1889 History - Biography - Edwin R. Perkins

Edwin R. Perkins, son of True and Mary (Chapman) Perkins, was born at Tamworth, February 20, 1833. His early youth was passed with his parents who sought to give him as good educational advantages as a New England boy could enjoy. He was for a time sent to Parsonsfield Seminary, and, later, to Phillips Academy, then under the care of Dr. Soule, where he was fitted for college, entering the Sophmore class of Dartmouth in the autumn of 1854, and graduating in 1857. Immediately after his graduation he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where for a few years he was principal of one of the city schools, and, later, studied law. He graduated at the Ohio State Law College, and was called to the bar in 1863. His tastes, however, being in the line of business and finance, he became assistant cashier of the Commercial National Bank in 1865, which position he filled with great credit to himself till December, 1870, when he resigned, and organized the private banking house of Chamberlain, Gorham & Perkins, which immediately became one of the strongest and most successful financial institutions of the state. He continued in the management of this business till the autumn of 1878, when the firm bought a large amount of the stock of the Merchants' National Bank, an institution which had suffered much from bad management, and Mr. Perkins was elected a director, appointed cashier, and entrusted with its management. In a very short time, under his management, it took foremost rank among the banks of the city, doubling its business and earning very large profits. At the expiration of its charter in 1884 the Mercantile National Bank was organized as its successor, and Mr. Perkins made its vice-president and general manager. It is one of the largest banks in the state, conservatively managed, and remarkably prosperous. Such has been the skill, prudence, and sagacity with which these several banking institutions have been managed, that in recent years Mr. Perkins has been much sought for in the management of trust estates. He has for several years been largely identified with railroad and other corporations. He is at the present time a director of the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Company, the Cleveland, Lorain, and Wheeling Railroad Company, the New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio Railroad Company, and the Cleveland and Mahoning Valley Railway Company; and of these last two named companies he is also treasurer.

But amid all these varied business cares, so constantly engrossing his attention, he has never forgotten or neglected his obligations as a citizen. He has always had a great interest in all educational subjects, from 1867 to 1874 he was president of the board of education in Cleveland, and rendered most valuable service in reorganizing its common-school system. He is at the present time a trustee of Adelbert College and Western Reserve University.

He has never forgotten the religious training of his childhood. For more than thirty years he has been an honored member of the Second Presbyterian Church, and for many years an elder. He has several times represented his Presbytery in the General Assembly and other church courts.

Mr. Perkins was married to Harriet Pelton, daughter of Asahel Pelton, of La Grange, N. Y., and a graduate of Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, August 24, 1858. There have been born to them Mary Witt, October 29, 1866; Harriet Pelton. August 12, 1868; True, September 4, 1873, and Edwin Ruthven, April 28, 1879. He is thoroughly domestic in his tastes. His home is a model of refinement and comfort. He is now in life's prime, in the enjoyment of excellent health, having a competency and a host of friends. He has been a large reader, and upon several occasions has shown himself an easy and forcible speaker, who would have won distinction at the bar or on the hustings. He has always been found on the side of law and order, religion and morality, and justly ranks among the most successful men of his city and state.

[Condensed from a sketch by R. C. Parsons in Biographical Cyclopedia of Ohio.]

Contributed 2022 Jul 12 by Norma Hass, extracted from History of Carroll County, New Hampshire by Georgia Drew Merrill, published in 1889, pages 780-781.