Nehemiah Perry (congressman)

Nehemiah Perry ( born March 30, 1816 in Ridgefield, Connecticut; † November 1, 1881 in Newark, New Jersey ) was an American politician. Between 1861 and 1865 he represented the State of New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Nehemiah Perry attended the Wesleyan Seminary in Ridgefield. After that he worked as a store clerk in Norwalk and in New York City. In 1836 he moved to Newark, where he worked in the clothing manufacturing and trading clothes. At the same time he began a political career as a member of the Democratic Party. In the years 1850 and 1856 he was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, which he was president in 1856. In 1852 he sat on the city council in Newark.

In the congressional elections of 1860 Perry was in the fifth electoral district of New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of William Pennington on March 4, 1861. After a re-election he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1865 two legislative sessions. These were shaped by the events of the Civil War. In 1864, Perry opted not to run again. After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, he again worked in the garment industry. In 1873 he was elected mayor of Newark. He died on November 1, 1881 in this city.