Things You Didn't Know About Oliver Hazard Perry-- Part 1: Family Ties

Perry is part of my signoff for this blog:  Brock-Perry (the Brock part is named for British/Canadian hero Isaac Brock).

From the Feb. 27, 2024, Military History Now Oliver Hazard Perry--  10 Things You Didn't Know About America's Iconic Naval Commander."

1.  He came from a family with strong ties to the U.S. Navy.  His father, Christopher Raymond Perry was a privateer in the American Revolution and captain in the U.S. Navy during the Quasi-War with France.  His brother, Matthew Perry, also in the U.S. Navy played a major role in the opening of Japan to the United States.

2.  Perry became a midshipman at the age of 13.  He spent his youth sailing with his father.  He became a midshipman in 1799 and spent the next six years in the Quasi-War and the Tripolitan War against the Barbary Pirates.

--Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin-- Part 4: Rose Rapidly Through the Ranks

His parents moved to Lebanon, Connecticut about 1795 and Stephen worked there until he was about sixteen years old, at which time he ran away from home to go to sea.  He walked 26 miles to New London,. Ct.,  and then went to sea twice where he was impressed by the British and spent a few days aboard a warship.

However, he had a document describing him physically and saying that he was an American citizen with him that got him released.  Afterwards he went on two more voyages and rapidly rose to become second mate.

He returned to Connecticut in 1808 and because of the trade embargo went to work on farms.  In the fall of 1809, when the embargo was lifted he shipped out as a passenger on ship commanded by his uncle, Christopher R. Perry.

During the return voyage, he attained the rank of second mate.  His cousin Matthew Perry was also a crewman on this trip.  At the time, Matthew was a U.S. Navy midshipman, but on leave.

Later in 1810, Stephen shipped out again on the the Latona for Buenos Aires and again was second mate.  In the summer of 1811 he sailed to the West Indies on the brig Dove, but this time as first mate.  The captain of the Dove died of yellow fever and Stephen acted as captain on the return voyage.

--Brock-Perry

Dr. George Hazard Perry, Sr. (Brother of Christopher R. Perry)-- Part 1

Christopher R. Perry, father of Oliver Hazard and Matthew Calbraith Perry, had two brothers.  I found no mention of either one being in the military.  But....

From Find-A-Grave.

DR. GEORGE HAZARD PERRY, SR.

Born  4 January 1757 in South Kingston, Rhode Island

Died 22 February 1825 Lee, New York.

Buried in Perry Family Cemetery in Rome, New York.

I found nothing about him being in the military.

And, how was this military?

Next Post.  --Brock-Perry

The Family of Ann Minerva Rodgers Macomb and John Navarre Macomb

Before I commemorated the 75th anniversary of D-Day these last six posts, I was writing about the Rodgers and Perry families and the number of sons they sent to the military as well as daughters marrying into other military families.  Here is how the Perry family got linked to the Macomb family.

Ann Minerva Rodgers Macomb was the daughter of John Rodgers and Sarah Wallace Perry, daughter of Christopher R. Perry and sister of Oliver Hazard and Matthew Calbraith Perry.

JOHN NAVARRE MACOMB (Jr.)(1811-1889) was an 1828 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy.

His father was John Navarre Macomb (1774-1810) who was a New York merchant who died defending the British packet ship Princess Charlotte against a French privateer off the Isle of Sicily.

His father also had two brothers who were in the military.  They were:

ALEXANDER MACOMB  (1782-1841).  He was a general in the War of 1812 and eventually general in command of the whole U.S. Army.

His youngest son was Commodore William H. Macomb who was a Union Navy officer in the Civil War.

ROBERT MACOMB--  Lt. Col. War of 1812

MAJOR ALEXANDER SARANAC MACOMB  Graduated USMA 1835.  Aide-de-Camp to his father, Alexander Macomb.

Also, there was a Lt. JASPER LIVINGSTON MACOMB (?-1833)  7th Regiment, U.S. Army Infantry.  Died at age 30.  Interned at Tremont House Hotel's "Stranger's Tomb" built in 1833 to bury guests who had died at the hotel.  Hew was a brother of John Navarre Macomb, Jr.

--Brock-Perry

The Family of Minerva and John Rodgers-- Part 1: Two Sons Fought in Civil War

As I already said, John Rodgers was a famous naval officer who was the brother of George Washington Rodgers who married Anna Maria Perry, daughter of Christopher R. Perry.  Two of her brothers were Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry.

John Rodgers (1772-1838) married Minerva Denison in 1806 and they had eight children.

Their children:

COL. ROBERT SMITH RODGERS (1809-1891)  Married Sarah Perry in 1841.  She was the sister of Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry.  He was a Union colonel in the Civil War.

FREDERICK RODGERS  (1811-1828)--  Midshipman U.S. Navy.  Drowned near Norfolk, Virginia, 5 April 1828.

JOHN RODGERS (1812-1882)--  Civil War naval officer.  Commanded the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

LOUISA RODGERS MEIGS (1816-1879)--  Married Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, a Union Civil War general.  Buried in Arkansas.

And More.  --Brock-Perry

John Rodgers, U.S. Navy-- Part 1

From Find-A-Grave.

He was the brother of George Washington Rodgers who married Anna Maria Perry, the daughter of Christopher R. Perry, the father of Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry.

Birth:  11 July, 1772 in Havre de Grace, Maryland

Death:  1 August 1838  (age 66)  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Buried:  Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

Range 56, Site 152

Final Resting Places of Family of Christopher R. Perry

FATHER:  Judge Freeman Perry (1732-1813)  Perry Family Cemetery  South Kingstown, Rhode Island

MOTHER:  Mercy Hazard Perry  (1739-1803)    same    So this is where the name Hazard comes from.

******************

CHRISTOPHER R. PERRY  Island Cemetery, Newport, Rhode Island

SARAH WALLACE ALEXANDER PERRY   Same

******************

CHILDREN

Oliver Hazard Perry    Same

Matthew Calbraith Perry   Same

Raymond Henry Jones Perry     Juniper Hill Cemetery   Bristol, Rhode Island

Anna Maria Perry Rodgers     Cedar Grove Cemetery  New London, Connecticut

Sarah Wallace Perry       Same

Nathaniel Hazard Perry     Same

Jane Tweedy Perry Butler     Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery, Greenville, South Carolina.

I couldn't find where Lt. James Alexander Perry was buried.

--Brock-Perry

Lt. James Alexander Perry and Nathaniel Hazard Perry

LT. JAMES ALEXANDER PERRY

Another son of Christopher R. Perry (and brother to Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry) was this man.

According to Wikipedia (1801-1822)  Served in the U.S. navy from  1811 until his death.    Served with brother Oliver Hazard Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie at age 12.

This is all I can find about him.

Another son was Purser NATHANIEL HAZARD PERRY

According to Find A Grave, he was born in 1801, the youngest of C.R. Perry's sons.

Died 1832 (aged 28-29)

Buried Cedar Grove Cemetery, New London, Connecticut.

Inscription:  U.S.N., Youngest son of  Christopher and Sarah Perry of Newport, Rhode Island.

Married Lucretia Thatcher, January 27, 1828.

A daughter of C.R. Perry, Anna Maria Perry Rodgers, is also buried at this cemetery along  with her husband and her sister Sarah Wallace Perry.

--Brock-Perry

Lt. Raymond Henry Jones Perry (1789-1826)

I have already written a lot about Oliver Hazard Perry (and he is the one my signoff Brock-Perry is for) and Matthew Calbraith Perry.   I am going to see what I can find out about Christopher R. Perry's other three sons.  Lt. Raymond Henry Jones Perry, Lt. James Alexander Perry (1801-1822) and Purser Nathaniel Hazard Perry  (1803-1832).

All five sons served in the U.S. Navy and all five died while still in service of it.  And, four of them, including Oliver Hazard Perry,  died quite young, even for those days.

From Find A Grave.

CAPT. RAYMOND HENRY JONES PERRY

Birth:  11 February 1789
Bristol , Bristol County, Rhode Island

Death 12 March 1826
Bristol, Bristol County, Rhode Island

Burial:  Juniper Hill Cemetery
Bristol, Bristol County, Rhode Island

United States Navy.

Married May 16, 1814

Wikipedia lists him as a lieutenant and Find A Grave as a captain.

I am unable to find any other information on him.

--Brock-Perry

Descendants of Christopher R. Perry-- Part 1: Oliver, Matthew, Alexander and Raymond

From Wikipedia.

To say the family of this man was important in U.S. Naval and Military History is an understatement.  Besides his children, of whom all five sons were in the Navy and one daughter married a Navy man, he had many others descendants who served their country.

SONS:  The best known are, of course, Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry.

OTHERS:

Brevet Brig. Gen. Alexander James Perry (1828-1913)  Career Army officer, West Point graduate and served in the Civil War.

Rear Admiral Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers (1819-1892).  Served in Mexican War and Civil War,  Was Superintendent of the USNA and Commander of the Pacific Squadron.

Rear Admiral Raymond Perry Rodgers (1849-1925), son of the above, Spanish-American War.

And, We're Just Beginning.  --Brock-Perry

The Family of Christopher R. Perry-- Part 1: Oliver, Raymond, Sarah and Matthew

From Wikipedia.

To say this family has had an impact on the U.S. Navy is an understatement.  They had five sons who all died while in Navy service.

Here are the children of Christopher and Sarah Perry:

**  Captain Oliver Hazard Perry  (1785-1819)  Married Elizabeth Champlin Mason in 1811.

**  Lieutenant Raymond Henry Jones Perry  (1787-1826)  Served in the U.S. Navy from 1807 until his death

**  Sarah Wallace Perry  (1791-1855) who never married.

**  Captain Matthew Calbraith Perry  (1794-1858)  Who married Jane Slidell  Perry (1816-1864).

It is kind of a coincidence that Oliver and Matthew married women with the same last names of the Confederate commissioners in the Trent Affair during the Civil War.

--Brock-Perry

Christopher R. Perry-- Part 4: Personal Life, Five Sons in Navy

Christopher Perry returned to the United States in July 1800 and the crew was discharged.  The General Greene was placed in ordinary at Washington Navy Yard and reduced to a hulk in 1805 before being burned Aug. 24. 1814, to prevent capture by the British.

Perry and most of the other officers of the U.S. Navy were laid off by the Naval Peace Establishment Act of 1801 which reduced the size of the Navy.  Only nine of the 42 captains of the Navy retained their commissions.

PERSONAL LIFE

Perry married  Sarah Wallace Alexander on August 2, 1784.  She was the descendant of an uncle of famed Scottish hero William Wallace.  They had eight children.  All five of the sons were officers in the U.S. Navy who died in the service.  The two most famous are Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry.

I was unable to find out anything about Christopher Perry in the War of 1812.

In 1800, he became the owner of a large house in Newport, Rhode Island, that still stands and is called the Knowles-Perry House which is probably where he lived for the rest of his life.  He died in 1818. and is buried in the Belmont-Perry plot in the Island Cemetery in Newport.

--Brock-Perry

Christopher R. Perry, USN-- Part 1: Father of Some Famous Sons

I'm sure I knew that Oliver Hazard Perry had a father, but never thought anything about him until I was doing posts about ships that had been burned in the Washington Navy Yard in 1814 to prevent them from being captured by the British.  One of them was the frigate USS General Greene, another ship I had never heard of as well.

And, not only was Christopher Perry the father of Oliver Hazard, but also quite a list of other naval officers.

Here's his story.

From Wikipedia.

CHRISTOPHER RAYMOND PERRY  (December 4, 1761 - June 1, 1818)

Was an officer in the United States Navy, appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Pleas for Washington County, R.I., in 1780 and served until 1791.  He was the father of Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry.

The Perry in my sign-off below is for Oliver Hazard Perry.

--Brock-Perry

Preble's Flag-- Part 2: Opening of Japan

Commodore Matthew C. Perry (a War of 1812 veteran) arrived in Japan for the second time in February 1854 with ten ships, including the former frigate USS Macedonian now a sloop of war and under the command of War of 1812 veteran Captain Joel Abbott.  (The Macedonian had been built from the keel of the original Macedonian from the War of 1812).

Japan's opening was a new market for the United States, but trade with the Orient was nothing new as commerce with China had continued since 1785 when the Philadelphia merchant ship Canton had visited the country.

Chinese pirates began attacking American ships.  Perry determined at this time to stop these pirates.

--Brock-Perry

David Conner, USN-- Part 2: Commanded the Home Squadron in Mexican War

After the war, David Conner was sent to the Pacific, did shore duty in Philadelphia and commanded the USS Dolphin.  Later he was the first Chief of the Bureau of Construction, Equipment and Repairs for the Navy.

During the Mexican War he commanded the Home Squadron operating in the Gulf of Mexico from 1846-1847.  He directed the assault on Vera Cruz.  Commodore Mathew C. Perry was his vice-commander during the war.

He later commanded the Philadelphia Navy Yard and died 20 March 1856 and is buried in Philadelphia's Laurel Hill Cemetery.

--Brock-Perry

War Hero Perry Keeps Popping Up While Traveling-- Part 1

From the August 29, 2015, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch by Steve Stevens.

Newport, Rhode Island--  There is a statue of Oliver Hazard Perry in Washington Square near the Colony House which was once Rhode Island's Statehouse.

Next to the statue is the Buliod-Perry House.  Perry, a Rhode Island native, bought it shortly after his victory at the Battle of Lake Erie.  The house was built around 1750 and has been restored and preserved by the Newport Restoration Foundation.

Perry died of yellow fever on another Navy ship in 1819 on his 34th birthday.  He is buried in Newport's Island Cemetery near his brother, Matthew C. Perry, another famous Newport Navy hero.

Put-in-Bay, Ohio--  Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial,  At 352 feet tall, it is the world's most massive Doric column.

--Brock-Perry

USS Cyane-- Part 5: U.S. Navy Midshipman Commands a Slaver

On 5 April 1820, off the coast of Africa, the USS Cyane captured six vessels believed to be involved in the slave trade.  The Esperanza and Endymion were of American registry and became prizes for carrying slaves in violation of U.S. law.  The Esperanza was out of Charleston, S.C..  The Endymion was out of Baltimore and under the command of master Alexander M'Kim Andrews, a midshipman in the U.S. Navy.

I looked up this man, but couldn't find any more information.  This would have to be an interesting story.  I'm sure he must have lost his commission.

Notables who served on the Cyane:

In 1819, Matthew Calbraith Perry, brother of War of 1812 hero Oliver Hazard Perry.  He was also at the Battle of Lake Erie with his brother and later became famous for opening Japan.

Also Jesse Duncan Elliott who commanded the USS Niagara at the Battle of Lake Erie until Perry transferred his flag from the battered USS Lawrence.  Elliott later came under fire for keeping his ship out of the battle as long as he did, enabling the British to concentrate their fire on the Lawrence.

--Brock-Perry