His name has been spelled a lot of ways, but so far as his descendants (from his daughter Hattie) know, the spelling was "Zephaniah", just like the prophet in the Old Testament.

"Zeph", as he was called, was a blacksmith by trade, meaning he must have apprenticed as a young adult. He first shows up on the 1840 Candor, Tioga County, New York, federal census. The best guess of his family is that he was from Caroline, New York, 16 miles to the north, where there were four different Perry Families that had boys Zeph's age. But all legal documents only agree he was born "in New York".

In the spring of 1860, Zeph and his second wife moved to Trenton, Wisconsin.

About 1864, Zeph had moved to Winona, Minnesota, then went to Rochester, Minnesota to enlist for the Civil War. His enlistment papers record he was 5' 8", had grey eyes, dark hair and dark complexion.
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Zepheniah Perry b. Abt. 1821 Residence was not listed; 44 years old.
Enlisted on 3/15/1865 as a Private. On 3/15/1865 he mustered into
CO E MN 1st Battn Infantry He was discharged on 6/17/1865 G.A.R.
- Contributed by: Bev
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Of course, Zephania was really too old to engage in the Civil War, but the army would take most anyone; also, he seemingly never did anything without a long-term plan for himself and his family. He was crippled with rheumatism and could no longer blacksmith. His idea, the family believes, was for a pension and to maintain a small farm. He managed to last the three month minimum to qualify for a small pension. He also moved to Meeker County, which was touted as being one of the heathiest places in the world to live. And it would have been had it not been for the cold winters, aggravating his rheumatism.

And so the family moved to Medical Lake, near Tyler, Washington, that was also touted as a lake having medicinal properties, and where a lot of ill people were living. Regardless, his second wife died and he married Wilhelmine Wellsandt in 1893. It was not a happy marriage, and I've not found any evidence they ever lived together. Zeph had bought a very large house so that his younger daughters (from his second marriage) could run a boarding house/hotel and provide for themselves. Zeph's daughters took care of their father (as a boarder) for the rest of his life.

Total known children: 20, all with his first two wives.