ETHEL STORY LINE
Opening   Marriage   Business Woman   Amanda Westbrook   Church   Mother

Ethel Perry, a one time insecure, fawning young girl, found strength in her duties as a mother. She grew to be a resilient young woman who took on the hard work of raising her children despite the common absence of her husband. She willingly made sacrifices to ensure that one day her children would have opportunities like the ones presented to her and Asaph. Ethel was, no doubt, instrumental in convincing Asaph to return to Canton in 1901 after his failed business effort in Charleston. Ethel's prowess as a mother was best illustrated by her successful nursing of both her girls back to health after they contracted scarlet fever at the tender ages of 6 years of age and just 5 months old.

In 1916, tragedy strikes the Perry household. After a several month long illness, Ethel dies at the age of 40. Her youngest children, the twins, are only nine years old. The woman who had nursed a daughter through scarlet fever, had successfully delivered seven children, and had been an integral member of the First Baptist Church, is now gone. Her obituary runs on the front page of the Cherokee Advance which tells of a large gathering at her funeral.

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