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Resources : PERKINS FAMILY BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES BY STATE WYOMING
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Perkins Research Wyoming Biographical Sketches
B. F. PERKINS, An attorney-at-law and
also the capable president of the Bank of Commerce at Sheridan, Wyoming,
Mr. B. F. Perkins was born in Baltimore, MD., on September 15, 1857, being
a son of Benjamin B. and Margaret R. (Emory) Perkins, both
natives of the state of Man-land. Benjamin B. Perkins maintained his
residence in his native state until about 1880, and from there he removed
to Philadelphia, where he still resides. He was a graduate from the
Jefferson Medical College of Pennsylvania and also took a postgraduate
course in the Homeopathic College of Philadelphia. He was a very
successful physician and achieved a high reputation, and it was not until
he had attained the age of seventy-eight years that he retired from active
practice. In 1900 he and his wife celebrated the anniversary that marked
their fiftieth year of happy married life, or in other words, they
celebrated their golden wedding. Their family comprises eight children, of
whom three are still living. B. F. Perkins was educated in Philadelphia
and, after leaving school, entered a conveyance office, where he was soon
inducted into the practical application of business rules, and while still
in that service he was admitted into the law department of the University
of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1882, the same year being
admitted to the Philadelphia bar. Owing to rapidly failing health,
however, Mr. Perkins was absolutely compelled to look for a change of
climate, and accordingly left Philadelphia on May 30, 1883, and at once
came west, locating at Cheyenne, Wyoming, and there he resided until
September, 1883, when he removed to Buffalo, in the same state. His health
having improved at once and continuing to improve steadily, he changed his
residence shortly afterward to Mead Creek, thirty miles distant from
Buffalo, and there passed one winter. In the spring of 1884 he removed to
Sheridan, being employed bv J. D. Laucks in the grocery business, and he
also engaged in the real-estate business for himself, in connection with
the practice of law until the fall of 1884, when he was elected justice of
the peace. In the spring of 1885 he severed his connection with Mr. Laucks
and engaged in the same line of business exclusively for himself and so
continued until 1888, when he was appointed postmaster of Sheridan, an
office he satisfactorily filled for four years. During his incumbency of
this office he formed a partnership with E. L. Mills and started a small
store in conjunction with the post office and also continued acting in his
office of justice of the peace. After the termination of his term of
service as postmaster, the business of his 'store having largely
increased, Mr. Perkins and his partner continued merchandising as E. L.
Mills & Co., until Mr. Perkins was appointed as the clerk of the District
Court, when he sold out his interest to Mr. Mills. Upon the organization
of Sheridan county and the admission of Wyoming as a state of the Union,
Mr. Perkins was elected and reelected to the same office. In 1893 he
re-signed this position and was elected vice-president of the Bank of
Commerce, of which financial institution on July 13. 1893, he was elected
president, his present office. In the meantime he had filled all the other
official positions of the bank, teller, cashier, etc., having reached his
present exalted and responsible position strictly through his merits. He
now owns a controlling interest in this bank, the condition of which at
this writing may he stated as follows: Capita] stock, $30,000: surplus
$25.ooo:undivided profits, $40,000; deposits, $270,000;loans, $290,000. Source: Progressive men of the state of Wyoming - (1903) - A.W. Bowan & Company. HARVEY L. PERKINS. The pioneers of the Northwest in the United States were mean of heroic mold, fitted by nature for the arduous work of conquering a new domain and reducing it to subjection to the wants of man. The country was full of wild beasts and savage men; its climatic conditions were unknown and uncontrollable; the soil, though fruitful, was given up to the wild luxuriance of largely desert vegetation, and had never felt the persuasive hand of systematic husbandry; the vast region was wholly un-peopled, save by enemies of its daring invaders and trackless, except where the Indian or untamed animals had made paths through its boundless expanse; ease, security, all that civilization reckons among the goods of life, were utterly wanting. Yet the hardy pioneers boldly went forward into the deepest recesses and challenged all its hostile elements. They blazed the way for the oncoming hosts of conquerors and builders, while they wrote on the pages of enduring history new chapters to the honor and glory of American manhood. Among the number of these courageous adventurers were Harvey L. Perkins, now an esteemed citizen of Bighorn county in this state, and his parents, Andrew and Jemima (Whitsar) Perkins, natives of Tennessee and Kentucky, who were among the first settlers in Utah, coming to its borders in 1847. Their son, Harvey Perkins, although at the time but twelve years old, had the spirit and courage of a man, and imbibed by instinct, as it were, the genius and essence of the region in which they settled. They came from Illinois, where they had been early emigrants, and where, in 1835, their son, Harvey Perkins, was born. In his new home the facilities for education in school were meager and primitive, and he was obliged to call upon nature and experience for his teachings and preparations for the battle of life which was before him. They always have voices of wisdom and instruction for those who are attuned to their utterance, and from them he learned self-reliance, quickness of perception, readiness in action and resolute endurance. Ten years after their arrival in Utah, the family removed to California, and there the young man engaged in mining until 1881, then changed his base of operations to Cassia County, Idaho, where he located land and turned his attention to raising stock and to farming. In 1888 he sold his Idaho interests and moved to Butte, Montana, where for three years thereafter he was busily occupied in contracting and freighting, with that great mining camp as his headquarters. In 1891 he concluded to become again a tiller of the soil and a stock grower, and he came to Wyoming and located land and bought other tracts on the Grey Bull River, at the location where he now lives. Since then he has maintained his residence in this part of the state, being one of the most forceful and energetic factors in its development. He owns 1,200 acres of excellent land, having a pleasing diversity of altitude and character, and runs a heard of 300 well bred cattle, a large number of horses and about 6,000 sheep. For a man occupying to large and influential a place in a community, all of the avenues of public life are open, therefore, Mr. Perkins has had many opportunities to serve his people in official stations of responsibility and importance, but he has steadily resisted all importunities to enter politics, preferring to be of use only as a private citizen and to give his support to all commendable movements for the advancement or improvement of the community without other impulse or consideration than that involved in promoting the general weal. He was married in Utah in 1854 to Miss ELIZABETH PARKE, a native of Missouri. They have six children now living; Harvey L. Perkins, Jr., Alice Perkins, John J. Perkins, Huldah Perkins, George W. L. Perkins, and Ivie Perkins, wife of William C. Faust of Cody. Mr. Perkins is rapidly approaching the evening of his life, and he can enjoy its tranquility and peace with an increased satisfaction in the recollections of the trials he has endured and of the triumphs he has won; with an abiding comfort in the sight of the civilization he has helped to build in this country, and in contemplating the active vigor and productive usefulness of the valued public institutions he has aided in creating, fostering and developing in its midst, and with a constant enjoyment in knowing that he possesses a high place in the esteem and confidence of his fellow men, which has been so richly bestowed and so faithfully earned. Source: Progressive men of the state of Wyoming - (1903) - A.W. Bowan & Company. HARVEY L. PERKINS, Jr., a leading citizen and prominent stock grower and farmer of Bighorn county, with a fine ranch of 560 acres of excellent land and large bodies of stock near Otto, is altogether a product of the Northwest, and essentially a representative of its best elements of citizenship. He was born in Utah in 1858, was reared and educated in California, being married in Utah, while he has lived and labored in other states of this region. His whole life, so far, has been passed in the West, and all the interests involved in his life's activities are centered in this section of the country. To no other portion does he directly owe anything for what he is or what he has accomplished. His parents are Harvey L. and Elizabeth (Parke) Perkins. His father was a native of Illinois and his mother of Missouri. When he was a year old they moved to California, there he grew to manhood and received his education, there also he began the battle of life by industriously laboring on a farm. In 1881 he proceeded to Idaho, and locating land in Cassia county, settled down to the independent, but trying, life of a stock grower and farmer. During his residence in that state he was a city marshal for two years, and for two years was a deputy sheriff and for two years sheriff of the county. In 1897 he closed out his interests in Idaho and came to Wyoming, locating in Bighorn county, on a portion of the land now included in his productive ranch of 560 acres situated on Grey Bull River, in the neighborhood of Otto. Here he has dwelt since his arrival in the state, steadily engaged in improving his property, raising the land to an advanced state of fertility and productiveness, and carrying on a large and prosperous stock business, in which he handles horses, cattle and sheep in considerable numbers, having usually about seventy-five cattle, nearly as many horses and some 6.000 sheep. His business is successfully managed, bringing him in large returns for his outlay of money and labor. But he is not wholly absorbed in it, nor fully satisfied with hits revenues, as being the sole or chief object of his existence. He is a gentleman of public spirit, and is earnestly devoted to the progress and improvement of his community, county and state, and, to secure their advancement and the promotion of their best interests, is one of the matters of high importance and chief concern with him. To every movement tending to their advantage he gives a cordial encouragement and his timely aid, by his wisdom in counsel, his zeal and energy in action wherever the public interest is involved, as well as by his upright and useful life, high character and genial and accommodating disposition, he has won the warm regard and the full confidence of the people all around him and throughout the county. He was married in Utah in 1878 to Miss VICTORIA PARKE, a native of Nevada. They have eight children; Ralph D. Perkins, Andrew L. Perkins, Ila M. Perkins, Alice Perkins, Earl Perkins, Beryl Perkins (twins), Ella Perkins and Leona Perkins. Source: Progressive men of the state of Wyoming - (1903) - A.W. Bowan & Company.
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