The Prairie Detective: Secret Service Series No. 24 — page 218: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY and the future seemed to hold in store an even more brilliant career than the past, when his death cut short his career in the prime of his achievement. PERLEY, John Monroe, Coal Operator. Prominent among the residents of Wakefield, Massachusetts, who occupied a high place in the business affairs of the community, was the late John Monroe Perley, who was a man of marked capac- ity, decided character, and of the most undoubted integrity. He had no disposi- tion to put himself forward, but in what- ever position he was placed he was em- phatic and decided. The record of his ca- reer sums up the things that are essential for the man who desires to make a suc- cess of his life. Closeness of application to one’s vocation, uprightness in dealing, honesty and promptness in all matters were the qualities which insured the suc- cess of Mr. Perley. He was one of those men who labor not alone for their own day and generation, but also for those who are to come after them. His name was well known in the business world as that of a man to be trusted and one with whom it was a Satisfaction to transact business. New England has acquired a well-deserved reputation for the large number of keen, progressive business men which she has sent out in all directions, and Mr. Perley was an example, and one whose life is well worth imitating. His death, which occurred at his home in Wakefield, Massachusetts, April 6, 1917, removed from all earthly environment a man of true judgment and of the most un- blemished character. John M. Perley was born at Rowley, Massachusetts, January 12, 1844, a son of David Erie and Abigail (Cressey) Perley, 54 and he was a descendant of some of the earliest settlers of that part of the coun- try, his immigrant ancestors having come to America from Wales, England, in the early part of the seventeenth century, but the origin of the name Perley is Norman- French. David Erie Perley was a farmer in Rowley, Massachusetts, having inher- ited the farm which had been in the fam- ily for several generations. John M. Per- ley was reared on the home farm in Row- ley, Massachusetts, attending the gram- mar schools of his native town, but be- ing the eldest of the five children born to his parents he was compelled to leave school when but a small boy as his help was in demand on the farm, on which he would work in the summer months, while in the winter he would drive oxen in the timber business with his father. Mr. Per- ley always regretted his lack of educa- tional advantages, but by close observa- tion of his fellow-men, and by the reading of good literature, he was able to keep abreast of the times. When twenty-one years of age he started to buy up timber lots for himself, and continued in that vo- cation for twenty years. When about forty-two years of age he removed to Malden, Massachusetts, and entered into the coal business, establishing the Malden Coal Company, which he operated suc- cessfully until he was compelled to dis- pose of this business on account of ill health. Later he conducted a coal bus- iness in Woburn, Stoneham and Lynn, and in 1891 he removed to Wakefield, where he again entered the coal! busi- ness, this time the business being known as the Wakefield Coal Company, Mr. Per- ley having built the elevator for coal shutes. He built up a business which he continued to operate until 1907, when on account of failing health he retired from active business pursuits. On Apni 27, 1876, Mr. Perley was mar- MICLOOOKK @