Perry
Robert
Birthdate:
16 Dec 1866
Birthplace:
Killeen, Down Ireland
Date of Death:
1913
Place of Death:
Venice, California
Occupation:
Contractor
Properties Owned:
Robert Perry is trained as a stonecutter Ireland and marries Elizabeth Agnew in 1885.
They arrive in New York with their two children in 1888 and have five more children. Though Robert easily finds work, the next fifteen years are heartbreaking for him as his wife and six of seven children are all dead by 1903.
According to documents written by Wilma Eula Phillips, wife of the only child to survive to adulthood, Robert lived in Manhattan and worked as a stonecutter. In the years he lived in New York, his projects included the following:
Grant's Tomb (1896-1897)
Flat Iron-Singer building
Stone walls in Central Park
Museum of Natural History
Stonework at front of tunnels into NY by meeting of Berger Hill tunnels. (This was before May 1908)
Grand Central Station for 5 years
On February 6, 1904, Robert Perry marries Ida Lee Vandenberg. No children are recorded from this marriage. According to the 1905 New York census, the Perrys are living in the Bronx. There are no records after that until the Perry family shows up in the 1910 in the Monrovia Directory living at 127 W. White Oak (now Foothill Blvd.) Avenue.
As previously stated, Robert Perry is assessed for Lot 8 Block H in the Town of Monrovia Subdivision, but the property is owned by someone else by 1912. According to various local news articles, Robert Perry, who had built other properties in Monrovia and Duarte, owes money to his contracting suppliers. One day Perry disappears, never to be seen by Monrovians again. His wife, on the other hand, hires an auctioneer to have a massive yard sale of the contents of the house at 122 E. Lime Avenue.
Robert Perry had relocated to Venice, California, where he died in 1913.
Sources
1900 United States Federal Census. Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com Inc. 2009. Provo, Utah.
1910 United States Federal Census. Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com Inc. 2009. Provo, Utah.
California, Death Index, 1905-1939. Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2013. Provo, UT, USA.
City of Monrovia Tax Records 1912-1913. Monrovia City Hall. 415 S. Ivy Ave., Monrovia, California.
Ireland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2011. Provo, UT
New York, State Census, 1905. New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1905; Election District: A.D. 35 E.D. 39; City: Bronx; County: New York; Page: 14.