The Perry Surname

 

Unknown friend, David Lease Perry, & Doris Maxine Perry

The Recent Perrys 

    Elmer Wasson Perry, son of James Allen Perry and Sarah Elizabeth Beckman, was born on 21 June 1892 in Tindle, Missouri. Elmer had a large family with a deluge of siblings including Zora Dell Perry, Arthur Branchan Perry, Tacy Viola Perry, Henry Milton Perry, and James Lloyd Perry. My second great grandpa Elmer married Ethel Maria Lease on 19 April 1916 in Holt County, Missouri. They had a few kids named Charlotte Isabelle Perry, David Lease Perry, and Doris Maxine Perry. Elmer Wasson Perry died in Rochester, Olmsted County, Minnesota on 20 June 1926. He is buried in Mound Hope Cemetery in Mound City, Holt County, Missouri. Elmer died young in his early thirties. His son David wed Diane Kay Patteson on 12 August 1951 in Los Angeles, California. They passed on the family name to their children John David Perry, Sharon Kay Perry, Jan Allyson Perry, and Susan Jane Perry. 

The Perry Surname Meaning 

The possible origins of the Perry surname are:  

1. Anglicized form of Welsh ap Herry 'son of Herry' 
2. English topographical name for someone who lived near a pear tree from Middle English piri(e), peri(e), or puri(e) and Old English pirige or pyrige 
3. Habitational name for someone who owned or came from a place so named

I traced the Perry family line to Missouri, Indiana, Maryland, Virginia, and Massachusetts. The Perrys eventually go back to England in the mid to early 1600s. 

With love, 

Autumn Rose Surratt 

The Ancestor Witch 

Sources 

• "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3RD-T94: 22 July 2025), Elmer W Perry, 1917-1918. 
• "Find a Grave Index", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK1X-76XJ: 22 July 2025), Elmer W Perry, death 1926, memorial ID # 140926554. 
• "Missouri County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800-1991", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:668T-CK7N: 22 July 2025), Elmer W Perry and Ethel M Lease, 19 April 1916. 
• "Minnesota County Deaths, 1850-2001", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPZH-ZC3K: 22 July 2025), Elmer W Perry, 20 June 1926. 
• Perry surname meaning search on Ancestry app