He attended public school until age 14, and then went to work as a carpenter and millwright, and was contracted to build homes in Kewaunee, Algoma, and Sturgeon Bay.
In 1886, he went to Milwaukee to look for work, but instead ended up in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he was employed in a factory and rose to become superintendent.
[3] In Algoma, he became active with the Republican Party of Wisconsin and was a delegate to several state conventions in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
The 1st Senate district, at that time, comprised all of Door, Kewaunee, and Marinette counties in the northeast corner of Wisconsin.
Their younger son, Ralph H. Perry, was captain of Company F in the 128th U.S. Infantry Regiment during World War I.
[6] Perry's surviving son, William, moved to Delray Beach, Florida.