1925 Biography - William Perkins
Captain William Perkins was born in 1819 in Kentucky. His mother being a widow his opportunity for an education was limited. He started out to make his own way at the age of nineteen. On coming to Illinois he worked on a farm for twenty-five cents per day. After his marriage, by farming and working for others, he accumulated enough to buy a farm two miles east of Vienna. He later sold the farm and turned his attention to milling in partnership with A. J. Kuykendall. When the Civil War came on he assisted in raising a company which was incorporated in the fourteenth cavalry, and was made Captain of Company G. He served four years, and took part in many battles. He was seriously wounded in an engagement near Macon, Ga., and taken to a farm house. When he recovered sufficiently to be out on crutches, he was sent to Andersonville prison. Within a few months he was exchanged and was soon discharged on account of his disability. In 1866 he bought what has been known since as the Perkins house and operated it as a hotel as long as he lived. He was elected sheriff in 1868. He married Eliaz, 1840 (see Simpson). Captain Perkins died 1892.
Extracted 08 Feb 2017 by Norma Hass from 1925 A History of Johnson County, Illinois, by Mrs. P. T. Chapman, page 419.
