George Russell Perry

George Russell Perry, mayor of Grand Rapids, Mich., was born in Bridgeport, Conn., January 30, 1849, and is a son of George H. and Hannah Perry.

In every community there may be found rising above their fellows individuals born to command, who dominate not alone by superior intelligence and liberal mental acquirements, but by a natural force of character, which minimizes discouragements and dares great undertaking; such men are by no means rare, and it is always profitable to study their lives, weigh their motives and hold up their achievements as incentives to greater active upon the part of those just entering upon the first struggle with the world. These refections are suggested by the career of one who has forged his way to the front ranks of the favored few, and who by the exercise of a strong inherent force, directed by intelligence and judgment of a high order, stands today among the representative men of his city and the state.

George H. Perry, father of George R., was descended from one of the old and highly respected families of New England, and in his youth learned the hatter’s trade, which he followed all of his life. It is a fact worthy of note that he opened in Detroit many years ago the first exclusive hat and cap store in Michigan, and from 1851 until his death, on the 12^th day of August, 1893, he was an honored and successful resident of that city, doing much to promote its commercial and its industrial interests.

The wife of George H. Perry was Hannah Dobbs, a native of Danbury, Conn., and a member of a family noted in Revolutionary annals, Dobbs Ferry, where an important battle of that historic struggle took place, being named in honor of one of her ancestors. She bore her husband five children, four of whom yet survive, and, being a woman of great force of character, and active Christian sympathies, early impressed upon the minds of her offspring the necessity of noble aims and high ideas as essential to success in the great struggle of life.

Of the elder Perry it is sufficient to state that he was a man of sterling worth, inheriting in a marked degree the sturdy virtues of an intelligent and God-fearing New England ancestry, an d combined, with liberal education, a rare business tact, which made him financially successful in the several business enterprises which from time to time engaged his attention. For a number of years he was identified with the Banner Tobacco company of Detroit, being vice-president of the same at the time of his death, and, in addition to his career in the commercial world, achieved considerable local distinction as a politician, first as an old-line whig, and later as a supporter of the democratic party. Reared in the tenets of the Episcopal faith, he remained loyal to his church, and exemplified his creed by a life devoted to his loved ones and to the good of the community in which he lived and moved.

George Russell Perry was quite young when taken by his parents to Detroit, and in the schools of that city he received his educational training, completing the high school course in the year 1864. Previous to his graduation, however, he was at different times employed as clerk in a drug house, and immediately after laying aside his studies, entered upon a three year apprenticeship in pharmacy, which he completed in 1868, removing in that year to Grand Rapids, with the history of which place he has since been identified. During the five years succeeding his arrival in this city Mr. Perry served as clerk and business manager of Charles M. Shepard"s large drug store, and in 1872 entered the employ of T.J. Bluthardt, a druggist and pharmacist in Chicago, also opening a branch house on the corner of Twelfth and Halsted streets, to which he gave his personal attention for a period of two years. In the meantime he entered into the marriage relation with Miss Jennie Blake, and for a short time thereafter resided in Chicago. He soon returned to this city and accepted a position as bookkeeper with the wholesale grocery firm of L. H. Randall & Co., with which he remained throughout its various changes until becoming a partner in 1883. The firm, under the name of Freeman, Hawkins & Co., continued one year, when M r. Perry purchased the former’s interest, and from its re-organization until 1891 the house became widely and favorably known in commercial circles as Hawkins & Perry.

Severing his connection with the mercantile trade in the year last named, Mr. Perry engaged in the brokerage business, which has since claimed his attention, his operations being confined principally to dealing in the wholesale staple grocery line, bringing him in contact with the leading business men of Michigan and northwest. He has large dealings in the cities of Grand Rapids, Traverse City, Cadillac, Lansing, Muskegon, Detroit, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, and many other important commercial centers, and a conservative estimate puts the annual volume of his transactions at over $1,250,000.

Additional to his large and constantly increasing business in the line of brokerage, Mr. Perry is also interested in various other enterprises, in the management of which he displays ability of the highest order, and the success of which places him in the front rank of Michigan’s clear-headed and substantial financiers.

As already stated, Mr. Perry is a married man, the ceremony which united him to the lady of his choice, Miss Jennie Blake, daughter of Alexander Blake, a former prominent lumber dealer of west Michigan, having been solemnized on the 6^th day of January, 1874; the issue of the union has been five children, Alexander, Florence, George Russell, an infant that died unnamed, and Jeannette, the last named being the only survivor.

As aggressive and public-spirited man in every sense of the term, it would indeed have been strange had Mr. Perry not been attracted to other important matters outside the pale of his business interests. A close student of economic and political questions from his youth, his inclinations led him into the public arena, and from 1876, the date of his first active participation in general campaigns, to the present time, he has been a prominent factor in local, state and national politics. He enthusiastically espoused the cause of Samuel J. Tilden in the notable contest of 1876, and, although a young man, did such distinguished service for his favorite candidate that he won an enviable reputation as a successful campaigner in the councils of the party, and thus attracted the favorable notice of the leading politicians of the state.

In 1886 he was made chairman of the executive committee of the Fifth congressional district, which he held for four years. At the earnest solicitation of his many friends in Grand Rapids, Mr. Perry, in the spring of 1886, accepted the nomination for the office of city treasurer, and after an animated contest was elected. He filled the position four years, having been chosen his own successor in 1890, and after an interval of rest from official cares was elected in the spring of 1898 mayor of Grand Rapids by a majority of 738 votes. It is a compliment worthily bestowed to class him among the ablest and most worthy men ever elected to the dignified and responsible position of city executive, and the honorable course he has pursued, and his impartiality in the discharge of his official functions, mark his administration as one of the most upright and satisfactory in the history of Grand Rapids.

In the fall of 1898 Mr. Perry was nominated for congress against his protest, he being in favor of giving the honor to some person seeking the same, and was absent from the convention when nominated. He made the race, however, in a dignified manner, but with the national, state and county tickets went down in honorable defeat.

Immersed as he has been for many years in the cares of large business interests, and carrying a burden of official responsibility under the weight of which many of less determination would have broken down, Mr. Perry has found time amid all these to devote much attention to other matters of a different mature. For nearly a quarter of a century his name appears prominently connected with a number of civil, social an d benevolent organizations and societies, having for their object the symmetrical development of a true and noble manhood. He is a mason of high standing, being a member of local lodge, No. 34, Grand Rapids, besides receiving the thirty-second degree in that ancient and honorable fraternity. He is also greatly interested in the Pythian order, belonging to Eureka lodge besides being a leader in the recently established side degree of Khorassan. The Modern Woodmen claim him among their best members, as do also the Woodmen of the World and the benevolent order of Maccabees.

Mr. Perry’s connection with the noble order of Elks merits more than a passing notice. He was active in bringing about the organization of the local lodge in this city, putting his name upon the charter, and ever since it became an established fact his time and means have been given without stint to make it a success, and to keep ever before the minds of the members the great underlying principles through the agency of which the order has found such an abiding place in the affections of all benevolently inclined lovers of humanity.

Owing to many unfavorable circumstances, the growth of the order in Grand Rapids was for sometime considerably hampered, the treasury became depleted and membership constantly decreased, but the election in 1895 of Mr. Perry as exalted ruler marked a new era in its history, and his induction into office proved the beginning of a greatly increased interest on the part of its friends and well wishers.

Convinced that too much emphasis had previously been put upon the purely social phase, and firmly of the opinion that the world failed to appreciate the broad humanitarian foundation upon which the fraternity rested, he called to his aid kindred spirits of like enthusiasm with himself, and within a period of two years succeeded in overcoming much unreasonable public prejudice, and in establishing the society upon a basis which promises to be permanent for all time to come. Numerically weak when he assumed management, it increased during his administration to an active membership of 606, with $9,090 in the treasury, and ninety-five applications on file, with many to be presented. Mr. Perry filled the position of exalted ruler two terms, and refused a third election, and during his incumbency enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing the great numerical increase noted, besides assisting to the extent of his ability in bringing about the erection and completion of the present beautiful and commodious lodge room, which for elegance, convenience and furnishing is perhaps unequaled by any like structure in the United States.

He served as a member of the ritual committee, which met in October, 1897, in New York, and a number of his suggestions were embodied in the ritual as now used by the order throughout the United States; in at the meeting of the Michigan League of Municipalities, which he re-constructed and was instrumental in organizing, held in Grand Rapids in September, 1899, he was honored by being elected its president. The prominence he has attained as an active worker in the order, both local and national, has brought him to the favorable notice of leading Elks in all parts of the country, and it is fitting to predict for him a continuance in the confidence and esteem of the large and growing membership of this most popular and benevolent fraternity.

In many respects Mr. Perry is much more than an ordinary man, and his life forcibly illustrates what intelligence and well-directed energy can accomplish, though opposed at titles by obstacles calculated to deter and discourage. An apt pupil in the school of practical life and self-supporting from the early age of sixteen, he has been able to comprehend and successfully solve the many different problems in the stern school of experience, and, while eagerly taking advantage of every favorable circumstance that came his way, he never sat down idly waiting for opportunities, but with rare sagacity and foresight created them. As a promoter and manager of large business interests, as an efficient and painstaking custodian of important public trusts, as a leader in benevolent enterprises for the material and moral elevation of humanity, as a citizen in the private walks of life, he has ever commanded respect, and by reason of strength of character and broad liberal views upon all questions of public moment, he has made his mark in the history of the community and state. Of fine presence and vigorous personality, to which may be added a natural combining of the elements calculated to win and retain strong and permanent friendships, he has always been a potent factor in molding public sentiment, and the resolution with which he addresses himself to every duty in hand, and the ability displayed in the various position to which he has been called, prove him to be a natural leader of men.