James Franklin Perry, a native of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, moved to Potosi, Missouri, in 1808, joined the mercantile business of his relatives Samuel and John Perry, and became a partner in 1818. While living in Potosi, he met and married Emily Margaret Austin Bryan, a widow with four children, and they later had six additional children. Emily’s father, Moses Austin, and her brother, Stephen F. Austin, were pioneer leaders in the movement to colonize Texas. At Stephen F. Austin’s urging, James and Emily Perry and their family moved to Texas in 1831. James Perry established a mercantile business in San Felipe and a farm on Chocolate Bayou, and by 1832 the family had moved to Peach Point Plantation on the Brazos River. He actively supported the Republic of Texas, serving at conventions and on the Committee of Safety. As executor of Stephen F. Austin’s estate, his reports to the government on colonial affairs, maps, and land papers became important to the archives of Texas. Perry died of yellow fever while visiting Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1853 and was buried there.