Nehemiah PERRY, Congress, NJ (1816-1881)

PERRY, Nehemiah, a Representative from New Jersey; born in Ridgefield, Fairfield County, Conn., March 30, 1816; educated at the Wesleyan Seminary of Ridgefield; clerked in a store in Norwalk, Conn., and New York City; moved to Newark, N.J., in 1836; engaged in the manufacture of cloth and in the clothing business; member of the State house of assembly in 1850 and 1856 and served as speaker in the latter year; member of the common council in 1852; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1865); was not a candidate for renomination in 1864; resumed his former manufacturing pursuits; mayor of Newark in 1873; died in Newark, N.J., November 1, 1881; interment in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present