I will continue posting the Passport Applications, but today I decided to post another subject to have a little change of scenery.
EZEKIEL PERIGO
Ezekiel Perigo, one of the early settlers and a prominent
citizen of Warrick county, was born in Ohio county, Kentucky, August 6th, 1802.
His father, Romey Perigo, was a native of Maryland, and was born in that State
during the strife with Great Britain. At eighteen years of age he settled in
Ohio county, Kentucky, and in t8oo, when twenty one years old, he was married
to Miss Rhodia Hinman. He died about 1830. Mrs. Perigo was a woman of
extraordinary bravery. She could handle a gun or shoot a wildcat as well as a
man. She died by a stroke of palsy in 1822. In April, 1819, Mr. Perigo moved to
Warrick county and settled south of where Ezekiel now lives. This was one year
after Boonville had been laid out and there were not more than a half dozen
houses in the place, and these were rudely built log cabins.
Ezekiel's early advantages in instruction were limited to a
few days each winter for two or three years while in Kentucky, and after his
father's removal to Warrick county he attended a school two weeks, taught by
George Hathaway. This comprised all his schooling. However, he obtained most of
his education after his marriage by pursuing a regular and systematic course of
study in the chimney corner at night by the light of a ''shell bark hickory
" fire.
In 1822 he was married to Miss Peggy Hudson, a life long
member of the Methodist church, who died June 27, 1878, at the age of seventy-three.
They had one son, Romey, who was killed in the battle at Atlanta, Ga., during
the late war.
Until fifty-four years of age Mr. Perigo pursued farming. He
engaged in milling for about eighteen months, and then purchased a saddle and
harness shop. He began mercantile business in Boonville in 1856 and continued
until 1872. He finally retired from active business life and now lives on his
farm south of Boonville, where he will spend the remainder of his days.
During the late war he was a decided Union man and did much
to aid the cause by helping to feed and clothe soldiers' families, and otherwise
encouraging the work of fighting our battles. Politically, he was a Whig,
having cast his first vote for John Quincy Adams for President, but when the
Whig party was succeeded by the Republican he joined the latter. He has been a
man of prominence in local politics and has held various offices. He was twice
elected constable of Boon township. He has also been treasurer of Boon township
four years and trustee four years. He was commissioner of the county seminary
for six years and was also appointed commissioner of swamp lands, but there
were no duties attached to the latter office. In 1838 he was appointed county
collector of taxes and was required to ride over the county and make personal
collections. In this he was far more successful than his predecessors. He
counted out the silver once after the year's work was done and threw it into
one of Jackson's old-fashioned tin cups, which held about three pints,
completely filling it. This was two years' salary and consisted of about $200.
He has been administrator of forty-five estates and commissioner in petition of
forty others.
He has been a member of the M. E. church for a number of
years, and is esteemed by all as an honorable and upright man. His admirable
character appears to better advantage at his own fireside, and none know him
but to like him for his sincerity and honesty. His career has been a very
useful one, and, although very old, he still retains a wonderful vigor of mind.
He has watched the progress of Boonville from the time it was a settlement of a
half-dozen log cabins to a thriving town of two thousand population. To use the
words of the venerable old gentleman himself, ' 'his highest ambition is to so
live that when this life's toils are over it may be truthfully said, he was
always honest and honorable."
WARRICK AND ITS PROMINENT PEOPLE, A History of Warrick
County, Indiana, from the time of its organization and settlement, with Biographical
Sketches of some of its Prominent People of the past and present. Published
1881.
ROBERT PERIGO
There are very few persons in Warrick county who don't know
Robert Perigo. He has been a resident of the county over fifty years, and is
one of its most prominent citizens. He was born in Ohio county, Kentucky,
September 6th, 1818, and his parents were Jonathan and Isabella Perigo. His
father was a farmer in good circumstances. He removed to Warrick county when
Robert was six months old settling near Boonville. The first school he ever attended
was held in the old court-house at Boonville, three miles distant from where
his father lived, which he was compelled to walk daily. The teacher of this
school was Thomas Fitzgerald, a man of rare scholastic attainments for the time
and place, who was afterwards Lieutenant-Governor of Michigan, and a prominent
politician. Mr. Perigo was an apt
student, and received what was regarded as a very good common school education
at that day. When twenty years old he was granted permission to leave home and
work at whatever he wanted to. He obtained employment with General Joe Lane,
who at that time was proprietor of a wood-yard, situated just below Three Mile
Island, in Vanderburgh county. Mr. Perigo's duties consisted of attending to
the books and general business of his employer, who was frequently absent from
home. He was, of course, very intimately acquainted with the affairs of Lane,
who at that time was a very popular and influential man, and he can relate many
interesting reminiscences of the illustrious veteran. He remained in Lane's
employ about three years, and he remembers him as the most genial and sociable
person he ever met.
September 12th, 1838, Mr. Perigo was married to Elizabeth
Youngblood, a daughter of the Rev. John W. Youngblood. The results of this marriage
were eleven children — nine girls and two boys — all of whom are still living,
except two. After his marriage Mr. Perigo engaged in farming, where he now
lives. He held the office of trustee of Boon township during the entire time
the old congressional township division was in force. In 1864 he was nominated by
the Democratic party for representative of Warrick county, and was elected by a
majority of 156 over James F. St. Clair, Esq., which was a notable victory at
that time. He was an active member of the sessions of the Indiana Legislature
in 1865-66. He was re-elected representative in 1876, and was a member of the
session of the Legislature of 1877. He has held various minor offices. As a
parliamentarian he has few equals in Warrick county. He is a Democrat, and has
never sustained a defeat but once for any office for which he was a candidate.
His career has been a notable one in local politics.
WARRICK AND ITS PROMINENT PEOPLE, A History of Warrick
County, Indiana, from the time of its organization and settlement, with Biographical
Sketches of some of its Prominent People of the past and present. Published 1881.
