The quest
What we have asked the archives for, what we hope they hold, and the questions only Grandpa can answer.
Letters to the archives
Most of what is still missing from this history is not lost. It is sitting in a box in an archive, catalogued and waiting. These are the requests made so far. Archives answer in their own time, often weeks or months, and each reply will be added here.
- Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis The letters of Zelotes and Flavia Perin of Clyde, Ohio, 1863–1896, in the Gray–Leonard–Nichols Family Papers (collection M 707). Sent 17 October 2026. Awaiting reply.
- History Nebraska, Lincoln The “Savage Family, 1901” file among Governor Ezra Perin Savage’s papers, in case relatives wrote to him. Sent 17 October 2026. Awaiting reply.
- Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul Glover Perin’s papers, 1851–1918, and especially his personal letters of 1882. Sent 17 October 2026. Awaiting reply.
- Michigan State University Archives, East Lansing A photograph of Glover Perin, the man who wrote the 1885 genealogy, catalogued in the John Gibson Parkhurst Papers. Answered 19 October 2026. The photograph has come, for the family’s own use.
- The Huguenot Library, London The Society’s research files on the Perrin and Perren families, to see whether the French tradition has already been tested. Answered 20 October 2026. The file is ten pages of findings other researchers donated, and can be scanned to order.
- Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland The 1624 probate of Thomas Perins of Ashby de la Zouch, which may name his children; and a search of Ashby’s parish registers for Perin baptisms, 1605–1630. Answered 20 October 2026. The will names four children and no John; see chapter eight. The parish registers are online through Findmypast.
- The British Library, London The Perin pedigree in Harley Manuscript 1189, a seventeenth-century copy of the 1619 visitation, to compare with the printed versions. Answered 21 October 2026. The pedigree is on folio 95, with the family’s crest drawn above the shield; see chapter eight.
- Warren County Surrogate’s Court, New York Asa Rice’s will in Will Book A, page 167, and the estate papers filed with it, which may name Rachel’s husband or where she lived. Answered 29 October 2026. The court sent the original will, the 1833 notice of probate and two affidavits of 1841. The will names “my daughter Rachal Parin”; none of the papers names her husband or where she lived. See chapter four.
- Warren County Records Center, New York Deeds from about 1833 to 1840 in which Asa Rice’s heirs, Rachel among them, may have released their shares of his land. Prepared 17 October 2026.
Questions only Grandpa can answer
Some things are not in any archive. They are in a drawer, or a closet, or a memory.
- The backsaw and the square. John bought them in 1793; Arthur had them in Portland. Answered: Grandpa has them. Grandpa’s own account, October 2026
- The violins. Grandpa says three of the six on his blog are his father Arthur’s work and one his stepfather’s. Grandpa’s own account, October 2026 Are either of the other two Ezra’s? And where is the Ezra violin Stanley says Arthur owned?
- The M. Did Arthur use a middle initial, even without a middle name?
- The letters. Where are the originals of Ezra’s 1885 letter and the others on the blog? Are there more?
- The pictures. Is there a photograph of Ezra, or of Charles, or of the brick house near Connersville?
- The French story. Who first told it, and what exactly did they say?
- The cemetery photographs. A cousin on the Iowa branch and her mother travelled to cemeteries across the country photographing family graves, and she has shared two CDs of her records with Grandpa. Did they photograph Lemuel’s grave, or John and Rachel’s? A gravestone would settle whether Lemuel died in 1814 or 1822.
- Your database. Where do Mary Polley and Anna Mary Hurbert come from in it, and the second John’s burial at Roxbury? Answered: from the FamilySearch Family Tree, which the database draws on throughout. Mary Polley is also written into the margin of the Boston Public Library’s copy of Glover.
- Stanley’s book. Does Grandpa have a copy of The John Perrin Family of Rehoboth, Massachusetts (1974), which his database lists as a source?
- Stanley’s papers. Did anyone keep Stanley’s research notes, especially on Rachel Rice?
Records still to find
And the questions that a record, once found, would settle:
| Question | Where the answer may be |
|---|---|
| Who were the first John’s parents, and when was he born? | Not, it now seems, Thomas Perin of Ashby, whose 1624 will names no John. Ashby’s parish registers, for other Perin families; a record tying him to the Safety |
| Was Asa Rice Rachel’s father? | Deeds from his heirs; the will and estate file have been read and do not settle it |
| Did Lemuel die in 1814 or 1822, and where is he buried? | The Klum Cemetery, Columbia Township, Fayette County, Indiana, where FamilySearch places his grave; Fayette County and Clermont County, Ohio probate records; the Iowa cousin’s cemetery photographs |
| Did Lemuel march with Captain John Perry’s minutemen on the Lexington alarm? | Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, volume 12, under Perrin and Perin; the Lexington alarm rolls; pension files |
| Who were Martha Nash’s parents? | Massachusetts town records for Simeon and Martha Nash |
| What was the second John’s wife Mary’s maiden name? Was she Mary Polley, as Grandpa’s database has it? | Rehoboth and Braintree records; Roxbury’s birth records for 1650 |
| Did Ezra die on 22 July 1902, as Grandpa’s database says? | His gravestone at Columbia, Fayette County, Indiana; a Connersville newspaper notice |
| Did John and Rachel die at Blue Grass, Iowa, in 1866? | Scott County, Iowa cemetery and probate records; Davenport newspapers |
| Was the first John the John Perrin baptised at St Dunstan’s, Stepney, on 10 March 1614, as FamilySearch has it? | The Stepney parish register, at the London Metropolitan Archives |
| Who was Rufus Jay Marsh’s mother? | Marsh family census and vital records |
| Did Zenas Sworden die in 1871 or 1876? | The original of Eliza’s obituary; Ohio cemetery records |