Founders Cemetery, Marker #22

(~1832-1854)

Phoebe Elizabeth (Phebe E on her grave marker) was born about 1832 and died in Salem, Essex County, Mass. 19 Aug 1854 at the age of 22, just one year after her husband, Charles Alfred Perry, died at sea He is named on the same grave marker. Phoebe is the daughter of Ebenezer and Eliza (Raymond) Corning, both of whom are also buried in Founders Cemetery as is Phoebe’s brother, William Ebenezer Corning. We do not know the cause of Phoebe’s death or why she was in Salem.

Phoebe and Charles were married in Dec 1850—we have not learned the exact date or the place. They had a daughter, Helen, who died five months before her mother at the age of 16 months. She is buried near them and named on their grave marker.

Phoebe is a Mayflower descendant. Through her mother she is descended from Mayflower passengers Isaac Allerton, John Billington, John Howland, John Tilley and Richard Warren.

One of Phoebe’s ancestors, through her father, may have been William Knowlton, whose grave marker in Shelburne is among the earliest for any English settler in Nova Scotia—it simply reads “William Knowlton, 1632”.

More about Phoebe and her family will be found in the Old Stones Family Group Sheet Index.

Please leave a comment if you have any additional information about Phoebe, particularly her place and date of birth; the date and place of her marriage; and the circumstances of her death.