Black male, born 10 February 1886 in Alabama. He died 16 May 1923 at the Escambia County Poor Farm, which was also listed as his residence. Perry was described as a common laborer, but at the time of his death he had been treated by Dr. V.R. Nobles for mitral insufficiency for 2 months, and influenza for 30 days. This condition meant he probably had been unable to work for some time, hence his residency at the Poor Farm. The informant on his death certificate was J.R. Stewart, who was the Superintendent of the Poor Farm at the time. There is no known information on Perry’s parents. He was identified as single, and having been in the city for 15 years. He was buried by F.R. Pou at the Escambia County Poor Farm cemetery.
I have found a Perry Brown in the 1913 Pensacola City Directory, a laborer living at 610 W. Wright St., in Pensacola. (Also living there was a man named Monroe Brown, but I have not discerned a relationship between the two as of yet.) He appears again in the 1916 Pensacola City Directory, living at 309 North E Street. Both times, Perry was identified as Mulatto. He does not appear in any other extant editions of the Pensacola City Directory that I can find. (A man named Perry L. Brown begins appearing the directory in the 1940s. At this moment, I cannot confirm he is a different man.)
A September 1918 World War I Draft Registration card shows a Perry Brown living at 607 N. Reus St. in Pensacola, but the birthdate is given as 15 March 1885. I have not yet decided how far I trust the Poor Farm records to have Perry’s correct date of birth, so this may be the same man. He was a laborer for the Pensacola Electric Co., and his next of kin was his mother, Hager Brown, living in Birmingham, AL.
I have not found Perry in any census records in Alabama or Florida. I have found a Hager Brown, living in far different parts of Alabama than Birmingham, and in no case was she in the same household as a Perry, leaving me unable to connect the two with any degree of certainty.
SOURCES:
Florida Certificate of Death for Perry Brown (No. 5399), Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.