J. P. Perry is one of the early settlers of Shelby County, coming here in 1874. He was born in Belmont County, Ohio, September 10, 1841; he is a son of Jesse and Malinda (Poole) Perry. Jesse Perry is a relative of the old Commodore Perry, and a native of Ohio; his wife was born in Virginia. J. P. Perry was the fifth of eight children, four of whom were sons and four daughters. When he was thirteen years of age his father remove to Bureau County, Illinois, then a wild, new country; his parents lived here until their death. He was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools. During the late war he went to the defense of the flag; he enlisted at the first call for troops, April 24, 1861, in the Twelfth Illinois Infantry, Company I; he served over three months and was honorably discharged, and returned home. At the call for 300,000 more men, he again responded, enlisting June 1, 1862, in the Sixty-fifth Illinois Infantry, Company E; he was taken prisoner at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, September 15, 1862; was paroled, and went to Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, and was exchanged January 19, 1863; in April, 1863, he was sent to the front, and took an active part at Concord, London Bridge, the siege of Knoxville, Tennessee; with Sherman of the march to Atlanta; returned with General Thomas to Columbia, Tennessee; Franklin, Tennessee; Nashville, Tennessee; Fort Fisher, North Carolina; Fort Andersen, North Carolina; Cape Fear River, Wilmington. He was honorably discharged June 8, 1865, and returned to Bureau County, Illinois; he was discharged as Corporal. September 5, 1866, he was married to Miss Mary Chaddock, a lady of intelligence, born in Jefferson County Ohio; she is a daughter of Richard and Eliza (Nickelson) Chaddock; the father is a native of Maryland, and the mother, of Ohio. Her family came to Bureau County in 1864. Mr. Perry lived in Bureau County until 1873, when he came to Mahaska County, Iowa; in 1874 he came to Shelby County, and settled on wild prairie land; he now owns 320 acres of land in a body, and has one of the best improved farms in the county; he has a good frame house, and barns for stock and grain; he farms extensively, making a specialty of Jersey Red swine, of which he has some specimens as fine as can be found in the west. Mr. and Mrs. Perry have three children - William Grant, Jesse Harmon and Mabel. Mr. Perry is a Republican; he is a member of the Anti-horse-thief Association, No. 35, and is secretary of the same. He is yet in the prime of life; he is social and genial in his disposition, an intelligent conversationalist, honest in business, and one of Shelby county's solid men.