Faithful to the words of his battle flag, DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP (a paraphrase of the dying words of Captain James Lawrence, the ships namesake and Perrys friend), Perry, with Lawrences chaplain and purser as the remaining able crew, personally fired the final salvo, and then had his men row him a half-mile through heavy gunfire to transfer his command to the USS Niagara. As a boy, Perry lived in Tower Hill, Rhode Island, sailing ships in anticipation of his future career as an officer in the US Navy. He was the oldest of five boys, born to Christopher Perry, his father and Sarah Perry, his mother. Perry came from a long line of accomplished naval men from both sides of his family. His mother taught Perry and his younger brothers to read and write and had them attended Trinity Episcopal Church regularly, where he was baptized by Reverend William Smith at the age of nine. [Rev. William Smith was married to Elizabeth Quincy. He was the father of Abigail Smith, who married President John Adams. Abigail Smith Adams was the mother of President John Quincy Adams. President John Quincy Adams was childhood friends of Ebenezer Parker of Lexington, Mass. President John Quincy Adams was the father of Charles Francis Adams, Sr., who was married to Abigail Brown Brooks. (See Sen. Edward Everett history). Charles Francis Adams, Jr., was the first US railroad commissioner. He was president of Union Pacific Railroad and owned the Kansas City Stockyards. Col. Charles Fressenden Morse was employed by Charles F. Adams, Jr. His sister Mary Gardiner Adams, was married to the grandson of prominent Boston merchant Daniel Pinckney Parker. (Parkers daugher, Lucilla, married abolitionist Edmund Quincy, son of Joseph Quincy, president of Harvard College.)
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 16:01:45 +0000
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