, married a beautiful young girl from an above average 
family. The oldest girl, Margaret, energetic and ambitious, went to Carlyle University
Pennsylvania. Ariel was a beautiful girl, but was wild. Harris was not a good farmer, and
they lost their land, but Lame Jim gave Nettie 40 acres. Some of the family did not turn
out well and Harris had to get them out of scrapes. The Harris children were Charles,
Margaret, Fred, Ariel, Edgar, Minnie, Nettie, and Hazel.
s
Going back to Commodore Perry, after a few years he built a large house in south 
Emerson, two story with a mansard roof, which was especially interesting to me since it
was the first one of that type I had ever seen. The flat part of the roof had an iron railing
around it. The Commodore became interested in a neighbor, a Mrs. Blake, though
Nellie refused to believe it until her brother-in-law, Oscar Waggoner, took her over to 
see through a window for herself. She did not let on to her husband that she knew he 
was visiting the widow. Later one night when the Commodore thought Nellie was
asleep, he got up and dressed and went out to split kindling and she went out and
asked him what he wanted to do with it. He told her he was going to take it to the poor ,
widow Blake. She told him not to be under handed and she would go with him. This ,
went on for awhile, she found a letter in his pocket later to the widow in which he
planned they would run away. She also found 700 dollars they had saved in his pocket
and asked him about it. He confessed and she told him to leave but never come back.
He did leave with Mrs. Blake and was gone a few days when he came back empty-
handed expecting to be taken in. She refused and he went to live with his son-in-law,
Waggoner. Nellie got a divorce and several years later married a Mr. Gardner who she
met at her daughter Elsie's home (in Illinois, I believe) in which place he ran a store.
Here she lived the rest of her life and was sent back to Emerson for burial. Elsie had
married a Mr. Paulsen, they had a son Bruce who was some what of a drifter married
and divorced and went to California. Elsie was eventually divorced from her husband.