Biographical Sketch of Elias H. Perry, St. Joseph, Buchanan County, MO

>From "History of Buchanan County, Missouri, Published 1881, St. Joseph
Steam Printing Company, Printers, Binders, Etc., St. Joseph, Missouri.
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Elias H. Perry was born in the state of Maryland, December 10, 1819,
and continued to reside there until he had attained his majority, 
when, allured by visions of wealth to be acquired in the West, he
determined to try his fortune in that favored region.  Accordingly in
1841, we find him in Weston, then the great Western trading point of
the state, employed as a clerk in the mercantile house of C. A. Perry
& Co.  In 1842, in company with his brother, he opened a store in what
was then known as Roubidoux Landing, or more generally, Blacksnake
Hills, the present St. Joseph, thus constituting, next to Joseph 
Robidoux, the founder of the city, the first mercantile firm in the
place.  Their store building was a log house, stocked with the usual
line of goods suitable for outfitting trains and adventurers bound for
the distant West.  Their stock of goods, at that time, was the largest
to be found in the Northwest.  As their business increased, they sub-
sequently erected a double brick store to accomodate its demands.  Be-
sides their regular business of merchandising, they also engaged in
freighting and in buying stock for the California market.  This latter
increasing so rapidly, Mr. Perry found it expedient in 1852, to move
to California for the purpose of giving the business at that end of
the line his personal attention.  He remained there four years.  He 
was also engaged for the period of a year in merchandising at Great
Salt Lake City.  During his sojourn in the distant West, he continued
to retain his interest in the establishment at Weston.  After an active
career of many years in the Western trade, he returned in 1856 to St.
Joseph.  In the autumn of 1880, in company with Mr. Moore, his son-in-
law, he embarked in the grain and produce business in that city.  Few,
if any men in the Northwest, have been more closely indentified with 
its growth and development.  Indeed the name of Perry is so intimately
associated with the early history and progress of Western enterprise
that it has become a household word in this country, and certainly more
popular men never lived in the West.

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