Edward Martineau Perine (July 31, 1809 – June 5, 1905) was a merchant and planter in Cahaba, Alabama. Born at
Southfield, Staten Island, New York, a son of Edward and Addra Guyon Perine, and a descendant of
Daniel Perrin
Daniel Perrin (1642–1719) was one of the first permanent European inhabitants of Staten Island, New York. Known as " The Huguenot", he arrived in New York Harbor from the Isle of Jersey on July 29, 1665, aboard the ship ''Philip'', under the co ...
, "the
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
", Perine moved to
Cahaba, Alabama
Cahaba, also spelled Cahawba, was the first permanent state capital of Alabama from 1820 to 1825, and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama until 1866. Located at the confluence of the Alabama and Cahaba rivers, it suffered regular seasonal ...
in the early 1830s, where he became a wealthy merchant and plantation owner. As early as 1832, Perine entered business as a partner with Thomas Moreng and Richard Conner Crocheron in the firm of Thomas Moreng and Company. Following Moreng's death in 1835, the business was dissolved and replaced by the partnership of Perine and Crocheron. Their store was located on the corner of Vine and Second North Streets in Cahaba, directly opposite Bell's Hotel. In 1850 Perine bought Crocheron's interest in the business and the storehouse and in 1853 Perine sold his mercantile establishment to the partnership of Samuel M. Hill and John R. Sommerville. In 1856, he was once again in business, this time in partnership with Sommerville in the firm of E. M. Perine and Company. The partnership dissolved in 1858, with Sommerville continuing as a salesman for E. M. Perine and Company. In 1860 Perine was in partnership again, this time as Perine and Hunter. Anna M. Gayle Fry, writing in her book ''Memories of Old Cahaba'', describes E. M. Perine as "a merchant prince of ante-bellum days, a Northern gentleman of the old school who was universally beloved by all who knew him." Following the Civil War, Perine's business at Cahaba was ruined, as his daughter Mary E. Perine Tucker put it, having "lost all".
Perine first married Mary Eliza Snow (1816–1838) of
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
, on September 13, 1836, in
Milledgeville, Georgia
Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon and bordered on the east by the Oconee River. The rapid current of the river here made this an attractive location to buil ...
. She died at Cahaba, Alabama, from complications of childbirth. The union produced one child, Mary Eliza Perine (b. 1838). Married twice, first to John M. Tucker and second to James H. Lambert, Mary Eliza Perine Tucker wrote in an autobiography,
Perine's second marriage was to Frances E. "Fannie" Hunter (1825 - 1910) of Sparta, Conecuh County, Alabama, on August 6, 1846. Mrs. Perine was the daughter of Judge John Starke Hunter and Theodesia Jones Hunter. To Edward and Fannie Perine were born four daughters: Sarah Hunter "Sally" Perine (1848-1864), Addra A. Perine (1849-1905), Frances Hunter "Fannie" Perine (1852-1855) and Anna Hunter Perine (b. 1858).
In 1856, Perine purchased a brick factory building at the foot of Vine Street in Cahaba and hired architect John G. Snediker to prepare plans to convert the factory into a two story mansion with twenty-six rooms. The first floor included two parlors (20 feet by 27 feet each), separated by sliding doors, a dining room (also about 20 feet by 27 feet), a sitting room, a library, two entry halls and vestibule. The second floor had bedrooms and nurseries. An attached wing included a kitchen, a laundry, a breakfast room, pantries, servants' quarters and other features. On the grounds of the estate were a conservatory, vineries, and an artesian well, with a flow now estimated at 1,250 gallons per minute. At the time it was thought to be the deepest well in the world, at nine hundred feet. It had a stream of water gushing and falling into a large cement basin, from which it was channeled off through the grounds in cement branches to the pastures beyond. Water from this well was also forced through pipes into the mansion, making it the first air conditioned home in Alabama.
Cahaba Historical Commission. Accessed February 11, 2018
Edward Martineau Perine died June 5, 1892 and was buried at the Presbyterian Cemetery at Pleasant Hill, Dallas County, Alabama
Pleasant Hill is an unincorporated community in Dallas County, Alabama.
History
The community began as a trading post called Fort Rascal prior to the Indian removal. It gained a post office in 1828 and the name was changed to Pleasant Hill. The ...
. His widow, Frances E. "Fannie" Hunter Perine died April 4, 1910 and was also buried there.
References
https://archive.org/stream/memoriesofoldcah00frya#page/n3/mode/2up
http://www.ruralswalabama.org/attraction/perine-well-old-cahawba-park/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perine, Edward Martineau
History of Alabama
1809 births
1905 deaths
American people of French descent
People from Staten Island
American planters
American merchants