ENOS PERRY. Progressive, energetic and enterprising, Enos Perry is
numbered among the foremost merchants of Goreville, and, with his brother,
A. B. Perry, owns one of the largest department stores in Johnson county. He
was born June 15, 1867, in Jackson county, Illinois, on a farm lying in the
vicinity of Carbondale. His father, Archibald Perry, was born in Tennessee
in 1824, and as a youth came with his parents to Jackson county, Illinois,
where he spent the remainder of his life, being engaged in farming until his
death, in 1879. He married Lucinda Reeder, who was born in 1836 and died in
1909. Of the eleven children born of their union eight grew to years of
maturity, as follows: J. N.; William; George W.; J. L.; J. A., deceased; A.
B.; Mrs. Louise Rosson; and Enos.
Gleaning his early knowledge of
the common branches of learning in the district schools of Jackson county,
Enos Perry subsequently attended Ewing College for a time. Turning his
attention then toward agricultural pursuits, he was successfully employed as
a tiller of the soil until 1896. when he opened a general store at
Vergennes, Illinois. Disposing of that in 1900, Mr. Perry removed to
Goreville, Johnson county, and having erected a frame building put in a
choice assortment of goods and carried on a substantial business until May,
1906, when a disastrous fire caused him a loss of three thousand dollars
above all insurance. With his brother, A. B. Perry, he then erected a fine
brick building, and he now carries a stock of general merchandise valued at
nine thousand dollars, in addition to dry goods and clothing having
groceries, shoes, furniture, hardware, harnesses, stoves, etc., every
department being amply supplied with first-class goods.
Mr. Perry
married, July 10, 1891, Mary Stout, of Jackson county, a daughter of Newton
and Susan Stout, and into their pleasant home six children have been born,
namely: Clyde Arthur, who lived but eight and one-half years; Hazel: Clara;
Ruth; Grace; and Enos. Fraternally Mr. Perry belongs to the Modern Woodmen
of America and to the Modern Brotherhood of America.
Extracted 15 Jan 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, volume 2, page 670.