PERRY Whenever and wherever the name of Perry is mentioned in financial circles, the long association of that family with the old Washington Bank of Westerly, Rhode Island, is at once brought to mind. The election in 1906 of Charles Perry as president of the Washington Trust Company calls attention to the fact that the honor came to him on the one hundredth anniversary of the election of his grandfather, Thomas Perry, as cashier of the Washington Bank, and that for three successive generations Thomas Perry, Charles Perry, and Charles Perry Jr., held the position of cashier--for a period of ninety-eight years; and that the present Charles Perry, having been clerk, teller, assistant cashier and cashier of the Washington Bank and manager of the Washington Trust Company since its formation, now as its president completes, for the three Perry names, more than a century of service. The Washington Bank received its charter from the State of Rhode Island in June, 1800, and began business August 22 the same year. It was the third bank in the state, one in Providence, and one in Newport having been chartered only a short time before. It has had, as State Bank, National Bank and Trust Company, only nine presidents: Rowse Babcock, 1800 to 1801; Thomas Noyes, 1801 to 1820; Jeremiah Thurston, 1820 to 1830; Nathan F. Dixon, 1830 to 1842; Nathan F. Dixon (son), 1842 to 1881; Charles Perry Sr., 1881 to 1890; Nathan F. Dixon (grandson), 1890 to 1898; Albert L. Chester, 1898 to 1906; Charles Perry, 1906. During all this time there were only four cashiers: Arnold Clark, 1800 to 1806; Thomas Perry, 1806 to 1826; Charles Perry Sr., 1826 to 1881; Charles Perry, 1881 to 1904.
Charles Perry, president of the Washington Trust Company, is a member of one of the oldest and most prominent families of New England. For nearly two and a half centuries this branch of the Perrys has dwelt in New England, and for two hundred years in Rhode Island, where it has been allied by marriage with many of the most influential families of the Commonwealth, and is itself one of the marked, forceful and conspicuous families of the state. Mr. Perry is a descendant in the seventh generation from Edward Perry, the immigrant settler and the first American ancestor of this branch of the family, his lineage being through Samuel, Samuel (2), Simeon, Thomas and Charles Sr. In the following is set forth in detail the ancestral record of the family, each generation being designated by a Roman character.
(I) Edward Perry, a native of Devonshire, England, born about 1630, and one of the first members of the Society of Friends in America, came to Plymouth Colony and settled in Sandwich, in the province of Massachusetts, at that time the headquarters of the Friends. He married, about 1653, Mary, daughter of Edmund and Elizabeth Freeman, Edmund Freeman being lieutenant-governor of the colony. Mr. Perry was a prominent speaker in the Society of Friends and an earnest defender of its doctrines. He is of record as a grand juryman in 1653, a surveyor of highways in 1658-68-74, and in the latter year also as recorder of deeds. He was first clerk of the first monthly meeting of the Society of Friends held at Sandwich, Massachusetts. The issue of this marriage was nine children, among them Samuel and Benjamin, who settled in South Kingston, Rhode Island, and were, it is believed, the progenitors of practically all of the Washington county Perrys. From Benjamin Perry descended the two brothers, Commodores Oliver H. and Matthew C. Perry, of Lake Erie and Japan Treaty fame, respectively, who have given distinction to the Perry name in their native town of South Kingston, Rhode Island. Edward Perry published a book of addresses as early as 1688, said to be the first book published in this country. 194

From Clair Green: Ezra Perry, b 1626, Saugus, Devonshire, Eng. m 12 feb 1652 Sandwich MA to Elizabeth Burgess, b 1629, d 26 sep 1717, MA. Ezra d 16 Oct 1689, MA.