Perkins, Justin, D.D., a celebrated American missionary, labored among the Kestorians of Persia, and has not unapth' been called the "Apostle of Per- sia." He was born at West Springfield, Mass., March 12, 1805. He passed his j-outh on his father's farm, and when ready for higher studies went to Amherst College, where he graduated in 1829. He studied the- ologj' at Andover, and after graduation there became a tutor at Amherst. In the year 1827 that erratic ad- venturer. Dr. .Joseph Wolf, made a flj'ing visit to the Nestorians while travelling in Persia. His mention of them met the eye of Dr. Anderson, secretary of the American Board, and he conceived the idea of sending a mission to that extraordinary people. Justin Per- kins and wife were selected as the proper persons for this field, and thej' set out from Boston Sept. 21, 183.^. Reaching Constantinojile Dec. 21, without the knowl- edge of a word of the language, they were welcomed by Messrs. Goodcll, Dwight, and Schauffler, but re- cently established there. In the spring of the fol- lowing year, Perkins and his wife proceeded towards their final destination. They reached the city of Tabriz Aug. 23, 1834. There Mrs. Perkins stopped, while Sir. Perkins went on farther to I'runiiah, where the mission was at once established, with the assist- ance of Mrs. Perkins, and Dr. and Mrs. Grant, who joined them in the fall of 1835. Then followed the great labors of his life ; schools for boys and schools
for girls were established which have grown into no- ble seminaries of learning. Besides those that may be called higher seminaries, some seventj' primary schools have been established, 3000 Scripture readers have been educated in them, and an army trained up to preach the Gospel to their countrymen. Perkins's greatest work, however, was his translation of the Scriptures into thi Nestorian dialect of the Syrian. In 1841 the doctor came home to visit his friends, and to stir up an interest in this missionary enterprise. He was accompanied by Mar Yohannan, the Nestorian bishop, and the two awakened a thrilling enthusiasm wherever they went. Dr. Perkins took back with him the sainted Stoddard (q. v.), and other missionaries, and from that time faithfull}' and most successfully prosecuted his work, until the fall of 18G9, when he came home exhausted, and on the last day of the year he yielded up his spirit into the hands of his Lord, who doubtless said to him, " Well done, good and faithful servant." Dr. Perkins published in this country, Residence of Eight Years in Persia (Andover, 1843, 8vo), reviewed in Christian Examiner, xxxiv, 100; Christian Review, viii, 138 : — Missionary Lift in Persia (Boston, 1861). He was also a contributor to the Bib- liotheca Sacra, and to the Journal of the "American Oriental Society." See Anderson, Oriental Missions ; The Observer, N. Y. Jan. 13, 1870 ; Drake, Diet. Amer. Biog. s. V. (J. H. AV.)
Perkins, Nathan (1), D.D., a Congregational minister, was born May 12, 1748, in Lisbon, Conn. He graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1770, and was ordained pastor at West Hartford Oct. 14, 1772, where he labored until his death, Jan. 18, 1838. He published Four Letters, shoicing the History and Or- igin of the Anabaptists (1793) : — Ttcenfy-foiir Discourses on some nf the Lmportant and Interesting Truths, Duties, and Institutions of the Gospel, and the general Excel- lency of tlie Christian Religion ; calculated for the People of God of every Communion , particularly for the Benefit of Pious Families, and the Instruction of all in the Things u-hich concern their Salvation (1795, 8vo) ; and several occasional sermons. See Sprague, Annals, ii, 1.
Perkins, Nathan (2), son of the preceding, was born in 1772, and was educated at Yale College, where he graduated in 1795. He was then minister of the Second Congregational Church, Amherst, from 1810 to his death, March, 1842.
Perkins, Thomas, a minister of the Free-will Baptist denomination, was born in Haverhill, Mass., Feb. 22, 1783. His family removed to New Hampton, N. H., when he was tliirteen j-ears of age, and there he ever afterwards lived. At seventeen he was con- verted, and united with the first Free-will Baptist Church in New Hampton, then but recently organ- ized. By the advice both of lay brethren and the niinistr}', he held public meetings in 1808, and, after repeated urgings, consented to receive license. He was set apart to the work of the ministry, by the impo- sition of hands, in February, 181C. and immediately devoted himself to preaching the Word, and building up the churches of his denomination, which was then new; and the Macedonian cr}', which he so often heard at that day, incited him to the utmost activity and faithfulness in the cause of the Master. He preached, baptized, attended funerals, and performed other pas- toral duties in some twenty towns in the vicinity of New Hampton. His own words are, "I have preached nearly every Sabbath for more than fifty years, and have travelled thousands of miles on business to which I had been appointed bv the quarterly and yearly meetings; yet I never had a salary, neither have I received half-day wages, besides the use of my horse and carriage. And yet the Lord has blessed nic abun- dantly, both temporally and spiritually, so that I do not regret any sacrifice I have made for the cause." Though he depended largely upon his own resourcos