Perley, Albert

PERLEY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 23:25:31

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.973

ALBERT PERLEY
Among the honored citizens of Carlisle who are now able to lay aside all business cares and live retired enjoying the competence secured by former labor is numbered Albert Perley who came to this section of the state in 1855 and bore a prominent part in its early development. He was born in Enosburg, Franklin County, Vermont, on the 7th of May, 1829, and in his native state grew to manhood, receiving good common-school advantages, which well qualified him for life's practical duties. He began his business career by working in a sawmill.
Mr. Perley was married on Cape Cod bay, Massachusetts, October 3, 1854, to Miss Georgians Ranslow, a native of Cambridge, Vermont, in which state she was reared and educated. Her father was Rev. George W. Ranslow, pastor of the Congregational Church of both Georgia and Milton, Vermont, for thirty-three years. He died in 1864, at the age of sixty-four years, while her mother was Anna Parmelee, a daughter of Rev. Simeon Parmelee, also a Congregational minister, who was born January 16, 1782, and died February 10, 1882, being over one hundred years of age at the time of his death. Mrs. Perley successfully engaged in teaching school for some twenty terms, and by her marriage she has become the mother of three daughters: Helen W. is a graduate of the Highland Park Conservatory and is now teaching music. Ida R. is the wife of A. W. Perley, a dairy-man of Richford, Vermont, and they have two sons, Albert and Arthur. Cornelia Isabelle is the wife of Levi Myers, a farmer of Jefferson Township, this county.
The year following his marriage Mr. Perley came to Iowa and first located in Warren County, where he worked in the sawmill of John D. Parmelee for two and a half years. He then turned his attention to agricultural pur­suits, buying a farm, eighty acres of which lies in Polk County and one hundred and sixty acres in Allen Township, Warren County, but his residence was in the former county. He improved the place by the erection of a good residence, two barns, granaries, sheds and cribs and also planted an orchard and thus converted it into one of the best farms of the locality. He raised cattle and hogs but made a specialty of hogs and continued to engage in the cultivation of his land until 1899, when he rented the farm and bought property in Carlisle, where he has since resided. He has remodeled the residence, has built a barn, put down cement walks and otherwise improved the place, so that he now has a nice home and is surrounded by all the comforts which make life worth the living. Since coming to Carlisle he has sold his farm and now lives retired.
In politics Mr. Perley was first a Whig, but on the organization of the Republican Party he joined its ranks and has supported every president nomi­nee of the party from John C. Fremont down to Theodore Roosevelt. While residing in Polk County, he served as township trustee for some years; was treasurer of the school fund for about twenty-two years; was assessor ten years; and also served as supervisor and on the grand jury. He proved an efficient officer and in the discharge of his duties won the commendation of all. He has also been a delegate to state and county conventions of his party. Both he and his wife are prominent members of the Carlisle Methodist Epis­copal Church, taking an active interest in church and Sunday school work, and for thirty years he has been teacher of the bible class. In 1904 they cele­brated their golden wedding, their children, friends and neighbors giving them a most agreeable surprise, and there were present over one hundred guests who left a number of useful and valuable presents.