perance, and was a member of the Maine board
of agriculture, 1853-54. After 1886 he made his
home in Washington, D.C., spending the sum
mers at Paris Hill, Maine.
PERKINS, Bishop Walden, senator, was born
in Rochester, Ohio, Oct. 18, 1841 ; son of Ben
jamin Chaplin and Hannah M. (Cole) Perkins ;
grandson of Benjamin Chaplin and Elizabeth
Ann (Walden) Perkins and a descendant of John
Perkins, Boston, 1636. He was educated at Knox
academy, Galesburg, 111.; studied law at Ottawa,
was a soldier in the 83d Illinois infantry. 1861-62,
and captain in the 16th U.S. colored infantry, 1862
65. He was admitted to the bar at Ottawa in
1867; removed to Oswego, Kan., in 1869; was
attorney for Labette county in 1869, and was mar
ried April 11. 1872, to Louise Cushman. He was
probate judge of Labette county, 1870-73 ; judge
of the llth judicial district, 1873-82, and a Repub
lican representative from the third Kansas district
in the 48th, 49th, 50th and 5 1st congresses, 1883-91.
He was appointed to the U.S. senate by Governor
Humphrey to fill the vacancy caused by the death
of Preston B. Plumb, Dec. 20, 1891, serving, 1891-
93, and in 1893 took up the practice of law in
Washington, D.C., where he died June 20, 1894.
[215]
PERKINS
PERKINS
PERKINS, Charles Callahan, author, was
born in Boston, Mass., March 1, 1823. He was
graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1843, A.M., 1846,
studied painting under Scheffer in Paris, and later
studied music and etching in Europe. He was
one of the pioneer American etchers, resided in
Boston and became famous as an art- critic. He
was president of the Boston Art club, 1869-79 ;
founder and honorary director of the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts ; a member of the city
school board, 1870-83 ; president of the Handel
and Haydn society, 1875-83 ; a fellow of the
American Academy, and a member of the Massa
chusetts Historical society. He is the author of :
Tuscan Senators (2 vols., 1864); Italian Sculp
tors (\86S): Art in Education (1870) ; Raphael
and Michelangelo (1878); Sepulchral Monuments
in Italy (1883); Historical Hand-Book of Italian
Sculptors (1883); History of the Handel and
Haydn Society (Vol. I., 1883-86), and Ghibert i ct
son ecole (1886). He died in Windsor. Vt.,
Aug. 25. 1886.
PERKINS, Frederic Beecher, author, was
born in Hartford, Conn., Sept. 27,1828; son of
Thomas Clap and Mary Foot (Beecher) Perkins ;
grandson of Enoch and Anna (Pitkin) Perkins,
and of the Rev. Lyman and Roxana (Foote)
Beecher, and a descendant of John Perkins,
Boston, 1631, Ipswich, 1633. He matriculated at
Yale in the class of 1850, but left in 1848 to study
law under his father ; was admitted to the bar in
1851, and was graduated at the Connecticut
Normal school in 1852. He practised law in
Hartford, and held various local offices, 1852-54 ;
engaged in literary work in New York, 1854-57,
and was married, May 21, 1857, to Mary, daughter
of Henry and Clarissa (Perkins) Westcott of
Providence, R.I. He was associated with Henry
Barnard in editing the American Journal of
Education at Hartford, Conn., 1857, meantime
serving as librarian of the Connecticut Historical
society ; was secretary of the Boston public
library for a time ; librarian of the San Francisco
free public library, 1880-87, and connected with a
San Francisco newspaper after 1887. He pub
lished : President Greeley, President Hoffman,
and the Resurrection of the Ring (1872); Scrope
(1874); Check List for American Local History
(1876); My Three Conversations with Miss Chester
(1877); Devil Puzzlers and other Studies (1877);
Charles Dickens : His Life and Works (1877);
Rational Classification of Literature for Shelv
ing and Cataloguing Books in a Library (1881).
He died at Morristown, N.J., Jan. 27, 1899.
PERKINS, George Clement, senator, was born
in Kennebunkport, Maine, Aug. 23. 1832 ; son of
Clement and Lucinda (Fairfield) Perkins. Both
his father and mother were of New England
Puritan ancestry. He was brought up on a farm,
received a limited education, and in 1852 went
to sea as a cabin boy on the ship Golden Eagle.
He made six voyages to Europe on sailing ships.
In 1885 he shipped before the mast on the ship
Galatea, bound for San Francisco, Cal. He en
gaged in mining and
teaming in California
but without success,
and opened a mercan
tile business in Oro-
ville, Cal. Later he
engaged in the bank
ing, mining and mill
ing industries. He
became a member of
a shipping firm in
San Francisco, Good-
all, Perkins & Com
pany, which later
became the builders
and owners of the
Pacific Coast Steam
ship company. He was the pioneer in the
introduction of steam whalers for the Arctic
ocean, and operated steamships on the coast of
California, Oregon, Washington, British Colum
bia, Mexico and Alaska. He was a representative
in the state senate, 1869-76 ; governor of the state
of California, 1879-83, and was appointed July
24, 1893, U.S. senator, to fill the vacancy caused
by the deatli of Leland Stanford, and was elected
Aug. 8, 1893, for the remainder of the unexpired
term. He was re-elected in 1895 and 1903, his
term expiring March 3, 1909. He was chairman
of the committee on fisheries, and a member of
the appropriations, education and labor, naval
affairs, commerce, Pacific Islands and Porto Rico
and coast and insular survey committees. He
was president of the Merchants Exchange, and
of the Art association, and a director of the Cali
fornia Academy of Science.
PERKINS, George Douglas, representative
was born in Holly, Orleans county, N.Y., Feb.
29, 1840 ; son of John Dyer and Lucy (Forsyth)
Perkins. He learned the printers trade at Bam
boo, Wis., joined his brother in establishing the
Gazette, Cedar Falls, Iowa, in 1860, and was a
private in the 31st Iowa infantry regiment, 1862-
63. He married, July 2, 1869, Louise E. Julien, the
same year removed to Sioux City, Iowa, where
he published the Journal. He was a member
of the Iowa state senate, 1874-76 ; U.S. marshal
for the northern district of Iowa by appointment
of President Arthur, 1881-85 ; delegate at large to
the Republican national conventions at Cincin
nati. 1876. Chicago, 1880, and Chicago, 1888 ; and
a Republican representative from the eleventh
district of Iowa in the 52d, 53d, 54th and 55th con
gresses, serving, 1891-99.
[216]
PERKINS
PERKINS
PERKINS, George Hamilton, naval officer,
was born in Hopkinton, N.H., Oct. 20. 1836 ; son
of Judge Hamilton Eliot and Clara Hartlett
(George) Perkins, and grandson of Roger Eiiot
Perkins, and of John and Ruth (Bradley) George
of Concord, N.H.
His father, a gradu
ate of Norwich uni
versity, was judge of
probate for Merri-
mack county, 1855-
74. George Hamilton
Perkins was gradu
ated at the U.S.
Naval academy in
1856, was appointed
acting master, Aug.
18, 1858, and served
on the Sabine at
Montevideo, and on
the Sumter on a cruise
on the west coast
of Africa, 1859-61. He was promoted master,
Sept. 5, 1859, and lieutenant, Feb. 2, 1861 ; was
ordered to the Cayuga, fitting out in New York
navy yard and commanded by Napoleon B. Harri
son (q.v.), December, 1861, and was second in
command of that vessel. Upon reaching Ship
Island, March 31, 1862, the Cayuga was made
flagship, and with Lieut. Perkins as pilot led the
first division of gunboats in the passage of Forts
Jackson and St. Philip, April 24, 1862. The
Cayuga received the first fire, passed under the
walls of Fort St. Philip, sank the Confederate
steamer Governor Moore and the rani Manassas,
and on the morning of April 25, 1862, led the fleet
up the river and captured New Orleans, receiving
the surrender of the city with Capt. Theodorus
Bailey, the two officers walking alone and un
guarded from the wharf to the city hall. He was
executive officer of the Cayuga, October, 1862-
June, 1863, and was promoted lieutenant-com
mander, Dec. 31, 1862. He commanded the gun
boat New London on the Mississippi, June-July,
1863, and ran the batteries at Port Hudson five
times ; commanded the Neio London, which in
company with the Cayuga blockaded Sabine Pass
from Jan. 22, 1863, and the Scioto on blockade
duty off the coast of Texas, July, 1863- April, 1864,
when he was ordered north, but volunteered to
assume command of the monitor Chickasaw, in the
battle of Mobile Bay. When within fifty feet of the
stern of the Tennessee he planted 52 11-inch shot
on the most vulnerable part of the armored Con
federate ram which effected her capture, and he
was largely instrumental in the reduction of Forts
Powell, Gaines and Morgan. He served as super
intendent of iron-clads at New Orleans, 1865-66 ;
as executive officer of the Lackaicanna in the
Pacific, 1866-69, and in the ordnance department
at the U.S. navy yard at Boston, Mass., 1869-71.
He was promoted commander, Jan. 19, 1871, and
on March 3 was assigned to the command of the
U.S. store-ship Relief, to convey contributions to
the French, Jan. 29, 1876; He was on duty in
Boston as ordnance officer and as lighthouse in
spector. He commanded the U.S.S. Aslmelot of
the Asiatic squadron, 1879-81 ; commanded the
torpedo station at Newport, R.I., in 1882, and was
promoted captain, March 10, 1882. He com
manded the Hartford of the Pacific station, 1885-
86; was placed on the retired list, Oct. 1, 1891,
and was promoted commodore on the retired list,
May 9, 1896, for his distinguished services during
the rebellion. He was married in 1870 to Anna
Minot Weld of Boston, Mass. See " Letters of
George Hamilton Perkins, U.S.N.," edited and ar
ranged by his sister and including a sketch of his
life. His mother died in Concord in March, 1902.
His statue of heroic size executed by Daniel C.
French, on the Capitol grounds, Concord, N.H.,
the gift to the state by his daughter, Mrs. Larz
Anderson, was unveiled April 25, 1902, being
presented to the state in behalf of the donor by
Rear-Admiral George E. Belknap, U.S. N. He
died in Boston, Mass., Oct. 28, 1899.
PERKINS, George Roberts, educator, was
born in Otsego county, N.Y., May 3, 1812 ; son of
Joseph and Alice (Roberts) Perkins, and grand
son of George Roberts Perkins. He acquired his
education through his own exertions, and became
proficient in mathematics and civil engineering.
He was employed on the slackwater survey of
the Susquehanna river in 1830, and taught
mathematics in Clinton, N.Y., 1831-38. He was
principal of the academy at Utica, N.Y., 1838-44 ;
professor of mathematics in the New York State
Normal school, 1844-48, and principal of the
normal school, 1848-52. He superintended the
erection of the Dudley observatory at Albany,
N.Y., 1852, and was deputy state engineer, 1858-
62. He received the honorary degree of A.M. in
1838 and that of LL.D. in 1852 from Hamilton
college, and was a regent of the University of the
State of New York, 1862-76. He is the author
of: Higher Arithmetic (1841); Treatise on Algebra
(1841) Elements of Algebra (1844); Elements of
Geometry (1847); Trigonometry and Surveying
(1851); Plane and Solid Geometry (1854); a text
book on astronomy, and many scientific articles.
He died in New Hartford, N.Y., Aug. 22, 1876.
PERKINS, James Breck, author and represen
tative, was born in St. Crois, Wis., Nov. 4,
1847 ; son of Hamlet H. and Margaret A. (Breck)
Perkins, and a descendant of Breck, who landed in
Massachusetts about 1635. He removed with his
parents to Rochester, N.Y., in 1856 and was gradu
ated from the University of Rochester in 1867-
[217|
PERKINS
PERKINS
He was admitted to the bar in December, 1868,
and was city attorney of Rochester, 1874-78. He
engaged in historical study in Paris, France, 1890-
95. He was a member of the New York assembly
1898, and a Republican representative from the
thirty-first district in the 57th and 58th con
gresses, 1901-05. He was made a member of the
National Institute of Art, Science and Letters and
received from the University of Rochester the
honorary degree of LL.D. in 1897. He is the
author of : France under Ilichelieu and Mazarin
(1887) ; France under the Regency (1892) France
under Louis XV. (1897) -.Richelieu (in" Heroesof
the Nation Series" 1900) and numerous contribu
tions to periodicals.
PERKINS, Jennie Saunders, poet, was born
near Purdy, McNairy county, Tennessee, April
8, 1832 ; daughter of Lindsey and Martha Ann
(Landreth) Saunders, and a descendant of Thomas
Saunders and Elizabeth (Rook) Saunders, who
settled in Chatham
county, N.C.. near
the close of the
eighteenth century.
Thomas was the son
of Benjamin Saun
ders, a staunch Qua
ker, and his wife was
a lineal descendant
on her father s side
of Admiral Rook of
the British navy, and
on her mother s side
of a younger brother
of Lord Stanford, and
Marie Wills, of Ger
many. The family
removed to McNairy county, Tenn., in 1825. Her
first education was received from the common
schools and from her parents. She evinced a
literary taste at an earl} age, and before the civil
war many of her poems were published in the
leading papers of the South, over the signature
of "Jennie S.," and at once attracted attention.
Gen. Marcus J. Wright, a native of her county,
and a resident of Memphis, was prominent in the
business and literary circles of his adopted city,
and having seen some of her poems in current
papers, became interested in the success of his
former neighbor, and gave able advice and kindly
encouragement that made a marked impression
on her subsequent life and its work. In 1863 she
was married to E. D. M. Perkins, by whom she
had seven children. Even with the care and ed
ucation of these, she continued her literary work.
In 1872 she received the second prize over forty-
nine contestants for the best poem on the Trenton
Massacre. The family removed to Florida in
1878, and while there some of her best poems, in-
eluding : From Tennessee to Florida, Lake Beau-
claire. Florida Winter, Summer on tlie St. Joints,
were published, and were widely copied through
out the country, extracts from them appearing
in pamphlets and books. After a dozen years in
Florida Mr. and Mrs. Perkins went to reside in
Washington, where she continued to contribute
numerous poems, floral articles and biographical
sketches to leading papers and magazines. Here
her lengthiest and most elaborate epic, Grant,
was also written. In 1903 she was engaged in
collecting her writings, published and unpub
lished, with a view to issuing a volume of her
complete works.
PERKINS, Samuel Elliott, jurist, was born
in Brattleboro, Vt., Dec. 6. 1811; son of John
Trumbull and Hannah (Hurlburt) Perkins;
grandson of Caleb and Sarah (Trumbull) Perkins,
and a descendant of John Perkins, Ipswich,
Mass., 1633. He was left an orphan when five
years old and was brought up by William Baker
on his farm in Conway, Mass. In 1834 he re
moved to PennYan, N.Y., where he attended the
Yates County academy, and in 1836 to Richmond
Ind., where he was admitted to the bar in 1837
and published Hie Jeffersonian, a Democratic
paper. He was manned first, in July, 1838, to
Amanda Juliet, daughter of Joseph Pyle of Rich
mond, Ind., and secondly to Lavinia Wiggins
Pyle, his deceased wife s sister. He was nomi
nated by Governor Whitcomb to a seat on the
supreme bench of the state in 1841, and again in
1842, but failed of confirmation in the senate. He
was prosecuting attorney for the sixth judicial
district of Indiana, 1843-45 ; a presidential elector
on the Polk and Dallas ticket in 1844, and was
judge of the supreme court of Indiana, 1845-64.
He removed to Indianapolis in 1847 ; was chosen
professor of law in the Northwestern Christian
university (Butler college) in 1857 ; was professor
of law in the Indiana State university, 1870-72,
and judge of the superior court of Marion county,
1872-76. He was again judge of the state supreme
court, 1876-79, and was serving as chief justice
at the time of his death. He is the author of : Digest
of Decisions of the Supreme Court of Indiana
(1858) ; and Pleadings and Practice under the Code
in the Courts of Indiana (1859). He died in
Indianapolis, Ind., Dec. 17. 1879.
PERKINS, Thomas Handasyd, philanthropist,
was born in Boston, Mass., Dec. 15. 1764; son of
and Elizabeth (Peck) Perkins and grandson
of Edmund and Edna (Frothingham) Perkins
and of Thomas (Handasyd) Peck. His father
was a merchant, and his mother a founder of
the Boston female asylum. He was prepared for
Harvard by the Rev. Mr. Shute of Hingham, but
did not matriculate, determining to engage in
commercial pursuits. He was trained in a
[218]
PERLEY
PERRY
Boston counting room in 1785, visited and en
gaged in business with his brother James in Santo
Domingo, and returned soon after as the Boston
agent of his brother s house. He was married in
1788, to Sarah, daughter of Simon Elliot. He
formed a partnership with his brother James in
Boston in 1792, which continued till the latter s
death in 1822, and in the meantime established a
house in Canton under the name Perkins &
Co. He traveled in Europe, 1794-95, was made
president of the Boston Branch of the Bank of
the United States in 1790, but resigned the next
year and was succeeded by George Cabot. He
was elected to the Massachusetts senate in 1805
and for nearly twenty years thereafter, serving
in one or the other branch of the state legislature.
He was a projector of the Quincy railroad, the
first in the United States, in 1827, and retired
from business with a large fortune in 1838. He
was prominent in establishing the Massachusetts
general hospital with an asylum for the insane,
and about 1812 donated his mansion house on
Pearl Street, worth $50,000, for a blind asylum,
which was the foundation of the Perkins Institu
tion for the Blind in 1853. The condition of the
gift was that $50,000 should be raised as a fund for
its support. With other members of his family
he gave more than 60,000 to the Boston Athen
aeum, and was the largest contributor to the
Mercantile Library association. He also contrib
uted to the erection of Bunker Hill monument
and toward the completion of the Washington
monument. His diaries of travel and autobio
graphical sketches were partly preserved in
Thomas G. Gary s " Memoir of Thomas H. Per
kins "(185(5) and he published a small book in
tended to teacli the art of reading to the blind
(1827) the Gospel of St. John, for the blind (1834),
and afterward several other books for the blind.
He died in Brookline, Mass., Jan. 11, 1854.
PERLEY, Ira, jurist, was born in Boxford,
Mass., Nov. 9, 1799; son of Samuel and Pliebe
(Dresser) Perley ; grandson of Maj. Asa and
Susanna (Low) Perley, and a descendant of
Allen Perley, a native of Wales, who immigrated
to New England, settled first at Charlestown in
1630. and in Ipswich in 1635 and was married in
1635 to Mrs. Susanna Bokeson. Ira Perley was
prepared for college in Bradford academy,
graduated at Dartmouth college A.B., 1822, A.M.,
1825, and was a tutor there, 1823-25. He studied
law under Benjamin J. Gilbert of Hanover,
N. H.. and Daniel M. Christie of Dover, was ad
mitted to the bar in 1827, and settled in practice
in Hanover, N. H. He was treasurer of Dart
mouth college, 1830-35 ; represented Hanover in
the state legislature in 1834, removed to Concord
in 1836, and served as a representative in the
state legislature in 1839 and in 1870. He was an
associate judge of the superior court of New
Hampshire, 1850-52; chief justice of the superior
court, 1855-59 and 1864-69, and in 1869 resumed
practice as a consulting lawyer. He received
the honorary degree LL.D. from Dartmouth in
1852. He was married in June, 1840, to Mary S.,
daughter of John Nelson of Haverhill, Mass. He
is the author of : .4 Charge to the Grand Jury ;
^4. Eulogy on Daniel Webster, and An Address at
the Dartmouth Centennial. He died at Concord,
N.H.. Feb. 26, 1S74.
PERRIN, Bernadotte, educator, was born in
Goshen, Conn., Sept. 15, 1847 ; son of Lavelatte
and Ann Eliza (Comstock) Perrin ;. grandson of
Aaron and Lois (Lee) Perrin. and of William
and Ann (Keeler) Comstook, and a descendant
of Thomas Perrin, who came from England to
Lebanon, Conn., in 1709, and, on the same side,
of John Porter, who came to Windsor, Conn., in
1639, He was graduated from Yale in 1869 ;
taught in the high school at Hartford, Conn.,
and was tutor at Yale, 1869-76. He studied at
the Universities of Tubingen, Leipzig and Berlin,
1876-78 ; was again tutor at Yale in 1878, assistant
principal of the Hartford high school, 1879-86,
professor of Greek at Western Reserve university,
1881-93, and was appointed professor of Greek
language and literature at Yale in 1893. He
was married, Aug. 17, 1881, to Luella, daughter
of James J. Perrin of Lafayette, Ind., who died
in 1889 ; and secondly, Nov. 25, 1892, to Susan,
daughter of Charles S. Lester of Saratoga, N.Y.
He was president of the American Philological
association in 1897. He edited : Cccsar s Civil
War (1882) ; Homer s Odyssey (Books I. -IV.,
1889 ; V.-VIII. 1894) : School Odyssey, eight books
and vocabulary (1897); Plutarch s Themistocles
and Aristides (1901), and contributed articles on
Greek and Roman history and literature to
scientific journals.
PERRY, Alfred Tyler, educator, was born in
Geneseo, 111., Aug. 19, 1858; son of George
Bulkier and Maria Louise (Tyler) Perry ; grand
son of Dr. Alfred and Lucy (Benjamin) Perry
and of Duty S. and Amy (Arnold) Tyler, and a
descendant of Arthur Perry of Stratford, Conn,
(supposed to be the son of Arthur Perry of
Boston, 1638); of Job Tyler of Andover, Mass.,
(1650), and of William Pynchon, settler of
Springfield, Charles Chauncey. Boston, 1635, the
Rev. Gershom Bulkeley of Wethersfield, Conn.
(1636). Capt. Richard Lord of Hartford. 1636,
and other early settlers. He was graduated from
Williams college, A.B., 1880. A.M., 1891, and
from the Hartford Theological seminary in
1885. He was ordained to the Congregational
ministry in 1886 and was appointed assistant
pastor of the Memorial church at Springfield,
Mass., in 1886. He was married, April 13, 1887,
[219]
PERRY
to Anna, daughter of Jonathan Flynt Morris of
Hartford, Conn. He was pastor of the East
Congregational church, Ware, Mass., 1887-90;
professor of bibliology and librarian of Hartford
Theological seminary, 1891-1900, and was elected
president of Marietta college, Ohio, in 1900. The
honorary degree of D.D. was conferred on him
by Williams college in 1901. He is the author
of: A Handy Harmony of the Gospels (3d ed.,
1895), and The Pre-eminence of the Bible as a
Book (18!)9).
PERRY, Benjamin Franklin, governor of South
Carolina, was born in the Pendleton district,
S.C., Nov. 20, 1803; son of Benjamin and Anne
(Foster) Perry, and grandson of Lieut. John
Foster of Virginia, an officer in the Continental
army. Benjamin Perry was a native of Massa
chusetts; was a sol
dier in the Revolu
tionary arm} ; re
moved to Charleston,
S.C., in 1784, and en
gaged in planting in
Greenville. Benja
min Franklin Perry
was brought up on
the plantation and
attended a classical
school in Asheville,
N.C., 1821-24. He
then studied law un
der Judge Earl in
Greenville and Col.
James Gregg in Col
umbia. He was admitted to the bar in Greenville
in 1827 and in 1832 took charge of the editorial de
partment of the Greenville Mountaineer and made
the paper the organ of the Union party in that
state, in opposition to the teachings of John C.
Calhoun. He was a delegate to the Union state
convention at Columbia in 1832, and was defeated
as a candidate for representative in the 24th
congress in 1834 by Waddy Thompson, Jr. He
was married in 1837, to Elizabeth Frances,
daughter of Hext McCall of Charleston. He
represented Greenville in the state legislature,
1836-43 ; was a state senator, 1844-00 ; an elector
at large on the Cass and Butler ticket in 1849,
and one of the organizers of the Greenville and
Columbia railroad. In 1850 he established at
Greenville the Southern Patriot, which was the
only Union newspaper in the state. In the same
year he made a stirring Union speech in the
state legislature, and was a member of the
Democratic state convention in 1851. He was a
delegate to the Charleston Democratic national
convention in I860, and although opposed to
secession accepted the situation when that
ordinance was adopted by his state. He was a
[221
member of the state legislature, a commissioner
under the Confederate government to regulate
prices, and a district attorney and district judge
during the war. He was appointed provisional
governor of South Carolina by President Johnson
in 1865, filling the office six months ; was elected