Biography of Emily McKay Perry

When starting this project, I knew I wanted to choose from the African American side of the cemetery, Brookside. I also wanted to choose a female. African American women were extremely unseen and depressed in society. This made me eager to write about someone who deserved recognition. Emily McKay Perry came across the screen at the bottom of the list. In this paper I will explain Emily’s life, child and adult and her family accomplishments. I studied many sources like Ancestry, Find a Grave and more, but these sites did not give me the things I knew I needed to get Emily’s story and life across. I called the Fayetteville, Cumberland County Library and had them look up Emily and everything about her they provided me with newspapers and information not only about Emily McKay, but her family. Some information was difficult to find since some of these people were born during the Jim Crow time and weren’t seen as humans. Which means articles were not typical written about African Americans. I will say, so much history came from this woman.

 Emily Stanley McKay (Mckoy) Perry was born November 30^th, 1896 in Cumberland County in Fayetteville, North Carolina. [1]A quiet place with roughly 29,000 people in the town, many things were starting pop up in the county. Emily was the daughter of Julia McKay, widowed. Her mother was a servant to a private family.[2] She has a younger sister named Clarenda Kornegay. During Emily’s childhood she would have seen the Wrights Brother successfully fly the first plane.[3] Would have been through World War 1 and might have even participated in the roaring twenties. She saw the first ever car start appearing on the roads. Emily, because the color of her skin did not attend school for her childhood. She was however able to read and write. [4] Emily became a teacher. She taught elementary education at Ashely Heights Colored School[5]. This school is not like the ones we would be used to. There were eight teachers starting out in this three-room building.[6] Around the age of 22, Emily would have seen the Camp Braggs come to be in her hometown. Emily and her husband got married at a young age. Emily was 16 and Dallas Perry was 21, which might seem like a big difference but back then it was common. The Perry family was wealthy and was known around Fayetteville as hard-working middle-class African Americans. This was not common in those days Emily knew this and benefitted from this greatly. Dallas Perry Jr. was Emily’s husband and true love from what I have red. The Great Depression hit in 1929 and most likely affected the Perry’s a little bit but their financial standings were probably not harmed.

 Dallas Perry Jr. parents made a huge impact of the city of Fayetteville. Dallas Perry Jr. was named after his father Dallas Perry, his mother was Mary E Leary. Her family was a highly noted family of color.[7] Dallas Perry became known for his wonderful buildings and carpenter. One of his most famous building was Haymount Presbyterian Church, noted for its remarkable beauty. Dallas’s work in the community not only helped the black community by creating a place for African Americans to worship but help bring beauty to the county. He was mentioned only a few times in the newspaper about his work, but the article would be short because of his race. Dallas marriage to Mary benefitted him and his name greatly since the Leary family was such a respected family Mr. Perry could now gain more business. The couple had three kids, one of those being Dallas Perry Jr. The family lived on a street in Fayetteville known for notable black residents. Mary was a music teacher at what is now Fayetteville State University. The Leary family was also given credit to being one of the founders of this college. The family became very well respected and loved in the community and when Mr. Perry died in 1919 the county grieved for the family and the loss of a great man who helped the community abundantly. The Fayetteville Observer produced an article about the death of Dallas. Not mentioning much about his works, the article wrote “Death of a Good Man”. He was one of the most respected colored citizens of Fayetteville.

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Emily’s husband, Dallas was born into a wealthy family which meant Dallas would have had the pleasure of being able to get a good job which he did. Dallas provided for Emily and the family by becoming a pharmacist, druggist. He owned many pharmacy’s in different locations, some of those being Winston Salem, Wilmington and Lumberton. He had many employees and trusted customers that he had built throughout the years. I am sure his last name, Perry, made people think differently about him, thanks to the hard work of his dad and mom. He was the head pharmacist at Fort Braggs for 12 years. He was able to read and write, he most likely attended college.[8]The family owned a nice two-story home located in Cumberland. Having a home like the Perry’s was very rare, back in those days African Americans were lucky to own something. Like any healthy, young man Dallas had to register for World War 1, even though he was not drafted World War 1 changed North Carolina socially economically. Dallas was a price to catch and Emily caught him. They had two daughters Mary P. Allen and Julia Cooper Mack (most likely named after her Grandmother, Emily’s mom). Dallas’s brother, Matthew Leary Perry, was a physician and lived with Emily and Dallas for a period of time.[9] His mother kept her family name somewhere in her family, so she gave Matthew her last name as his middle name. In 1950, Matthew Perry opened a hospital called the Leary-Perry. It was a 42-bed hospital for pediatric and obstetric patients.[10] Matthew named the hospital in honor of both his parents. Dallas’s life came to an abrupt end suddenly on September 3^rd, 1959.[11] He was coming home from Germany after visiting his daughter, Julia. He suddenly took his last breath in the airport. He left this world with a loving wife, two daughters and two grandchildren.[12] Emily and Dallas were together for 47 years before Dallas died. Emily McKay Perry was starting to build a wonderful life, but she had no idea how far her family would go and change the world.

The Perry’s had two daughters, both went on to do so incredible things. The two were only two years apart. The oldest one was Mary Perry Allen, she was born May 21^st, 1918. The was a time when the United States just got out of World War 1. She was able to live and see all the roaring twenties. She was also lucky enough to survive the influenza outbreak of 1918.[13](353). She grew up and went to college and graduated from St. Augustine College, with this degree she went and taught in Fayetteville.[14] She eventually got married and a daughter. She married her husband William E. Allen on November 3^rd, 1950.[15] The couple got married around the end of World War 2 and might have even witnessed African Americans start to rise against white supremacy. William served in the military many years and earned the name as private. Their daughter Donna Allen was their only child and was the one who took care of her mother after Mr. William left her widowed. Mary suffered from a longest illness that eventually took her life on December 9^th, 2016. In her obituary it states; “Throughout her struggle, she maintained her generosity of spirit, her interest of world affairs and her fondness of a few choice four love words.”[16] Mary had a wonderful life with joy and happiness, with a good job and a good family who could take care of her. Mary and her husband are both buried at the Arlington National Cemetery. 

Notes

[1] “Search.” Search. Accessed July 19, 2019. https://search.ancestry.com/.

[2] “Search.” Search. Accessed July 19, 2019. https://search.ancestry.com/.

[3] “William A. Link, North Carolina: Change and Tradition in a Southern State (2009).” Omeka RSS. Accessed July 19, 2019. https://cwnc.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/items/show/299.

[4] “Search.” Search. Accessed July 19, 2019. https://search.ancestry.com/.

[5] “Local & State History.” Local & State History | Ccplic. Accessed July 19, 2019. http://www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/ccplsite/content/local-state-history.

[6] “Schools A to B.” Schools A to B | Ccplic. Accessed July 20, 2019. http://www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/ccplsite/content/schools-b.

 ”Perry, Dallas (ca. 1845-1919).” North Carolina Architects and Builders – A Biographical Dictionary. Accessed July 20, 2019. https://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/people/P000626.

[7] “Perry, Dallas (ca. 1845-1919).” North Carolina Architects and Builders – A Biographical Dictionary. Accessed July 20, 2019. https://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/people/P000626

[8] “Search.” Search. Accessed July 19, 2019. https://search.ancestry.com/.

[9] “Search.” Search. Accessed July 19, 2019. https://search.ancestry.com/.

[10] “Milestone 1855.” Milestone 1855 | Ccplic. Accessed July 19, 2019. http://www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/ccplsite/content/milestone-1855.

[11] “Search.” Search. Accessed July 19, 2019. https://search.ancestry.com/.

[12] “Local & State History.” Local & State History | Ccplic. Accessed July 19, 2019. http://www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/ccplsite/content/local-state-history.

[13] “William A. Link, North Carolina: Change and Tradition in a Southern State (2009).” Omeka RSS. Accessed July 19, 2019. https://cwnc.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/items/show/299.

[14]  “Local & State History.” Local & State History | Ccplic. Accessed July 19, 2019. http://www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/ccplsite/content/local-state-history.

[15] “Search.” Search. Accessed July 19, 2019. https://search.ancestry.com/.

[16] “Local & State History.” Local & State History | Ccplic. Accessed July 19, 2019. http://www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/ccplsite/content/local-state-history.