Stanislaus Francis Perry

PERRY, STANISLAUS FRANCIS, teacher, justice of the peace, and farmer; b. 7 May 1823 in Tignish, son of Pierre Poirier and Marie-BIanche Gaudet; m. 11 April 1847 Margaret Carroll, and they had ten children, Peter, Ann, John, Veronica, Stanislaus, Joseph, William, Mary, Daniel, and Marguerite; Roman Catholic; d. 24 February 1898 in Ottawa, and was buried in Tignish. Perry, a Liberal for the majority of his political career, was first elected to the House of Assembly in the general election of 1854 for 2nd Prince. He was re-elected in the general elections of 1858 and 1859 for 3rd Prince. He was re-elected in the general elections of 1870 and 1873, in a by-election held in 1879, and in the general elections of 1882 and 1886, all in 1st Prince. Perry was defeated in the general election of 1867 in I'1 Prince. In 1863, prior to the general election of that year, the Liberal Party asked Perry to step aside in favour of James Warburton. In the spring of 1873, while a member of the coalition government. Perry was appointed Speaker and served until he resigned from the House of Assembly in 1874. In 1887 Perry again resigned from the House. A Liberal for much of his career, in August 1870, Perry and most of the Catholic Liberals left the party to support J. C. Pope"' because Liberal Premier Haythorne refused to give grants to Catholic schools. During the 1860s, Perry was opposed to Confederation, but eventually changed his position on union with Canada. He was defeated in the special federal election in September 1873 as a Liberal for Prince County, won the 1874 federal election, and was defeated in the 1878 and 1882 federal elections. Following a second career in provincial politics, Perry was re-elected federally in 1887 and 1891. In the 1896 federal election for West Prince, Perry was defeated by Edward Hackett. The election in West Prince was declared void due to a breach in the law. As a result, a by-election was held in 1897, and Perry was successful. He died before the end of his term. Perry was the first Island Acadian to hold a seat in both the Prince Edward Island Legislature and the House of Commons. He was also the First Acadian to be appointed Speaker of the House of Assembly. He was criticized within the Acadian community for his perceived lack of support for French-Ianguage education. He boycotted the Acadian national convention in 1884, and encouraged his constituents to do the same. He was upset because the convention was held in Miscouche, not Tignish. Although he was on the committee organizing the event, he was not consulted on the convention's location. Perry attended elementary school in Tignish, and St. Andrews College for three years of study in the English language. He could not write in French. In his words, "I got anglified when I was youfig so much that even my name is English..." In 1843 Perry began teaching, receiving his first class teaching certificate the following year. Around this time, he anglicized his name from Poirier to Perry. Perry farmed to support his family. In 1851 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace. He was a Commissioner for Small Debts and the Acknowledgement of Deeds. He left teaching in 1854 for politics. Stanislaus Perry died 24 February 1898 in Ottawa. Margaret Perry was the daughter of John Carroll and Ann Horan. Veronique and Anne Perry were, respectively, the mother of Angus L. MacDonald, a premier of Nova Scotia, and the mother of Joseph Alphonsus Bernard*, a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island who would also serve as Lieutenant-Governor of the province.