Perry Archives – S t r a y L e a v e s

Thanks to Elizabeth Lee “Libby” James-Brown, there are new photos to add to the family album of Libby’s 2nd great-grandfather Edward Perry James and his wife Elizabeth Langford. Libby’s 1st great-grandfather is Jack Oliver James, the husband of Dimple Hite.

This is the family portrait of the Edward Perry James family, with some of his children. Formerly, this was the only known image of Edward Perry James and his family, when they resided in the stone residence built by Perry’s father Rev. Joseph Martin James in Shopville, Kentucky. Perry was born in the stone house. At a later date, Perry would remove his family to Berea, Kentucky, where he built them a two-story home in a modest Victorian fashion.

Family of Edward Perry James — Edward Perry & Elizabeth Langford James with the youngest six of their nine children. Seated below are Rhoda May James and her sister Flora Helen James. Standing L-R are William Harvey and George W. James with Ophelia James. Missing are Perry’s three sons, Walter Andrew James who had moved to California, Harvey H. James, whose whereabouts are now unknown, and John Oliver James who had moved to Texas, but would return to the stone house for a final visit before he died.

To this we can now add the following portrait photos, one done earlier in their lives of Perry and his wife Elizabeth, and the other later.

From the Flat Lick Baptist Church, we also have this 1899 photo, celebrating the church’s first 100 years. In his suspenders, Edward Perry James is front and center with Elizabeth and their three daughters standing behind.