Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/777

Rh ton, and he subsequently made several successful ventures in the Pacific, on the northwest coast of America, and in China. He then formed a partner- ship with his brother James, which for the suc- ceeding thirty years was remarkable for the extent and success of its enterprises. Soon after the death of his brother in 1822 Mr. Perkins retired from business. In 1805 he was elected to the Massachu- setts senate, and for about eighteen years subse- quently he, most of the time, represented Boston in either branch of the legislature. In 1827 he was the projector of the Quincy railway, the first in the United States, and was lieutenant-colonel of a military corps in Boston. Mr. Perkins gave his house and grounds in Pearl street, valued at |oO,000, for a blind asylum (now the Perkins institution and Massachusetts asy- lum for the blind), on condition that $50,000 should be raised as a fund for its support. He was one of the chief contributors to the funds of the Massachusetts general hospital, the largest con- tributor to the Mercantile library [[missing image}}
 * association, and, with other members of his family,

gave more than $60,000 to the Boston atliena'um. He took an active part in the erection of Bunker Hill monument, and was also interested in urging forward the completion of the Washington monu- ment. He wrote, while in Europe, and at other times, diaries and autobiographical sketches, which were partly republished in Thomas G. Gary's me- moir of his life (Boston, 1856). — His nephew, James Handasyd, author, b. in Boston, 31 Julv, 1810; d. in Cincinnati, 14 Dec, 1849, was edu- cated privately at Phillips Exeter academy and at Round Hill school. Northampton. In 1828-80 he was a clerk in his uncle's counting-room, and, after a tour in England and the West Indies, set- tled in 1832 in Cincinnati. He studied law there, which he soon abandoned for literature. He con- ducted the "Western Monthly Magazine," and edited the "Evening Chronicle," a weekly paper which he purchased in 1835 and united with the "Cincinnati Mirror." After the failure of his pub- lisher he became in 1839 a minister at large, a mission of benevolence to which he devoted the rest of his life, and at the same time opened a girls' school, which gained a high reputation in Cincinnati. He was pastor of the Cincinnati Uni- tarian society in 1841-'7, in succession to his cousin. William Henry Channing. He identified himself with the cause of prison discipline and reform and gave much attention to education, and during his latter years interested himself in a plan of Christian union. He was first president of the Cincinnati historical society, and vice-president of the Ohio historical society, a trustee of the Cincinnati col- lege, and of the Astronomical society. He pub- lished a " Digest of the Constitutional Opinions of Chief-Justice John Marshall" (Boston, 1839); "Christian Civilization," an address (Cincinnati, 1840) ; and " Annals of the West " (1847 ; revised and enlarged by John M. Peck, St. Louis, 1850) ; and contributed articles to the " North American Review" in 1839-'47, chiefly upon the history of Ohio and pioneer settlement. In a fit of depres- sion he drowned himself in the Ohio river. See his "Memoirs," by William Henry Channing (2 vols., Boston. 1851").

'''PERKINS. William Oscar''', musician, b. in Stockbridge. Vt., 23 ]May, 1831. He was graduated at Kimball union academy, Meriden, N. H., in 1853, and studied at the Boston music-school and under private teachers here and in Europe. The degree of Mus. D. was conferred on him by Ham- ilton college in 1879. He resided in Boston from 1857 until 1884, when he took up his residence in New York. His work has been princijially that of a conductor and voice-teacher. He has com- posed numerous part-songs and hymns, and has compiled and edited many collcclions of vocal music. — His brother, Henry Soiitlnvick, musi- cian, b. in Stockbridge, Vt., 20 March. 1S33. was graduated at the Boston music-school in 1861. He taught music in New York and Massachusetts, and later also in Iowa state vmiversity in 1867-8. Iowa academy of music in 1867-'71. and in other institu- tions. Since 1872 he has lived in Chicago, 111., and in 1875-'6 he visited Europe for study. He has conducted more than 200 musical conventions and festivals in various parts of the United States, is known as a composer of vocal music, and has pub- lished a large number of music collections. — An- other brother, Jiiliiis Edson, singer, b. in Stock- bridge, Vt., 19 March, 1845; d. in Manchester, England, 25 Feb., 1875. He received his musical education in Boston, and studied also in Paris, Milan, and Florence. He filled various operatic engagements in Italy in 1870-'1, and in Warsaw, Poland, in 1872, and in 1873 joined Mapleson's Italian opera company. In 1874 he made his cUhiit in London, and the same year he married Marie Roze, the second soprano of the company. His voice was a basso profundo, and he was an excel- lent vocal and dramatic artist. He composed some songs and pieces for the piano,

PERLEY, Henry Fullerton, Canadian engineer, b. in St. John, New Brunswick, 5 March, 1831 ; d. in Bisley, England, 15 Aug., 1897. His father was imperial commissioner of fisheries. The son was educated privately and at the C^oUegiate grammarschool at Frederieton, N. B. He entered the public service of New Brunswick in 1848, and was employed for four years in surveys for a system of railways. In 18o2 he was again engaged on surveys in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and during 1854-'6 he was employed on the construction of the Grand Trunk railway between Montreal and Brockville. He was resident engineer, in the service of the New Rrunswick government, on the construction of the railway between St. John and Shediac, and remained till the completion of the road in 1860. He was government engineer of Nova Scotia from May, 1863, till August, 1865, when he resigned to accept a place in counectioa with the construction of the Metropolitan Extension underground railway, London, England. In 1870, on the termination" of this engagement, he returned to New Brunswick and took cliarge of the works in connection with tlie iiujirovement of the freight facilities of the government railways in that province, and the construction of the deep-water terminus and its extension at St. John. In May, 1872, he was appointed engineer in charge of harbors, etc., in the maritime provinces for the Dominion department of public works, and he held that post till the close of 1879, when he became chief engineer of the department of public works, which office he filled for many years.