Perley J. Shumway

Who was Perley J. Shumway?

Perley J. Shumway was an American pioneer and politician.

Shumway was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1810 to a family descended from Frenchmen. He learned to blacksmith in Massachusetts before moving west, settling in Milford, Illinois. There Shumway farmed and met his wife, Mary Gibson. In 1842, he moved to Wauwatosa, Wisconsin Territory, where he worked as the village blacksmith.

Shumway was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1848 and again in 1861, both times as a Democrat. He was appointed jailor and deputy sheriff in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin in 1863, and died later that year.