Davis Perry was born around 1862 in North Carolina. Perry was a farmer who resided in Franklin County, North Carolina. Perry was charged with larceny on October 7, 1878, and sentenced to one and a half years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Perry was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2837. Perry's race is noted as Black. Perry was sixteen years old when he was arrested. Perry was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Perry was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He was discharged on March 2, 1880.