Eli Perry

Eli Perry (December 25, 1799 – May 17, 1881) was an American businessman and Democratic politician from Albany, New York. He became wealthy as the operator of a successful meatpacking enterprise and later invested in banking, insurance, gas lighting, and commercial real estate. Perry was most notable for his service as a U.S. Representative from New York, an office he held for two terms from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1875, during the 42nd and 43rd Congresses.

Perry was born in Cambridge, Washington County, New York, on December 25, 1799, a son of John Perry and Jeannie (Searles) Perry. After his mother’s death and his father’s remarriage, the family left their Cambridge farm and moved first to a farm in Johnstown, and later to Albany. In Albany, the Perrys owned and operated a tavern at the corner of what are now Washington Avenue and Swan Street. Eli Perry was educated in the local schools and assisted his family in operating the tavern, gaining early experience in business and public dealing. During the War of 1812, his father obtained a contract to supply beef and other food to the United States Army, and Eli Perry aided in fulfilling the contract, an experience that introduced him to the meat trade and to government contracting.

After his father completed the government contract, Perry obtained employment with Elisha Wilcox, who operated a tavern in a mansion formerly occupied by Daniel D. Tompkins when Tompkins served as governor of New York. Perry worked there for a year, during which he helped support his family and managed to save fourteen dollars. This modest sum became the capital with which he launched his own business. He began by securing space in the corner of a local grocery store, where he set up a butcher’s stall, and he rented a nearby stable to use as a slaughterhouse for cattle and sheep purchased from local farmers. Initially buying, slaughtering, butchering, and selling one animal at a time, he gradually expanded his operations. The purchase of a horse and wagon enabled him to extend his customer base to homes and businesses in the towns surrounding Albany. As his business prospered, he moved into permanent quarters at the corner of Washington Avenue and Swan Street, near his father’s tavern.

Recognizing that canals and railroads would transform the distribution of food and make large-scale meatpacking increasingly important, Perry systematically expanded his enterprise. At its height, his operation employed dozens of workers and processed more than 100 animals each day. The profits from this business allowed him to diversify his investments. He became a director of several key Albany institutions, including the Albany City Bank, Albany City Savings Bank, Albany Gaslight Company, Mutual Insurance Company of Albany, and Albany Savings Bank, and he acquired substantial holdings in commercial real estate. Beyond his business interests, Perry was deeply involved in the civic and religious life of Albany. He served as president of the board of trustees of the Emmanuel Baptist Church and was a generous benefactor of the congregation. He served on the board of inspectors for the Albany Penitentiary, was a member of the city’s board of school commissioners for more than twenty years, and was a principal organizer of Albany’s first orphan asylum.

Perry’s political career developed alongside his business and civic activities. A Democrat, he was elected to Albany’s board of aldermen in 1845 and served for two years. In 1850 he was elected to represent Albany in the New York State Assembly, serving a one-year term in 1851. That same year he was elected mayor of Albany, holding the office from 1851 to 1854. He returned to the mayoralty in 1856 and served until 1860, and again from 1862 to 1866, giving him three nonconsecutive periods as mayor. During the American Civil War, Perry strongly supported the Union. In his third mayoral tenure, he confronted a potentially violent strike by workers of the New York Central Railroad that threatened public safety and the movement of troops and materiel to the front. Rejecting calls from business and civic leaders to use force, Perry went personally to the railyard to meet with the strike organizers. He informed them that, as mayor, he was bound to enforce the law and would resort to force if necessary, but he also pledged that their grievances would be addressed if they dispersed peacefully. The workers and railroad management ultimately reached an agreement, the strike ended, and the strikers adopted resolutions formally thanking Perry for his mediation.

During the Civil War, Perry headed the city committee that organized recruiting and fundraising efforts in support of the Union cause. He was one of the principal recruiters of Company B of the 91st New York Infantry Regiment, commanded by Captain George W. Stackhouse, who had previously worked for Perry. He also assisted in recruiting and equipping the 43rd New York Infantry Regiment. His visits to Virginia to see to the needs of the soldiers of the 43rd led Company B of that regiment to pass a resolution naming themselves the “Perry Guards” in his honor.

In 1870, Perry was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives. He was reelected in 1872 and served two consecutive terms from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1875, representing New York in the 42nd and 43rd Congresses. In Congress he served on the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. He was active in securing benefits for Civil War veterans and pensions for widows of soldiers who had died in the conflict. He also worked for the establishment of a reform school for girls in Washington, D.C. The culmination of his congressional career was the passage of his bill authorizing the construction of a new federal office building for Albany, located at the corner of Broadway and State Street. After leaving Congress in 1875, Perry returned to Albany and resumed oversight of his various business and financial interests.

In his later years, Perry continued his philanthropic and religious activities. He died in Albany on May 17, 1881, and was buried in Albany Rural Cemetery. His will reflected the breadth of his charitable commitments. He left $4,000 to the Emmanuel Baptist Church and $1,000 to its Sunday school; $5,000 to the Albany Guardian Society and Home of the Friendless; $1,000 each to the Albany Hospital, St. Peter’s Hospital, and the Albany Baptist Missionary Union; and $10,000 to endow a professorship at the Rochester Theological Seminary. He directed that one-fifth of the residue of his estate be used to endow a professorship at Hamilton Theological Seminary, one-fifth be given to the Hudson River Baptist Association, North, one-fifth to the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York City, and one-fifth to the American Baptist Union of Boston, with the remaining one-fifth devoted to personal bequests and other obligations.

Perry was married three times. His first wife was Eliza Clark, with whom he had four children: a son, Oliver Hazard Perry, who died at age 20, and three daughters who died in infancy. After Eliza Clark’s death, he married Lydia (Smith) Collin, and following her death he married Matilda Caroline Todd. Perry was a third cousin of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the noted naval officer of the War of 1812, a familial connection that echoed his own early experience in wartime supply and his lifelong identification with public service.