Perry, Peter

DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: H. E. Turner, “PERRY, PETER,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 8, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/perry_peter_8E.html
DCB profile:
- Politician and businessman; b. 14 Nov. 1792 in Ernestown (Bath), Upper Canada, youngest child of Robert Perry and Jemima Gary Washburn; m. 19 June 1814 Mary Polly Ham, and they had seven daughters and two sons; d. 24 Aug. 1851 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and was buried near Oshawa, Upper Canada.
- Peter Perry’s father, a loyalist who had moved to Vermont in 1772, served during the American revolution in the Queen’s Loyal Rangers and in Jessup’s Rangers, and subsequently came to Township No.2 (Ernestown). Raised on his father’s farm there, Peter married a daughter of another loyalist, John Ham, and settled near by in Fredericksburg (North and South Fredericksburg) Township.
- He accepted the land grants due to him as a reward for his father’s decision to remain loyal and he often cited that decision as proof of his own adherence to the British constitution and the imperial connection. In 1823 Perry took the lead in protesting the exclusion of Marshall Spring Bidwell from the ballot in a by-election in Lennox and Addington. On election day, it was later reported in the Kingston Chronicle, Perry spoke to a crowd “from an upper window,” arguing ineffectively that the proceedings were illegal and that British subjects had been deprived of their rights. None the less, in the general election of the following year Perry, a reformer, joined Bidwell as a candidate for the county. The two men, each with American antecedents, led the polls and in January 1825 took their seats in the house.
- When he spoke about Upper Canada, Perry had in mind primarily a society of small agricultural and, latterly, industrial producers. The people, with the farmers the most important group among them, were, he thought, the source of all political sovereignty. To express and protect their rights and interests, Upper Canadian society should, he believed, be democratic and egalitarian. He opposed, therefore, élites of all kinds and considered that the colonial government ought actively to discourage them.
- There was another factor in the reaction against Perry which was of greater importance and was, moreover, largely beyond his control. When he and Bidwell had been first elected, the Bay of Quinte area was the most settled and prosperous region of the colony. By the mid 1830s, however, the rapid development of the western part of the province had made it appear a backwater. No politician could do much to improve those circumstances and the situation was made even more damaging politically when it was argued in the Chronicle & Gazette in 1834 that new settlers avoided the Quinte region because of its American reputation, the eradication of which demanded the defeat of Perry and Bidwell.
Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=6532
Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/137499449/peter-perry