Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/294

 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 ScheflFer 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 chib, 1869-79; founder and honorary director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; a member of the city scliool board, 1870-83; president of the Handel and Haydn so(iety, 1875-88; a fellow of the American Academy, and a member of the Massa- chusetts Historical society. He is the author of: Tuscan Sculj^tors (2 vols., 1864): Italian Sculp- tors (1868); ^rf in Education {1870); Raphael and Michelangelo (1878); Sepulchral Monuments in Italy (1883); Historical Hand-Book of Italian Scidptors (1883); History of the Handel and Haydn Society (Vol. I., 1883-86), and Ghiberti et son ecole (1886). He died in Windsor, Vt., Aug. 2"). 18^6.

PERKINS, Frederic Beecher, author, was born in Hartford. Conn., Sept. 27, 1828; son of Thomas Clap and Mary Foote (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, Ipswicli.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 librar\', 1880-87, and connected with a San Francisco newspaper after 1887. He pub- lished: President Greeley, President Hoffman, and the Resurrection of the Ring (1812): Scrope (1874); Check List for American Local History (1876); My Jliree Conversations tvith 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,

pioneer

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 witliout 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 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 bj' the death 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 (Fors3-th) Perkins. He learned the printers" trade at Bara- 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 b}- 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.