Page:Autobiographies and portraits of the President, cabinet, Supreme court, and Fifty-fifth Congress (IA autobiographiesp02neal).pdf/197

 GEORGE CLEMENT PERKINS

, of Oakland, was born at Kennebunkport, Me., in 1839. His ancestry is traced back to the days when Sir Ferdinand Gorges was appointed governor-general of New England. His forefathers were among the earliest settlers of Maine; they were earnest, laborious, strong-headed people of deep religious convictions. His father, Clement Perkins, was a seafaring man, engaged in trading with the West Indies. His mother, whose maiden name was Lucinda Fairchild, was a relative of Governor Fairchild, and also of Governor King, one of the earliest governors of Maine after its segregation from Massachusetts. At the age of twelve he went to sea as a cabin boy; followed this calling and that of a sailor for several years; in 1855 shipped “before the mast” on a sailing vessel bound for San Francisco, Cal., where he arrived in the autumn of that year; engaged in mercantile business at Oroville and was very successful; subsequently engaged in banking, milling, mining, and the steamship business, in which he has been engaged during the past twenty-five years, operating steamships on the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, and Mexico; in 1868 was elected to the State Senate, serving eight years; has been president of the Merchants' Exchange in San Francisco, also of the San Francisco Art Association; director California Academy of Sciences, and other public institutions; in 1879 he was elected governor of California, serving until January, 1883; was appointed, July 24, 1893,