Ohio History Journal

164         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.     HENRY BISHOP PERKINS.   Hon. Henry B. Perkins, a life member, from its organization, of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, died at his home in Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, on March 2, 1902. He was a worthy

descendant of a noble family of New England stock, a family that has a conspicuous history in the settlement of the Western Reserve. Mr. Per- kins was born in Warren, Ohio, March 19, 1824. His father was General Simon Perkins, who rep- resented leading proprietors of the Land Com- pany and ownership in the Connecticut Western Reserve. General Simon Perkins and his sons were most influential in the building up of industrial and commercial enterprises in Cleveland, Akron, Warren and other localities in Northwestern Ohio.

General Perkins died in 1844; Henry Bishop Perkins was his youngest son. He inherited large wealth from his successful father and by his integrity, industry and ability, greatly increased the same.  Bu he lived for more than the material.  He was unselfishly devoted to family and friends. He was in sympathy with all practical influences for the betterment of his fellow men-betterment mentally and morally. He was generous to religious, charitable and educational institutions. He was a constant worker for the uplifting of the masses, and besides serv- ing on the Warren board of education for years, with his brothers en- dowed a professorship in Western Reserve college. He twice served on the state board of agriculture, was a trustee of Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical college, now the Ohio State University. Mr. Perkins al- ways took a deep interest in the promulgation of the best literature and was one of the most active agents in the establishment and growth of the Warren Public Library. In 1878 the governor of Ohio appointed him a member of a com- mission of three to serve with a similar commission from Pennsylvania, in re-establishing the Ohio-Pennsylvania line. From 1879-1883 he represented Trumbull and Mahoning counties in the state senate, and for many years he was one of the trustees of the State Hospital for Insane in Cleveland. In 1888 he was a presidential elector for Harrison, all the honors conferred upon him being unsolicited. October 10, 1855, he married Eliza G. Baldwin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Norman C. Baldwin of Cleveland, who survives him. The children living are Olive, wife of Judge Samuel Smith of Cleveland; Miss Mary, and Jacob, who live at home. His benevolence, always unostentatiously bestowed, can be remem- bered in hundreds of Warren homes, and no public charity ever appealed to him without recognition.

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Editorialana.                       165

 

Mr. Perkins was a courteous, affable gentleman, beloved by all

who knew him and honored and respected by all who had dealings with

him. A touching instance of his relationship in life to his employes was

the fact that at the private burial at Oak Wood Cemetery the pall bearers

were the faithful and sorrowing workmen who had been in his service

for the years respectively noted after their names: Wm. Gott, twelve

years; Wm. Nesbit, ten years; Thos. Nesbit, thirty-five years; Jos.

Latimer, fifty years; John Waters, twenty-five years Howard Craig,

twenty years.

In the funeral address delivered by Rev. W. L. Swan, a friend and

pastor of Mr. Perkins for many years, occurs this fitting allusion:

"On one of the many public occasions when Mr. Perkins was called

upon to preside, was the occasion when the soldiers' monument was dedi-

cated. Ex-President Hayes then said  'It is a partially truthful saying

that men who need monuments do not deserve them, and men who deserve

them do not need them.' Equally true is it of eulogy. And in this community

where he whom we mourn to-day, was born, and lived his useful life, and

died, where he stood so generously in the material and moral interests

of the place, to us, who lived with him and knew him, no eulogy is more

than a vain repetition.

His life was not an ordinary one. Much might be said of that broad,

strong grasp on practical affairs, of the judgment quick and clear, of the

tastes as simple as they were refined, of the kindly sympathy and help-

fulness he was ever so ready to manifest, of the beautiful, even ideal

home life among those he loved, and who loved him so well."

 

 

 

SALT LICKS OF JACKSON COUNTY.

We are indebted to Mr. D. W. Williams for a copy of his History

of Jackson County. This is the first of other volumes, if the publication

of other volumes is encouraged by the public. This volume is devoted

mainly to the history of the famous Salt Licks in the Scioto Salt Reserve,

set aside by Congress May 18, 1796. "These springs or licks" says Mr.

Williams "are as old as the hills, for that erosion which carved out the

valleys between, exposed the strata from which they flow: They were

discovered by the wild animals of the forest, and became one of their

most favored resorts long before man appeared upon the earth. No better

evidence of this is needed than the great quantity of fossil remains of

extinct animals, which have been discovered from time to time in the

neighborhood of the licks."

Mr. Williams then relates how these Salt Licks became the popular

resort, so to speak, from way back, even before the Glacial period, for the

Mammoth, Mastodon, Megatherium, Buffalo, Elk, Deer and other game.

Then came the Primeval man the Mound Builder who must have regarded

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