Subject: Nash and Edwin Peery
Dear Paul,
I was very much interested in the article "Dad and His
Folks" by Thomas L. Peery as presented in your PCO Newsletter
Vol 3 No. 1 dated January 25, 1997. This included a brief
biography not only of James Witten, but also of the author's
father, Nash A. Peery, and I thought that your readers might
like to know more about him and further family connections in
Washington and Alaska.
Nash Andral Peery was born Dec. 15, 1855, in Edinburg,
Grundy Co., MO, one of 8 children of Dr. Archibald Peery and his
wife, the former Elizabeth Ann Kirk. Dr. Archibald Peery had
come to Missouri in 1835 with his father, George Peery, and
family. The George Peery Family Cemetery, as recorded by the
local DAR chapter in 1960, contains among others 32 Peerys and
22 Wittens. That family plot is said to be across the street
from the house built by Dr. Arch Peery.
Nash married Nettie Adell McIntosh on Nov. 10, 1887. She
died in 1906 and he in 1931. Nash seems to have followed Jim
Witten not only to (George) Washington Law School in Washington,
D.C., but also to Alaska, as indicated in the following
newspaper notices:
The Morning Oregonian, Portland, OR, May 6, 1931
Death Notice:
"Nash A. Peery, aged 75 years, May 5, of 811 East Morrison;
father of Arch Peery of Ketchum, Idaho, Wallace of Crescent
City, Cal., and Thomas of Avenal, Cal.; brother of Dr. T. P.
Peery of Yuba City, Cal., Will and Arch Peery of Oklahoma, John
and Florence Peery of Missouri. The remains are at Finley's,
Montgomery and Fifth."
The Morning Oregonian, Portland, OR, May 8, 1931:
Obituary:
"....Mr. [Nash] Peery, who was born in Edinburg, Mo, in
1855, came to Portland in 1888(?). He practiced law here with
his retirement ten years ago. He went to Alaska in 1912 and
served in Nome as United States District Attorney in the Wilson
administration. He resumed his law practice on returning to
Portland.
Mr. Peery was a well-known democrat and member of Woodmen
of the World camp No. 77. He is survived by his three sons, A.
F. Peery of Ketchum, Idaho; W. W. Peery of Crescent City, Cal.;
and T. L. Peery of Avenal, Cal., who are all in the city to
attend the funeral."
The Portland City Directories for 1910 and 1911 show Nash
and Edwin Howe Peery as law partners in a firm called Peery and
Peery. A biography of Edwin H. Peery is shown on the Peery Home
Page Site; he and Joseph Stras Peery developed the Peery
Genealogy presented in the Utah Genealogical and Historical
Magazine, 1917-1919. Edwin was a son of George Catlett Peery
and Ruth Jane Kirk who was a sister of Nash's mother Elizabeth
Kirk. (The fathers of Nash and Edwin were also first cousins.)
Edwin Howe Peery also earned a Master of Laws degree in
1896 at what is now George Washington University Law School. As
shown in his biography on the Home Page Site, he worked for the
Civil Service Commission, the Treasury Department and then the
Reclamation Service in Washington D.C. from 1894 to 1907 and
then for two years in Cuba before returning to Portland,
Oregon. In 1912, at the invitaion of General E. H. Crowder for
whom he had worked in Cuba, he returned to Washington as a law
clerk in the office of the Judge Advocate General of the Army.
He later went back to the Reclamation Service for which he
worked until his death on January 29, 1920. Did he work closely
there with James Witten on land cases?
The following two letters may be of interest:
Department of the Interior
United States Geological Survey
Washington D. C.
April 29, 1903
The Honorable
The Secretary of the Interior
Sir:
I respectfully request the transfer to this bureau,
without change of title or salary, from the office of the
Comptroller of the Treasury, of E. H. Peery, Lar Clerk, at
$2,000per annum.
Mr. Peery has been a resident of California and Oregon,
was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of California as
admitted to the bar in Oregon. He has had practice in
connection with irrigation law and land titles. He came to
Washington in 1894, served on the Civil Service Commission, and
was then transferred to the Treasury Department as confidential
clerk to Assistant Comptroller of the Treasury. Mr. Bowers
recommends him highly as a competent law clerk, familiar with
western conditions, and who will be of service in connection
with the land titles and transfers of lands and water rights
authorized by the Secretary of the Interior.
There is need of an assistant in this line, for work both
in the office and in the field, and should like to have this
transfer arranged, as there is no one in the service available
for promotion.
Very respectfully,
H. C. Rizer
Acting Director
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Reclamation Service
Feb. 19, 1920
THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
Sir:
You are hereby informed that the last day of service of
Mr. Edwin H. Peery, as an Examiner at $2640 in the Reclamation
Service, was January 29, 1920, owing to his death on that date.
Very respectfully,
A. P. Davis
Director and Chief Engineer
Edwin H. Peery was interested not only in Peery genealogy,
but also in his mother's family, the Kirks. In this endeavor he
corresponded with Ada Garwood, a member of the Kirk family. The
following letter gives a view of life in Washington during the
second administration of Grover Cleveland in 1896:
Treasury Department
Office of the First Comptroller
Washington D. C.
January 25, 1896
Miss Ada B. Garwood
Mayfield, California
Dear Cousin:
Your letter of the 12th instant enclosing family record
was duly received, and I enclose herewith a record of
grandfather Kirk's family as requested. The record you sent was
very satisfactory, but I wish in some future letter you would
give me parentage and date of birth of cousin Will's wife, if
you can get it; also the date and place he had his name changed
to Garwood, and whether he dropped the name "Kirk", or retained
it as a middle name.
Washington is a beautiful City. I have been here a year
and a half, or nearly so, and have much yet to see about it.
The society season is in full vigor now, and prominent official
and society people all have their regular days for receiving
calls. Most of their houses on these days are open to strangers
practically if not nominally. The cabinet families receive
Wednesdays in the afternoons to about six o'clock, and crowds of
people may be seen going about from one place to another in
carriages and on foot, making these cabinet calls. The host or
hostess stands at the parlor door and welcomes each one as he
comes in. They sometimes have a light lunch spread in an
adjoining parlor or dining room, served by handsome young
ladies, and sometimes they have music by a string orchestra. I
have been to several, but as a social event they are failures
unless one is in the society circle and well known. It is very
tiresome for the entertainers. The President and wife, assisted
by ladies of the cabinet, give a public reception every new
years day, lasting several hours, and during that time there is
a constant stream of people passing in front of the President
and receiving party in one of the parlors at the White House,
shaking the President and each one by the hand. They looked
very much tired out when I passed in review last new years,
which is the only time I have ever attended one of the
President's receptions. These society events will keep up until
lent, which will give them all a much appreciated rest.
This is a well improved city--principally at Government
expense--streets being paved with asphalt & having numerous
parks, statues, &c. Besides the public buildings and grounds
add greatly to the effect. Congress is now in session, but
nothing out of the ordinary seems likely to turn up with that
body. My office is nicely situated in the Treasury building
with a five view up one of the principal streets. Kindly let me
hear from you at your earliest convenience, and believe me, Very
truly yours, E. H. Peery
Address: "Treas'y Dept. Washington D.C."
While not a lawyer, another member of the family in
Portland, Oregon, also went to Alaska for a time and had married
into the Witten family. Leslie Thomas Peery, a brother of Edwin
H. Peery, was born in Grundy Co., MO, on March 14, 1859 and
married Emma Jane Witten there. They migrated to Oregon with
other family members in 1888. In 1898 Leslie went to Alaska,
not as a lawyer dealing in land issues, but to hunt for gold.
Did he find any? Here is his obituary:
The Morning Oregonian, Portland, June 27, 1933:
Obituary:
"The funeral services for Leslie Thomas Peery, 74, who
died Sunday at his residence, 2006 North Williams Avenue, will
be held this afternoon at 2:30 from Pearson's funeral church,
with interment in Greenwood Cemetery. Mr. Peery, who was born
March 14, 1859, in Missouri, moved to Portland during December,
1888. He opened a grocery store the following year on the
corner of Union Avenue and San Rafael Streets, one of the
pioneer grocer of the Albina district. He was active in the
politics of the day, and was elected to the city council,
resigning in 1898 to join the Alaska gold rush.
....Mr. Peery is survived by his widow, Mrs. Emma J.
Peery; two sons, B. Howe Peery, Yuba City, Cal., and Dr. Leslie
T. Peery of Berkeley, Cal., and two sisters, Georgia R. Peery of
Forest Grove, Or., and Lura B. Peery, Yuba City, Cal."
Ed Smith
Editor - Peery Family
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