The story of Asaph Perry

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ETHEL STORY LINE
Opening Marriage Business Woman Amanda Westbrook Church Mother

Ethel Alice Smith, wife to Aspah and mother of their six children, Ethel Bertie, Amanda Bell, Jack, Rube, Lucile and Louise, was born in 1876. She was the daughter of John Pope Smith and Amanda Saphronia Westbrook and the grand-daughter of John Westbrook and Elizabeth Stringer. John Westbrook moved to Cherokee County from Virginia to be an innkeeper. Ethel's ties to Cherokee County dated to the county's founding. Ethel was raised in Buffington, GA, the youngest of four children. She attended Orange Academy at least through 1890. Ethel was married before her 20th birthday, after short courtship with Asaph.

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Writing the Story

The Ethel story line is a very important part of this project. We wanted to include the voices of women in the story as deliberately as possible in order emphasize Ethel as a contributor to the health and well being of her family. After all this is the story of the Perry family as much as anything. We also found Ethel's story, in and of itself, compelling.

Ethel and Asaph's lives followed very different paths to their lives together in Canton. While Asaph was born 15 miles away and in many ways represented the new geographic mobility of Georgia, Ethel's family had already uprooted from Virginia and entered the world of business as inn keepers in Cherokee County.