Robert H. Perkins

ROBERT H. PERKINS. - The line of demarcation between the indoors man and the outdoors man is a thin and wavering one, at times almost indistinguishable. There is no indoors man who has not a subconscious self that wants out of doors more or less of the time. Robert Harrison Perkins has been more or less of an outdoors man all of his life. It seems as if he had chosen the ideal method of living. He lives in the world of bustle, in that he is intensely interested in its advancement and has done and is doing his utmost to further that end. He lives out of the world in that he is close to nature and can understand to a modified degree its inscrutable workings. He is a public benefactor and a private idealist. He has the refinement that contact with people brings and the simplicity that is derived from communion with nature.

Robert Harrison Perkins was born in West Port, Kansas. His father Stephen Perkins, was born in Kentucky, November 14, 1817. When quite young he left his southern home and went to Iowa, where he engaged in manufacturing in an old fashioned fanning mill. In 1855 he came to Kansas and located at West Port, where he engaged in the mercantile business. Later he manufactured wagons. In 1858 he came to Wyandotte county, Kansas, and settled near what is now known as Turner Station. During the border struggle Mr. Perkins had a good deal of trouble. Politically he was a Republican and quite a prominent man in the party. He married Sophia Seaman, who was born in Indiana in 1828 and died in August, 1907, at the advanced age of seventy-nine. She outlived. her husband fourteen years; he died December 5, 1893, at the age of seventy-six. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins had three children, including John S., who lives in this county and is a man of great influence, and Robert H.

Some of the earliest recollections of Robert H. Perkins center around the district school house which he and his brother attended. It was made of logs and the benches were made of logs; in his case the road to learning was not a downy one. His parents moved to Kansas with their family when Robert was a very small boy and the schools at that time were very crude in the way of architecture, rather inefficient in regard to teaching, but most effective in their methods of discipline. The district school which Robert attended has turned out several men who have made their mark in the community. Mr. Perkins is a born farmer; when a child he worked in his little garden, digging it up and planting potatoes, digging it again to plant roses and yet again to plant something else. It is of little moment that neither potatoes or roses grew under such treatment, he was learning by doing, which is the quickest method in many cases. He learned to farm and now has under his control two hundred acres of land, the greater part of which he rents. He has built a large, modern home, where he lives with his family.

In 1891 Robert H. Perkins was married to Miss Maud Funk, a charming Missouri young lady. They have three children, Robert G., Charles S. and Alice.

Mr. Perkins is a Republican, like his father. He takes the greatest interest in all matters pertaining to the county and state. He has the full confidence of his party and was a member of the legislature in 1903 and 1904. He has been on the township board for five years, serving as trustee and treasurer. He belongs to the fraternal order of Masons and to the United Workmen, having a high standing in both of these organizations. He is one of the leading citizens of Shawnee township and is well known not only in Wyandotte county but throughout the state.