HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Judge Albert G. and Harriet Elizabeth Grimes Perry

Falls County, Falls County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Tennessee native Albert G. Perry (1807-1874) began the study of law at age sixteen in his brother's Alabama law office. He became a successful attorney, but in 1831 left for Texas, settling in Washington, where he opened a law office. The following year, on January 8, he married Harriet Elizabeth Grimes (1816-1888), the daughter of pioneer Jesse Grimes (1788-1866), signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. In 1826, Harriet had arrived in Texas with her father and eight siblings, one of whom, Albert Calvin Grimes, later died at the Alamo. In late 1833 or early 1834, Perry became secretary to the Alcalde at Sarahville de Viesca in Robertson's Colony (in present Falls County), and in 1835 was first lt. of a frontier defense Ranger company. He was a member of the Viesca Committee of Safety, and was a delegate to the Consultation of 1835. The Perrys lived in Washington from 1836 to 1843, when they moved to Anderson in present Grimes County. In 1852 they moved to Falls County, where they farmed, and he was county and district judge. In 1883, when the railroad bypassed the community of Peyton, a new settlement developed along the rail line and was named Perry in honor of Albert G. Perry.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Albert G. Perry left an Alabama law practice for Texas in 1831, arriving during the tumultuous years before the Texas Revolution and marrying into the family of Jesse Grimes, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He served as a frontier Ranger officer, sat on the Viesca Committee of Safety, and was a delegate to the Consultation of 1835 that set Texas on the road to independence. Later a county and district judge in Falls County, Perry lent his name to the railroad town that grew up nearby in 1883.

Why it matters

Perry's life threads together the revolution, the Ranger frontier, and the settlement of central Texas, showing how one family's story connected the Alamo, independence, and the coming of the railroads.

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Related people

  • ยท Albert G. Perry
  • ยท Harriet Elizabeth Grimes Perry
  • ยท Jesse Grimes
  • ยท Albert Calvin Grimes

Related events

  • ยท Consultation of 1835
  • ยท Texas Revolution

Themes & tags

Westward ExpansionMilitary & WartimeFrontier HistoryLandmark

Nearby & related markers

Old Settlers and Veterans Association of Falls County

Lott, TX

Organized on July 4, 1908, about 75 years after pioneers first opened the region, the Old Settlers Association of Falls County soon merged with the Willis L. Lang Camp of Confederate veterans, chartering a joint body in 1911 to honor pioneers and preserve Southern history. In 1912 it acquired a 17.9-acre reunion ground, and in 1936 relocated a historic log cabin there for pioneer memorabilia. A 1946 charter renamed it the Old Settlers and Veterans Association, opening its ranks to soldiers of later wars.