Introduction

Biography

James was the son of Sam­uel G. Perk­ins and Bar­ba­ra Hig­gin­son of Bos­ton, hus­band of Sa­rah H. El­li­ott of Guil­ford, Con­nec­ti­cut (marr­ied De­cem­ber 17, 1834), and fa­ther of James Han­da­syd Per­kins, Jr. (1848–1889).

He at­tend­ed Phil­lips Exe­ter Aca­de­my, Exe­ter, New Hamp­shire, and Round Hill School, North­amp­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

After a brief time in bu­si­ness in Bos­ton, he moved to Cin­cin­na­ti in 1832, where he stu­died law was admit­ted to the bar in 1834.

He ev­en­tu­al­ly left the le­gal pro­fes­sion, and be­came ed­it­or of the Sa­tur­day Ev­en­ing Chro­ni­cle. In 1835, he bought the pa­per and merged it with the Cin­cin­na­ti Mir­ror.

In 1839, he took up the Min­is­try-at-Large or­gan­ized by the First Con­gre­ga­tion­al So­cie­ty (Uni­ta­ri­an) of Cin­cin­na­ti, and lat­er be­came pas­tor of the church.

He was ac­tive in so­cial re­forms and as a lec­tur­er. He wrote a num­ber of es­says describ­ing life in what was then Am­er­ica’s far west.

He served as vice-pre­si­dent and re­cord­ing sec­re­ta­ry of the unit­ed Ohio and Cin­cin­na­ti His­to­ri­cal So­cie­ties.