Biography of THOMAS R. PERRY

Thomas R. Perry, county highway engineer, residing in Cresco, was born in San Francisco, California, on the 9th day of April, 1890, and is a son of Herbert and Belle (Young) Perry. The father was born in New York, while the mother's birth occurred near Elma, Howard county, Iowa. Herbert Perry was only a year old when brought by his parents to Iowa, the family settling at Howard Center, in Howard county, where the grandfather took up government land. This was a wild and largely uninhabited district to which he made his way and gave little indication of the changes which were to rapidly develop it. He obtained a claim from the government, upon which he built a sod house and therein lived in true pioneer style. He concentrated his efforts and attention upon the cultivation of his land and in time brought his fields into a most productive state. In the later years of his life he established his home in Cresco, where he lived retired and there both he and his wife passed away. His son, Herbert Perry, continued upon the old homestead farm through the period of his boyhood and youth and was married in Howard county. He afterward removed to San Francisco, California, where he owned and managed a vineyard, but after continuing for a time on the Pacific coast he returned to Howard county and once more occupied the old homestead farm, upon which he and his wife are now living, the former at the age of sixty-three years, while the latter is sixty-two years of age. Throughout the years of his manhood Herbert Perry has been a stalwart advocate of republican principles and in fraternal relations he is a Mason, loyal to the teachings of the craft.

Thomas R. Perry spent his boyhood days in Howard county and mastered the branches of learning taught in the public schools of the home neighborhood and at Lime Springs. In 1909 he entered the Iowa State College at Ames and there pursued a thorough course in civil engineering, being graduated with the class of 1915. He afterward followed his profession in Toledo, Iowa, where he had charge of sewer construction. He also did similar work at State Center, Union, Nevada and Cairo, Iowa. In 1917 he removed to Cresco, where he is now located and he is filling the position of county highway engineer. He is doing excellent work in that office, closely studying the needs and opportunities of the county along that line and his labors have had real practical value to the community.

Mr. Perry votes with the republican party, of which he has been a stanch champion since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is interested in all that pertains to its welfare and upbuilding.

History of Chickasaw and Howard Counties,
By Robert Herd Fairbairn (Published 1919 - Volume II)
S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois
Transcribed by Bernie Glienke