Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/256

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PERKINS
PETTUS


connected therewith ; he was also director of the Casa de Beneficeiisia Brunet, and of tlie Casa de correccion and its annex, the Eseuela de artes y oficios ; he served long as president and director of the Hospital O'Horan. lie was active in the support of the Colegio hidalgo, and in the Sociedad de la union, serving both as director and as presi- dent of the latter. In 1879 he was elected a mem- ber of the American antiquarian society. In 1878, assisted by Joaquin Ililbbe, he published a cor- rected reprint of the map of Yucatan.

PERKINS, Bishop Walter, senator, b. in Roch- ester, Ohio, 18 Oct., 1841. He received a common- school education, and studied at Knox academy, Galesburg, 111. He served during the civil war as sergeant in the 82d Illinois infantry, and as adju- tant and captain of the 16th U. S. colored troops. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar at Ottawa, he was county attorney for Labette county in 1869, probate judge of the county in 1870 and in 1873. In February, 1873, he was appointed judge of the 11th judicial district of Kansas, and in November ofthat year was elected for the unexpired term, being re-elected in 1874 and in 1878. He was a member of congress, 1883-'90, and in January, 1893, was appointed to the U. S. senate to fill the vacanc^v caused by the death of Preston B. Plumb.

PERKINS, Charles Allen, diplomatist, b. in Salisbury, Conn., 16 May, 1832 ; d, in Syracuse, N. Y., 33 Aug., 1892. lie was educated in Au- burn, N. Y., and in Prance, and was appointed U. S. consul and secretary of legation with Gen. Joseph J. Bartlett, the American minister. Dur- ing Grant's administration he was made consul to Barcelona, and was subsequently appointed minis- ter to Portugal, where he married, in 1870, Marie Isabella Pran^oise, daughter of the infanta of Spain, Pope Pius granting them a special dispen- sation. Mr. Perkins, who was the only American that had contracted marriage with a person of royal descent, lived happily with his wife and her family till the Carlist uprising in Spain in 1874. At that time he wrote numerous letters to the London and Paris press in opposition to the inter- ests of Alfonso, and when he became king Mr. Perkins was promptly banished. He soon after returned to the United States, and became pro- fessor of languages in Johns Hopkins university. One of his sons studied law in Spain, and the other was educated in the military college, Madrid.

PERKINS, George Clement, senator, b. in Kennebunkport, Me., 33 Aug., 1839. His youth was spent on a farm, and at the age of twelve he went to sea as a cabin-boy on the " Golden Eagle." He followed the sea until 1855, in which year he shipped before the mast on the " Galatea " for San Prancisco. After a few unsuccessful attempts he gave up mining and opened a country store in Oroville, in which he was very successful. In 1872 he became a member of the shipping firm of San Francisco which was afterward incorporated as the Pacific coast steamship company. He was one of the first to introduce steam whalers, and his company is still most prominent in this indus- try. He became largely interested as stockholder and director in manufacturing and banking estab- lishments of California ; he has always taken an interest in farming, ami is still a large mine-own- er. He served in the state senate from 1869 until 1875, and he was governor of the state from 1879 to 1883. In July, 1893, he was appointed U. S. senator, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Leland Stanford, taking his seat in August, 1893. In January, 1895, he was elected by the legislature to fill the unexpired term, and in January, 1897, was re-elected for the full term, which expires in March, 1893. Senator Perkins has been president of the chamber of commerce, and also of the Sau Francisco art association.

PERKINS, George Lathrop, centenarian, b. in Norwich, Conn., 4 Aug., 1788; d. there, 5 Sept., 1888. He was an invalid in his youth, but gained health by becoming a pedestrian, taking long jour- neys on foot. He was paymaster of the 3d dis- trict during the second war with Great Britain, and was present at the bombardment of Stoning- ton. He was an original incorporator of the Nor- wich and Worcester railroad, and its treasurer for fifty years. Por seventy-six years he did not fail to vote at a presidential, town, or municipal elec- tion, and he was the oldest active volunteer fire- man in the world, the oldest book-keeiier, and the oldest clubman. He retained his mental faculties until his deatli, and was in a fair state of pliysical health until just before that time. Jlr. Perkins's one hundreth birthday was iniblicly celebrated by the citizens of his native place.

PERRY, Bliss, editor, d. in Williamstown, Mass., 25 Nov., 1860. He is a son of Prof. Arthur Latham Perry, and was graduated from Williams college in 1881, and was afterward professor of English literature in his alma mater for seven years. In 1893 he was called to the same chair in Princeton university, which he resigned in 1899 to assume the editorship of the "Atlantic Monthly." Prof. Perry has edited selections from Burke, Scott's "Ivanhoe "and "Woodstock," and "Little Mas- terpieces," and is the author of " The Broughton Home," " The Plated City," " Salem Kittridge, and other Stories," a?id " The Powers at Play."

PETTEY, Charles Calvin. A. M. E.Zion bish- op, b. near Wilkesboro', N. C, 3 Dec, 1849. He is of African descent, and was born a slave, but acquired an education by his own efforts, and in 1878 was graduated at Biddle university, Char- lotte, N. C. He then became a teacher, entered the ministry of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion cinireh, and later became a bishop. Bishop Pettey is the author of an unpublished volume of personal experiences entitled " Events bv the Wav."

PETTIGREW, Richard Franklin, senator, b. in Ludlow, Vt., 23 July, 1848. At an early age he removed with his family to Wisconsin, receiv- ing his education at the Evansville academy and at Beloit college. He was a member of the class of 1870 of the law department of the University of Wisconsin, but in July, 1869, went to Dakota in the employ of a U. S. deputy surveyor. He settled at Sioux Falls, and engaged in the survey- ing and real estate business, and in 1872 he began the practice of his profession as a lawyer. In 1877 and in 1879 he waselected to the territorial legisla- ture as a member of council ; he attended the 47th congress as a delegate from Dakota; was a mem- ber of the council again in 1884-"5 ; a member of the constitutional convention of Dakota in 1883, in which he was chairman of the committee on public indebtedness, framing the provisions on that subject embodied in the present state consti- tution. When South Dakota was admitted to the Union he was elected senator. 16 Oct., 1889. He took his seat 2 Dec, 1889, and was re-elected in 1895 for the term ending March, 1901.

PETTUS, Edmund Winston, senator, b. in Limestone county, Ala., 6 July, 1821. He entered Clinton college, Tennessee, and in 1842 he was admitted to the Alabama bar. He was elected solicitor for the seventh circuit in 1844, and held this ofTice until 1849, when he resigned to go to California. He had previously served as a lieu-