The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1885-05-06

built up the trade to its present pro
portions.
s. r. PERRY.
| Now-and-then one hears the re
mark made that advertising does moi
pay" May be it is true, and again
may be it is, not true, Certainly Dur
ham owes its constantly growing inn
portance to the publicity that has been
made concerning the town and its re-
sources, and it is equally certain that
I a large per cent. of our most enter
prising business men have been at
tracted here by newspaper and other
publications advancing the claims of
the Golden Belt" and of its supply
point, Durham. Mighty few of thu
who have thus been attracted here
care to leave. For the most part they
are prospecting in their manufacturing
or trade ventures, and no better illus.
tration of this fact could be asked
than is to be found in the case of Mr..
s. r.. Perry, one of our representa-.
tive business men. He came to Dur
ham from Monroe, Union county,
eight years ago last February. He
found himself a new man among new
men-in other words the bulk of the
merchants of town were, like himself,
new corners. Nor was Mr.. Perry
long in making a place for himself in
our business circle; he entered upon
his business-that of general mer-
chandise, with a 'vim" that bespoke
success from the outset, and inasmuch
as his trade now aggregates upwards
of fifty thousand dollars per year, we
think we are justified in claiming that
Durham's advertisements which
brought him here were productive of
gooH.
r. ,ferring to Mr.. Perry personally
we f nj ourself again repeating the
expression t.young man" as applied
to so many of our business nlen-that
is, he is yet early in the "40's," and
few IF us feel very old at that age.
nhouah a native of Nash County, he
asxlis home and been engaged
ections of the State
tine late war occurred
Hunteered, enlisting Is
5idier in the 30th N. CSin
lo61. The following year he was
commissioned Lieutenant, and he held
that rank and was in active service at
the front until the surrender, except
while incapacitated BY wounds, one of
which was received at Chancellors-
vile on the Sd of May, 1868, and the
other at Sneakers Gap, in 1864.
Upon the close of hostilities Mr..
Perry returned home and engaged in
farming until 1869, when he embarked
in mercantile pursuits at Mar. boro,
Pitt county. Since then he has made
several changes of location. In 1874
he removed to the attractive town of
Statesville, Iredell county, where he
did business until removing to Shelby,
Cleveland county. Subsequently he
went to Monroe, Union county, and
from there came here. During his
residence in Durham Mr.. Perry has
shown himself to be essentially a
business man he attends very closely
to his trade, and he has had the sati s.
faction of seeing it develop upon a
broad and enduring basis. The SER
vices of three statesmen, Messrs. John
G. Bailey, r. III. Barbee and D. w.
Perry are required, and the latter
gentleman's son, Master Sidney Per-
ry, is in the store when not attending
school. Two delivery wagons are
run, and nothing is left undone chat
can advance the efficiency of the
house or add to its conveniences or
facilities for catering acceptahly to
both town and country trade.
A very considerable wholesale trade
is held by Mr.. Perry, and this de-
partment of his business increases
from year to year, for country mer-
chants have become aware of the fact
that it is abundantly able to meet
their wants promptly and in competi.
ton with other dealers wherever
located. Merchants from all the adj
iacent counties are numbered among
the patrons of the house, while it is
equally true that there are few farm.
| ers who come to Durham who don't
know and appreciate 'Perry's." The
town trade held is also of a most de.
sirable character. 1850 ri
We asked Mr.. Perry how his trade
for 1884 compared with 'S3, and he
said it had been decidedly better. He
wasn't SO sanguine as to the volumne
of his trade this year as some of onr
mercants are, and he gives as a reas or
that there has been an enormous in.
crease in the number of grocery
provision and general merchandise
houses established within the past
twelve months i'm the outskirts Of
town and at country crossroads, and
he can't help but believe the trade Of
every merchant here will be affect
ed thereby. All the same Mr.. Perry
thinks he can "stand his hack" with
the others, ana it will surprise us il
his trade for 80 shows any consider
able difference from that of '84. Ger
tain it is that the house was never
more popular with the people thar
now, nor was it ever before in better
condition to do justice to its whole