Carrollton, Dallas County
In 1844 Alexander Wilson Perry (1819 - 1904) and his wife Sarah (Huffman) (1824 - 1896) migrated from Illinois to Texas to join the Peters Colony. They purchased this land from Joshua B. Lee, another pioneer settler, and built a simple frame house here in the late 1850s. The Perrys had eight children who grew to adulthood. The family donated land for Union Baptist Church, Perry Cemetery, a school, and railroad right-of-way. When the Perry property was divided in 1904, one son DeWitt Clinton Perry (1856 - 1930) received this portion containing the family home. In 1909 he dismantled the old structure and used some of the lumber and stone to build this one-and-a-half story residence. A central hallway divides the interior, and ornate columns support the wrap-around porch. Behind the house stand cedar trees that once shaded the front of the pre-Civil War dwelling. Frances Grimes (Mrs. DeWitt) Perry (1866 - 1967) occupied the residence until her death just before her 101st birthday. In 1975 her daughter Pearl (Mrs. William A.) Gravley gave the house and ten acres of surrounding property to the city of Carrollton for use as a museum and park. Volunteers from the community restored the structure in 1975-76. (1976).