Maj. John B. Perkins, P. O., Marshall. Son of Jacob and Elenor A. Perkins; his father being from Baltimore, Maryland, and his mother from Pennsylvania. John B. was born in Lexington, Holmes county, Mississippi, November 1, 1839. In 1849 he moved with his parents to Memphis, Tennessee, where he was raised, and was educated by a private tutor. In 1858 he engaged in the drug business, in Des Arc, Arkansas, where he remained until the beginning of the war, then joined the southern army, and was elected major of the Fifty-fourth regiment, Arkansas state troops. Was afterward transferred to the Confederate service. Was in the battles of Neosho, Carthage, Oak Hill, Corinth, and Tupelo. In 1863, was taken sick and sent to Mobile. He was then transferred to the quartermaster’s department west of the river, and served there to the end of the war. After the war he came to this county, and remained here until 1867, when he returned to Memphis, Tennessee, and engaged there in mercantile business for three years. In 1870 he came back to Saline county, and engaged in merchandising at Arrow Rock, and also in the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1876, and practiced in Arrow Rock until 1879, when he was appointed deputy county clerk, under W. S. Jackson, where he remained until Col. Jackson’s death, July, 1880, when he was appointed county clerk until the next general election. On the 11th of August, 1863, he was married to Miss Annie E. Jackson, daughter of Gov. C. F. Jackson, of Missouri, and had three children: Pearla, William Claiborne, and Henry Marmaduke.
