to have declined a second election to the House of Assembly of N.
S., after having served one term. The chaplain's prayer, "Prevent us,
O Lord, in all our doings," etc., he construed to mean, "We should be
prevented from doing the half we do there." Israel Perley died at
Maugerville in 1813 in the 73rd year of his age.

Oliver Perley, who was his brother, came to the River St. John in
January, 1765, in company with Jacob Barker, jr., Zebulun Esty,
Humphrey Pickard and David Burbank, as passengers in a schooner
belonging to Hazen, Simonds & White. His wife was a Palmer, whom he
married at Newburyport. In common with the majority of their neighbors
they were inclined to sympathize with the New England "rebels" at the
outbreak of the American Revolution, and the name of Oliver Perley
appears as one of the "rebel" committee appointed at the meeting held
at Maugerville in May, 1776. Soon after the peace, in 1783, he is said
to have removed to Newburyport, at the solicitation of his wife, but
they found so little to admire in the squabbles that prevailed between
the followers of Adams and Jefferson that they soon returned to the
River St. John declaring that the Americans were "cursed with
liberty." One of Oliver Perley's sons, Solomon, was married by Rev.
John Beardsley, March 8, 1798, to Elizabeth Pickard; another son,
Moses, was married by the same clergyman, March 10, 1802, to his
cousin Mary, daughter of Israel Perley. This Moses Perley and his wife
were members of the church of England and their son Moses H. Perley
was eminent in the history of his native province. Amos Perley,
another son of Oliver Perley seems to have inherited some poetical
taste from the Palmers, and is credited with the following amongst
other rhymes:--

"Wrapt in dark mantles of the night
Was Bonnel when he took his flight;
Elijah-like he tried to fly
To the bright mansions in the sky.
But snow was scarce and sleighing bad,
And poor success our deacon had;
For lo! his chariot, as you see,
Is lodged in this old willow tree."

The incident that gave rise to this effusion was a practical joke
played on a pious itinerant preacher, whose sleigh the Maugerville
boys had hoisted into the forks of a large willow. The family of
Oliver Perley lived at the spot now known as McGowan's wharf. Asa
Perley, another of the early Mau