William and Ida (DeMars) Perry operated the beach facilities at Lake Johanna in present-day Arden Hills for many years. William was the son of Charles Perry, who came to the Lake Johanna area in 1849, and the grandson of Abraham Perry, one of the first settlers at Fort Snelling and Saint Paul.
William Perry, with his wife, Ida (DeMars), and their children, was the son of early Mounds View Township resident, Charles Perry, who settled the land around Lake Johanna in 1849. Charles, the son of Abraham and Mary Ann Perry, emigrated to America from Switzerland with his parents in 1817 to the Selkirk Colony in Canada and then to Fort Snelling in Saint Paul. Abraham and his family were some of the first settlers in Saint Paul. William operated the Lake Johanna beach in Arden Hills for many years.