{{infobox officeholder | office = President of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York | term_start = 1853 | term_end = 1863 | predecessor = Elias Hicks | successor = Abiel Abbot Low | birth_name = Pelatiah Webster Perit | birth_date = {{birth date|1785|06|23}} | birth_place = Norwich, Connecticut | death_date = {{death date and age|1864|03|08|1785|06|23}} | death_place = New Haven, Connecticut | alma_mater = Yale University | spouse = Jerusha Lathrop<br>Maria Coit | children = | relations = Pelatiah Webster (grandfather) }} '''Pelatiah Webster Perit''' (June 23, 1785 – March 8, 1864) was a New York merchant and banker.
==Early life== [[File:Ruth Webster Perit Leffingwell 1755-1840 (page 406 crop).jpg|thumb|right|Perit's mother, Ruth Webster Perit Leffingwell.<ref name="Fishbone">{{cite news |last1=Fishbone |first1=Beryl |title=A portrait of Leffingwell |url=https://www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20120828/blogs/308289961?template=ampart |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=The Bulletin |date=August 28, 2012 |language=en}}</ref>]] Perit was born on June 23, 1785, in Norwich, Connecticut and named after his maternal grandfather, Pelatiah Webster. He was the son of Capt. John Perit and Ruth Kellogg (née Webster) Perit. Among his siblings were John Webster Perit (married to Margaretta Dunlap), Maria Perit (wife of Charles Phelps Huntington), and Rebecca Hunt Perit (wife of Joshua Hubbard Lathrop). After his father died in 1795, his mother married Christopher Leffingwell in 1799.<ref name="Fishbone"/> He graduated from Yale College with the class of 1802.<ref name="PPObit1864"/><ref name="yale">{{cite web |title=Pelatiah Perit (1785-1864), B. A. 1802 |url=https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/426 |website=artgallery.yale.edu |publisher=Yale University Art Gallery |access-date=29 June 2021}}</ref>
==Career== He served as president of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York from 1853 to 1863,<ref name="LatePerit1864">{{cite news |title=THE LATE PELATIAH PERIT.; Special Meeting of the Chamber of Commerce. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1864/03/13/archives/the-late-pelatiah-perit-special-meeting-of-the-chamber-of-commerce.html |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=March 13, 1864}}</ref> and was a commissioner of police in 1857.<ref>{{cite news |title=METROPOLITAN POLICE COMMISSIONERS.; Election of Pelatiah Perit, President of the Chamber of Commerce, to the Membership of the Board Vacated by Mr. Draper's Declination--The Harlem and New-Haven Railroad Nuisance still Unabated. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1857/11/09/archives/metropolitan-police-commissioners-election-of-pelatiah-perit.html |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=November 9, 1857}}</ref> He served as president of the Seamen's Savings Bank,<ref name="PPObit1864"/> and was an original incorporator and director of the Bank of Commerce in New York.<ref name="GuarantyTrust1939">{{cite news |title=GUARANTY TRUST MARKS CENTENARY; Merged Bank of Commerce Was Founded on Jan. 1, 1839, With $5,000,000 Capital |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/01/02/archives/guaranty-trust-marks-centenary-merged-bank-of-commerce-was-founded.html |access-date=23 June 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=January 2, 1939}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2024}}
==Personal life== Perit was twice married. His first marriage was to Jerusha Lathrop, the sister of his brother-in-law,<ref name="Fishbone"/> on September 6, 1809.<ref name="Norwich1913">{{cite book |title=Vital Records of Norwich, 1659-1848 |date=1913 |publisher=Society of colonial wars in the state of Connecticut |page=598 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=el5KAAAAYAAJ |access-date=29 June 2021 |language=en}}</ref> After her death, he married Maria Coit (1793–1885) on October 8, 1823. Maria was a daughter of Daniel Lathrop Coit.<ref name="Quimby1995">{{cite book |last1=Quimby |first1=Ian M. G. |last2=Johnson |first2=Dianne |title=American Silver at Winterthur |date=1995 |publisher=Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum |isbn=978-0-912724-32-4 |page=124 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RjrAAAAMAAJ |access-date=29 June 2021 |language=en}}</ref> In 1860, Perit had architect Sidney Mason Stone design him a Renaissance Revival style Italian villa in New Haven.<ref name="npsform">{{cite web|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory--Nomination Form: Hillhouse Avenue Historic District|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/73329b9b-ea32-4400-851b-b7128a252ea1|website=National Park Service|publisher=United States Department of the Interior|access-date=October 15, 2017}}</ref>
Perit died at his residence in New Haven, Connecticut in March 1864.<ref name="PPObit1864">{{cite news |title=Death of a New-York Merchant. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1864/03/09/archives/death-of-a-newyork-merchant.html |access-date=29 June 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=March 9, 1864}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/426 Pelatiah Perit (1785-1864), B. A. 1802] at Yale University Art Gallery
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perit, Pelatiah}} Category:1785 births Category:1864 deaths Category:Yale University alumni Category:Bankers from New York (state) Category:People from Norwich, Connecticut Category:Businesspeople from New Haven, Connecticut Category:19th-century American merchants Category:Merchants from New York (state)