Person:Simon Perkins (3)

Biography

GENERAL SIMON PERKINS. There are figures in the early annals of States which stand out against the background of history, marking eras of progress with which their names are irrevocably identified, and of these is the subject of this sketch.

Simon Perkins, conspicuous alike for his talents, worth and energy, was born at Lisbon [Norwich], Connecticut, September 17, 1771. His father was a captain in the Colonial army of the American Revolution and died in camp, a hero and a martyr in the cause of independence, which sweet legacy he, and others like him, contributed to the American people for all future generations. In 1795 Simon Perkins emigrated to Oswego, New York, where he engaged extensively in land operations, in which he continued for about three years. He then, in the spring of 1798, went to Ohio in pursuance of the proposition of certain parties who had become proprietors of a large portion of the Western Reserve, 'by whom Mr. Perkins was employed to explore their lands and report a plan for the sale and settlement of them.' Accordingly the summer of that year and several successive summers were spent by him in investigating the lands and in serving as agent for the proprietors.

March 18, 1804, he married Nancy Anna Bishop, and settled down at Warren, on the Western Reserve, where he resided until his death. By his wife Nancy he had nine children: Simon, Anna Maria, Alvin D., Alfred, Martha, Charles, Joseph, Jacob, and Henry B., all deceased but the last named. The land agencies entrusted to him for several years were so extensive that in 1815 he paid a State land tax into the public treasury amounting to one-seventh of the entire revenue of the State. He was for nearly thirty years the recipient of the unbounded confidence and esteem of his government and the people.

In 1807, at the request of the general Government, Mr. Perkins established mail lines through the Indian country to Detroit, Michigan. In the autumn of 1808 his efforts led to the treaty of Brownsville, by which the Indians ceded lands for a road from the Western Reserve to the Maumee, or Miami of the Lakes. In May, 1808, Mr. Perkins was commissioned a Brigadier-General of militia in the division commanded by Major-General Wadsworth, and on learning the infamous surrender of Hull's army at Detroit, General Perkins ordered his colonels to prepare for active duty. To him fell the necessity of protecting a large portion of the Northwestern frontier. He was exceedingly active, having his scouts out far and near all the while. Later, General Harrison was sufficiently reinforced to dispense with General Perkins' command, and the latter accordingly left the service February 28, 1813, receiving the highest encomiums of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Northwest. At the suggestion of General Harrison and others, President Madison sent General Perkins a commission of Colonel in the regular army, but owing to his family and to a greatly increasing business the latter declined the commission.

From 1826 to 1838 General Perkins was an active member of the Board of Canal Fund Commissioners, and, as head of the commission, to him was entrusted the arrangement and execution of the extensive canal system of Ohio. The commissioners were under no bond and received no pecuniary reward, notwithstanding which they gave energy and impetus to the enterprise, and within the space of seven years sold State bonds for the public improvements to the amount of $4,500,000.

In 1801 Mr. Perkins was authorized to establish a post office at Warren, and he was appointed Postmaster, which position he held for twenty-six years. The office was first opened in a log-house. With other leading men he established a bank at Warren, in 1813, which was the first bank opened on the Western Reserve. He was chosen the president, holding the office until 1836, when, on account of failing health, he resigned.

During the twenty-three years of his presidency he had implicit confidence and entire support of the stockholders and directors of the bank, and the careful and conservative policy for which it was distinguished, carried the bank safely through the various and severe storms which bore down all the other banks of the State that entered the field before or with it. "As good as a Western Reserve Bank bill" was a familiar saying in those days. The remarkable record made by this bank during the many financial panics which it passed through was largely owing to the high, unswerving integrity and financial ability of its president; and one secret of the bank's success and stability was that it never loaned money to its directors.

After the war broke out, and the Government provided for the organization of National banks, it was the parent from which was born the First National Bank of Warren, of which Henry Bishop Perkins, General Perkins' youngest son, became president. Its bank stock was never divided, and forms now part of the stock of its successor, the First National. The remarkable history of this old Western Reserve bank is, it is believed, without a parallel in this country.

General Simon Perkins was a conspicuous character for years among the many remarkable men who settled the Western Reserve, and he is yet held in affectionate remembrance as a good citizen, a moral and upright man, and a faithful friend. His influence in social and moral life is felt in the region of the Western Reserve to this distant day. He died November 19, 1844, at Warren, Ohio, which had been his home for so many useful and happy years, his loss being mourned as a public calamity. His widow survived him several years, expiring at Warren, in April, 1862, in the midst of her family and friends. She was a woman of rare charms of mind and character, and was peculiarly fitted for life-long and congenial companionship with a man of General Perkins' acknowledged worth.

1. ↑ Norwich Vital Records, in Connecticut, United States. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records
   3rd Bk p.29.

   [29] Simon Perkins of Norwich and Olive Dowglass (Olive Douglass?) of Plainfield were married Feb. 25, 1768.
   Olive Perkins, daughter, was born Nov. 24, 1769.
   Simon Perkins was born Sept. 17, 1771.
   Rebecca Perkins was born Sept. 29, 1773.
   Joanna Perkins was born Dec. 12, 1775.
   Daniel Bishop Perkins was born Oct. 26. 1777.
   Mr. Simon Perkins died Sept. 3, 1778.

2.   General Simon Perkins, in Biographical history of northeastern Ohio, embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull and Mahoning: containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States, with a biography of each, together with portraits and biographies of Joshua R. Giddings, Benjamin F. Wade, and a large number of the early settlers and representative families of to-day. (Chicago [Illinois]: Lewis Publishing, 1893)
   pp. 387 - 389.

   See Biography

3.   From: The Family of John Perkins..... Part III p.12
   "Joseph and [brother] Jabez [Perkins] purchased a large tract of land (800 or 1200 acres) for L70. This land was situated in the forks of the Quinebaug and Shetucket rivers, in the part of the town of Norwich which became afterward [1786] the town of Lisbon and was known as 'Perkins Crotch.'"
   Many online genealogies and published histories report that Gen. Simon Perkins was born in Lisbon, not incorporated until 1786.