Charles Franklin Perry

Charles Franklin Perry was born at New Bedford, Massachusetts, on 29 July 1860, the son of Francis T. Perry and Harriet A. Folger. ^[1] On 23 November 1881, at New Bedford, he married Margaret M. Gumbleton, daughter of Edmund and Margaret Gumbleton. ^{[2] [3]}

Their children included Harriet, born in 1882; Francis T., born in 1890; Margaret E., born in 1892; and Charles Franklin Jr., born in 1895. A daughter, Emily, died in 1886. ^{[8] [9] [10] [11] [12]} In 1900 the family lived in Ward 2 of New Bedford; by 1910 they had moved to Fairhaven, where he still headed the household in 1920. In 1930 he and Margaret lived in Fairhaven with their son Charles. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]} The family later moved to Auburndale, in Newton, where he died on 4 March 1935, at 307 Lexington Street. ^{[13] [14]}

The 1900 census gives his father's birthplace as Portugal. ^[4]

On Main Street

From 1917 he lived at 147 Main Street, Fairhaven, where he also listed his real estate business; from 1921 his son Charles Jr. and Charles's wife, Rachel, kept house next door at 149 Main. ^{[15] [16]} The family stayed on Main Street until the move to Newton about 1930. ^[17] The houses stood beside Fairhaven High School, at Main Street and Huttleston Avenue, and across Main Street from the Huttleston apartments. ^{[18] [19]}

The Huttleston

In September 1919 Charles F. Perry Jr. bought a lot on the west side of Main Street, just north of the New Bedford and Fairhaven bridge, from Howard P. Dunn, and in March 1922 deeded it to his father. That year Charles F. Perry mortgaged the lot three times to the Wareham Savings Bank, in March, June and August, and in March a notice of contract with William H. Mudge, a New Bedford plumber, was recorded against it. ^[20] The Huttleston apartments, at 138 Main Street, first appear in the directory for 1923. ^[19] The bank foreclosed: it entered on the property in December 1926, and on 1 February 1927 sold it, as mortgagee, to William J. Morrissey and his wife, the lot described as the northwest corner of Main Street and the bridge. ^[20] The indexes show that the Perrys owned the corner while the building went up; they do not say who built it, and the deeds themselves have not yet been read.

Family memory. Francis Swift Perry used to point out the Huttleston to his family and say that his grandfather had owned it, or built it. The Registry of Deeds indexes confirm that the lot and the 1922 mortgages were in Charles F. Perry Sr.'s name while the building went up. ^[20]

A second family memory. Rachel Winter Swift told her granddaughter that her husband, Charles F. Perry Jr., built the Huttleston. ^[21]

Burial

He is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, New Bedford, under a stone that reads "Charles F. Perry, 1860–1935; his wife Margaret M. Perry, 1860–1943; Harriet M. Perry, 1882–1967." ^[22] The stone matches his 1900 household at 15 Campbell Street, New Bedford, where he was a grocer, with his wife, Margaret, their daughter Harriet M., born in August 1882, and their son Charles F., born in June 1895. ^[23]

Family memory. Carol recalls a grave on Route 6, opposite the Fairhaven Shaw's, in the back row near the trees. ^[21] That recollection does not match the stone.

Open questions

• Was his father, Francis T. Perry, Portuguese? The 1900 census gives Portugal as his father's birthplace, ^[4] and the archive records Francis's father as Antone Joseph Perry ("Antoni" on FamilySearch). Did the family come from São Jorge, in the Azores? No record read so far names Francis's birthplace; the family tree page gives Ireland.
• His father's middle initial: his birth record and the town-clerk copy of his marriage give Francis T.; two marriage indexes give Francis F. ^{[1] [2] [3]} This bears on the duplicate FamilySearch records for Francis F. Perry.
• His age at death: the death notice gives 70, ^[13] but his birth record gives 29 July 1860, which would make him 74. ^[1]