Brother of Hen­ry Perk­ins, William at­tend­ed the Kim­ball Un­ion Acad­e­my in Mer­i­den, New Hamp­shire, then stu­died mu­sic in Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts; Lon­don; and Mi­lan, It­a­ly. Set­tling in Bos­ton, he found­ed a mu­sic acad­e­my and pub­lished a num­ber of hymn­als. Ham­il­ton Coll­ege award­ed him an hon­or­a­ry doc­tor­ate of mu­sic de­gree in 1879. He lived in Bo­ston 1857-84, then moved to New York Ci­ty. His works in­clude:

• Choral Har­mo­ny, 1859
• Nightingale, 1860
• Union Star Glee Book, 1861
• Atlantic Glee Book, 1861
• Tabernacle, 1862
• The Gold­en Ro­bin, 1863
• Sabbath School Trump­et, 1864
• Church Bell, 1867
• Starry Crown of Sun­day School Mel­o­dies (New York: Will­iam A. Pond & Com­pa­ny, 1869)
• Dominion Song­ster, 1870
• Laurel Wreath, 1870
• Chorister, 1870
• Mocking Bird, 1871
• Orphean, 1871
• Church Wel­come, 1872
• Seminary Album, 1873
• Perkins’ An­them Book, 1874
• Shining Ri­ver, 1875
• Zion, 1875
• Perkins’ Sing­ing School, 1875
• Whippoorwill, 1876
• Male Voic­es Glee Book, 1876
• American Glee Book, 1877
• Herald, 1877
• Requiem, 1878
• Crystal Fount­ain, 1878
• Singers’ Class Book, 1878
• Tree of Life, 1878
• The Tem­ple, 1879
• The An­them Harp, 1880
• Vocal Echoes, 1881
• Choral Choir, 1882
• The Peerl­ess, 1882

• Jones, p. 133

1. Come, Bro­thers, On­ward, Come
2. Come to Je­sus, Blest Re­deem­er
3. Great God, as Fol­low­ers of Thy Son
4. It Was No Path of Flow­ers
5. Praise the Lord, Ye Hea­vens Adore Him
6. Praise to God, Im­mor­tal Praise
7. Suffer Lit­tle Child­ren to Come unto Me
8. There’s a Rest in the Home of the An­gels

1. Amara
2. Beyond the Sun­set
3. Did You Think to Pray?
4. Here We Are but Stray­ing Pil­grims
5. Guernsey
6. Starry Crown, The