Eunice Wing Perry
Eunice was born 8 July 1797 in Hinsdale, Massachusetts. Her parents were Anna Boardman and Elisha Wing. She was a descendant of Deborah Wing, a widow, who came to America in 1632 with her four sons and father, the Reverend Stephen Bachiler. The family settled on Cape Cod and stayed for four generations. Eunice's parents went west to Hinsdale, Berkshire, Massachusetts, where Eunice was born and spent her childhood.
No record has been found of where and when she married Gustavus Perry. They were possibly both nineteen years of age. They lived and farmed in Lewis, Essex County, New York. The children born there are Orrin Alonzo born 11 September 1817; Rosalia Elvira born November 1819; Amanda Melvina born 11 September 1822; Lorenzo born 8 May 1824; Henry Elisha 24 August 1827; Cornelia about 1830. Lucy was born later when they lived in Quincy, Illinois, 20 May 1839.
In the year 1832 the family met the missionaries and was baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
At the time the Perrys joined the Church there were also some Tippets families living in the town of Lewis, New York. Husband Gustavus' mother was a Tippets. His cousins, Joseph Harrison, Caroline, and John Harvey Tippets had joined the Church when they did. There is no record that the Perrys lived in Kirtland, Ohio, but Joseph Harrison and John Harvey were recorded as taking a donation from the New York saints to Joseph Smith in Kirtland. They lived there a short time before going to Far West, Missouri. The Perrys and Tippets cousins often traveled together. Eunice’s daughter Rosalie married Joseph Harrison Tippets in Far West 1 January 1847, so Eunice was probably living near there. Rosalie had a baby in Missouri, making her a grandmother.
They were forced out of Missouri with the other saints, going to Quincy, Illinois, where they lived when her daughter Lucy was born. Records show the Tippets cousins living in the Nauvoo area. Her daughter Rosalie had another child in Nauvoo, and she died in childbirth. Another daughter Amanda Melvina married Joseph Harrison Tippets 26 June 1842 in Nauvoo. Record tells that Gustavus and Eunice received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple in a special attic room on 28 January 1846, one week before the first wagons crossed the Mississippi River. They were not sealed at this time.
When the saints were forced out of Nauvoo, they traveled across Iowa to Council Bluffs, where they lived in the Lake Branch until 1852. On 22 March 1847 Eunice was sealed to Gustavus along with another wife Sally Jenkins. Brigham Young performed the ceremony “at candle lighting” which means twilight or the time to light the candles. It may have been done in Willard Richards' large unusual octagon shaped home. The house served many functions at Winter Quarters, including post office, community center, and council house. For six years they lived the pioneer life at Council Bluffs.
It was 5 July 1852 that they joined the John B. Walker Company to head west. They arrived in Utah 5 October 1852. They settled in Farmington, about 16 miles north of Salt Lake City. Their son Lorenzo, who had come to the valley in 1850, was working and living there. The family stayed here for two years.
By 1854, Gustavus moved the family to Three Mile Creek north of Ogden. It was later called Perry. Several of their sons and Tippets cousins settled there also. Her son Henry Elisha was instrumental in the organization of a small cooperative store that was kept in a lean-to of the home that served as a post office. They were all farmers.
Gustavus was the first presiding elder of the Three Mile Creek Branch of the Church. Eunice supported him and helped him in his calling when health permitted. She raised six children. There is no known death date. She died before her husband, about 1863.
Information from the Gustavus Adolphus Perry book, volume 1. History by Karen Young Christensen and Daughters of Utah Pioneers book Women of Faith and Fortitude.
It is sad we don't have much about her. Most of what we have is about her husband. She must have been a faithful, obedient woman. She must have had great patience and a great love of the Gospel.