Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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WILLIAM HAYES PERRY 
 
was born October 17, 1832, near Newark, Ohio, where he spent his boyhood. In 
1853, partly on account of his health, he started for California overland with 
Colonel Hollister, of Santa Barbara, who crossed the plains that year with 
stock, sheep, cattle and horses. The party crossed the Missouri River at 
Bennett's Ferry,
south of Council Bluffs. It consisted of about fifty men and five ladies. On 
their route they were much annoyed by the Indians. The party came into 
California via Salt Lake City, thence south via San Bernardino to Los Angeles, 
arriving in Los Angeles in February, 1854. Mr. Perry tells an amusing story of 
his first arrival in Los Angeles. Like so many others, before and since, at the 
end of his long overland journey he arrived here worn out, dead broke, and very 
nearly naked. The first thing he did was to try to get a suit of clothes on 
credit, which would require considerable cheek. He made his way into a store and 
told his story to the proprietor, who was an entire stranger, and asked to be 
trusted until he could earn enough money to pay for the cheapest suit of clothes 
he had in the store. Notwithstanding his ragged appearance, the proprietor of 
the store seemed to be favorably impressed, and not only offered to trust him 
for a plain working suit, but also insisted that he take a second and better 
suit to wear to church and other places requiring him to dress well, allowing 
him his own time to pay for them both. Mr. Perry says he felt so grateful for 
this kindness to him, ever since, that he could never fully repay the kindly act 
of one who befriended him when destitute and "when naked, clothed him." Mr. 
Perry before leaving the East having finished his apprenticeship in cabinet 
making and turning, engaged in this business on his arrival in Los Angeles. 
Although a mere boy he took hold with an ambition and will to accomplish all 
that industry, economy and perseverance could bring him in that business, and in 
less than one year from the time of his arrival he opened the first furniture 
store in Los Angeles, and with the articles he manufactured, and with shipments 
he made from San Francisco, he kept a full and complete assortment, and held the 
trade solid, and had no competitor for four years. In 1846 he took in a partner 
(Mr. Brady), whom in 1858 Wallace Woodworth bought out. With the latter he 
continued in business for twenty-five years, or until Mr. Woodworth's death in 
1883, the name of the firm being Perry & Woodworth. In 1873 they changed from 
the furniture and cabinet business to dealing in lumber, moldings, doors, sash, 
blinds, and building hardware, and finish of all kinds. They bought and built on 
the property now occupied by the business, extending through from Commercial 
street to Requena, and on the south side of Requena street, building a branch of 
the Southern Pacific Railroad through the property, so as to avail themselves of 
railroad facilities in handling lumber, etc. After Mr. Woodworth's death Mr. 
Perry incorporated his business, and it is now known as the W. H. Perry Lumber 
and Mill Company, it does an immense business; has been selling from 30,000,000 
to 80,000,000 feet of lumber per annum. It has been the ambition of Mr. Perry to 
take the lumber from the tree in the Northern forests, manufacture it in his own 
mills in the forest where it grew, ship it on his own vessels over his own 
wharves, and deliver it to the consumer here in Southern California, thus 
enabling his company to defy all competitors. This ambition has been realized, 
his company owning their own timber lands, their own saw-mills, their own 
vessels, their own wharves, and their own yards throughout the country for 
distribution and sale. And as a result, their profits have been very large. Mr. 
Perry and associates organized the Los Angeles and Humboldt Lumber Company, at 
San Pedro, carrying there a stock to supply the Arizona and foreign trade. He 
organized the Pioneer Lumber and Mill Company at Colton, to supply the territory 
east of Los Angeles County. He also organized the Los Angeles Storage, 
Commission and Lumber Company. This company, in addition to lumber, carried 
lime, plaster, cement, fire-brick, etc., to supply the market. In 1865 Mr. Perry 
obtained a franchise from Los Angeles City to light the city with gas. He 
organized the Los Angeles City Gas Company, holding the position of president 
and manager for five years, and sold the works, at a handsome advance above 
cost, to its present owners. Mr. Perry bought, set up and run the first steam 
engine brought to Los Angeles. In 1879 he was elected director, president and 
manager of the Los Angeles City Water Company, which was heavily involved, and 
by introducing system, economy and efficiency, he put it on a dividend-paying 
basis, and it has ever since been retained in that position by its 
stock�holders. Mr. Perry is president of the following corporations: W. H. Perry 
Lumber and Mill Company, Los Angeles City Water Company, Crystal Springs Land 
and Water Company, Ventura Valley Water and Improvement Company, Cosmopolis Mill 
and Trading Company, of Washington Territory, and director and one of the 
organizers of the Southern California Insurance Company, and also director of 
several other corporations. Mr. Perry, as will be seen from the foregoing, is a 
very busy man; in fact he is one of the astutest and most enterprising, 
far-seeing and successful business men on the Pacific Coast. His keen insight 
enables him to forecast with surprising accuracy what enterprises will be 
profitable and what not, and it is a remarkable fact that he has seldom 
associated himself with any business that has not been a great financial 
success. In 1858 Mr. Perry married Miss Elizabeth M. Dalton, of this city. They 
have three children living, viz.: Mrs. Mamie Perry Davis, Charles Frederic, and 
Miss Florence. The two daughters are fine musicians. Mrs. Davis, the elder, 
received her musical education and graduated from the Conservatory of Milan, 
Italy, where she was a special pupil of that celebrated master, San Giovanni, 
and where she made a most successful debut as a prima donna in an engagement of 
seventeen successive nights. Mr. Perry has surrounded his family with all the 
comforts of life. His house is ever open to visiting friends, who are received 
with great warmth and welcome by himself and family.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 587
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler