Sidney Perley

Sidney Perley (1858 – 1928) was a lawyer, writer, poet, author, editor, and historian.

Biography

Sidney Perley, son of Humphrey and Eunice Perley, was born in Boxford, March 6, 1858, and acquired his early education in the public schools of his native town and by private study. He was educated for the profession of the law at Boston University School of Law, graduating with the degree of LL. B. in 1886. On July 20, 1880, in Boston, he was admitted to practice in the courts of this state and in the following September began his professional career in Salem.

For more than twenty years Mr. Perley was a familiar figure in court and professional circles in Essex county and was known as a capable, conscientious and successful lawyer, and one whose policy was to discourage rather than promote litigation. His practice inclines strongly to the civil side of the courts and his clientage were a number of large corporations, financial and industrial. As a lawyer his methods were careful and methodical, and in his intercourse with clients mature deliberation always preceded counsel.

But aside from the exactions of a large practice Mr. Perley found time to indulge his native literary taste in various directions, and as a writer he was clear, forcible and versatile, the gamut of his efforts including works on subjects of law, history, genealogy and poetry.

Almost since boyhood he delved into history and genealogy, and the preface of his "History of Boxford" bears the date of his twenty-first birthday. During the last fifteen years, devoting leisure hours to the work, he has searched the Salem land titles in quest of the original houselots, thoroughfares and water boundaries, and ancient court files and records of deeds and wills for materials for the ample and accurate genealogies which are published in the "Essex Antiquarian," of which he is editor and one of the founders. This work, a quarterly magazine devoted to genealogy, biography, history and antiquities of Essex county, is now in its twelfth year and the survivor of nearly all publications of the same general character.

Mr. Perley enjoyed an excellent reputation as a faithful chronicler of history, a very accurate genealogist, and a poet of more than ordinary talent, yet he is perhaps most widely known as an author of standard text works on subjects pertaining to law, some of which have passed through many editions.

Briefly, their titles may be noted as follows: "Law of Interest," 1893; "Adjudicated Forms," 1895; "Mortuary Law," 1896; "Practice in the Probate Court of Massachusetts," 1898; "Practice in Personal Actions in the Courts of Massachusetts," 1902. His other works include the "Essex Antiquarian," to which reference has been made; "History of Boxford," 1880; "Goodridge Memorials," 1884; "Poets of Essex County, Mass.," 1889; "Historic Storms of New England," 1891 ; "Dwellings of Boxford, Mass.," 1893; "Principles of the Law of Interest as Applied by Courts of Law and Equity," 1893;"Practice in the Probate Court of Massachusetts," 1907; "History of Salem Mass." 1924.

He has been editor and collaborator in several other large works in which his name does not appear on the title page, as well as pamphlets and monographs. Since 1877 Mr. Perley has been a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and he also is a member of the Essex Institute, and various professional and literary organizations. In political preference he is a Republican, and supported prohibition.

At one time he was regarded as the leading man of the Prohibition party in Essex county and stood as its candidate for the offices of attorney-general of Massachusetts, member of the governor's council, clerk of courts and senator, and locally, he has been the no-license candidate for the mayoralty and also for membership in the board of aldermen.

From 1881 to 1886 he was town auditor of Boxford, and from 1900 to 1903 a member of the school committee of the city of Salem.

On June 11, 1889, Sidney Perley married Harriet Hood Spofford, who was born in Georgetown, December 10, 1861, daughter of George Milton and Sarah Peabody (Hood) Spofford. They had two children: Eleanor Spofford, October 9, 1894, and Richard Hood, October 17, 1898.

Sidney Perley died in 1928 soon after the publication of his 3 volume "History Of Salem, Massachusetts".

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