PERKINS, Jefferson Allen Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, La ** ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Submitted by Jan Craven In Memoriam: Allen Jefferson Perkins. May 11, 1895 Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana Source: The American: May 11, 1895. (Newspaper of Lake Charles, LA) Allen Jefferson Perkins: Mr. A. J. Perkins died on the 10th inst., at his home in Lake Charles, and was laid away to rest on the 11th at Orange Grove cemetery. Mr. Perkins was born Jan. 25, 1830, at a place commonly known as old Big Woods, and though his parents were in comfortable circumstances, he was early accustomed to the hardest labor incidental to farm life in those days, and acquired a reputation of being able to do more hard labor than any boy in his neighborhood. Like most boys of that day and time, he knew little of what was going on in the outside world, and in after life, when he had ascended the ladder of commercial fame he never spoke of attending but one school or never mentioned but one teacher who was a Mr. Murro, whom he always spoke of reverentially, Mr. Murro, being the father of the Murro now living in our city. He had among his schoolmates the Rev. Wm. Perkins of Big Woods and E. A. Perkins of Sulphur Mine, for whom he formed schoolboy attachments that he carried to the grave with him. Among his boyhood associates was Judge S. D. Reid, whose boyhood association he always referred to with pleasure. Nothing occurred in his early life to mark his great latent force or indicate his possible future beyond hardiness and independence, which seemed inherent with him from childhood. He made a bold leap at the age of 18, and married Miss Margaret Andrus , who was only 16 years of age, and together they commenced life's battles in the forests of Calcasieu, almost penniless. He at first turned his attention to raising cotton and hogs and when his services were not required on the farm, he engaged in pieux and board-making, and sometimes in carpenter work. Only a few years elapsed before he found himself the possessor of one of the most comfortable homes in his section of the country and his house supplied in advance with about a year's provisions, ammunition and other supplies. Then, from unknown cause, the fiery fiend lit upon his house, and in less time than it takes to tell it his house, his supplies, his accumulation -his all, was swept away by the flames and again he was reduced to the condition in which he started. Notwithstanding his hard earnings for years had been swept away, he was not enraged, but went heroically to work without murmuring to fight life's battles over, he and his faithful partner camping under a tree till they could improvise a shelter which was erected on the smouldering embers of their former cherished home. One of his peculiarities was that he always slept late, never rising till after 6 o'clock, then rising, taking his breakfast, he repaired to his work and unflinchingly adhered to it till quitting time, which with him, was long before night. His motto was, "Less Hours and more work", a habit quite at variance with the customs of that day, which were to eat breakfast and supper by candlelight. Not meeting with the success he thought he deserved at home, Mr. Perkins made an effort to emigrate to Texas, but before his household goods had arrived at their point of destination, he retraced his steps and came back to his old home and engaged in his former business of pieux and board-making, which subsequently proved to be satisfactorily remunerative. Before the late war commenced Mr. Perkins had bought on time two able-bodied negroes, whom he put to work in the same business, but never relaxed his personal efforts one iota, and was on the high road to success when the late civil war caused a cessation of his business. Mr. Perkins, though young, had a great reverence for his mother government and was opposed to the war, and was a noncombatant to the end, doing service only in the supply department. Notwithstanding his peculiar ideas of were at variance with the majority of his people, his sympathies were always with the South to the last. After the war Mr. Perkins at first engaged in hauling logs for the mills at Lake Charles, which proved successful form he beginning, and he was soon enabled to and did pay for the negroes which he bought before the war, Samson Mansfield of this city, being one of them. Apparently a child of fortune, everything which Mr. Perkins touched in those days turned to money, and in 1866 he engaged in the mercantile business, doing business at what is now known as the Swearingen Ferry and in about six year, from 1866 to 1871, his books showed that his profits amounted to ten thousand dollars per annum. In 1871 he build a palatial residence at Sweringen Ferry, which would be a creditable building in our city today. This house was subsequently sold and still later destroyed by fire. In 1871 he also built the steamer Margaret, which proved to be as good, if not the best boat for towing logs that ever floated in Calcasieu water. The steamer was only a few weeks ago destroyed by fire, being then the property of the C.& V. R. R. Co. In 1870 he also founded on main river the commercial house of A. J. Perkins & Bro. with his brother I. A. Perkins at the head of the firm which did an immense business during its commercial life of about five years when I. A. Perkins bought out the business entirely. In 1873 he built the steamer Lavonia with capacity of forty-two tons, which proved to be a money-making vessel, but an unlucky boat, she was capsized in the storm of 1876. She was righted up and repaired, and after running about two years, was again capsized, when Mr. Perkins disposed of her for almost nothing on account of her ill luck, he being a strong believer in the good and ill luck of certain men and things, and while he departed sometimes from the trend of judgment in this particular he always said never touch an unlucky man in business, and he claimed to the last that his opinion on this line had been borne out by stubborn facts. From the very beginning of his commercial life, in 1866, Mr. Perkins had confined his energies mainly to the logging business, furnishing loggers with carts, teams, supplies and everything incidental to logging business, and buying and receiving their logs at their log landings and running or towing them to the mills himself, having for several years the exclusive contract for supplying three of the largest mills on the river being Goos', Lock's, and Norris'. A period in his commercial life - from 1872 to 1877 - was marked by little progress. All the early part of 1878 the sawmill business was almost paralyzed on account of an inability to get out logs for want of water, and when the logs did come out they came in such tremendous supply that the marked was glutted, and simultaneously with this immense glut of logs came the financial panic of Black Friday, which stagnated the lumber business and stopped the demand for logs, hence Mr. Perkins' energies were bent in those years mainly to disposing of the large stock of logs already on hand and simply taking care of such customers as commercial prudency demanded should be cared for. While he kept his commercial business moving , the lumber business was in such desultory condition that in 1874 he deemed it best for his own protection to buy a mill to saw his own logs, not that he fancied the mill business, for he was altogether averse to that business, but having on hand such an immense stock of logs which he could not dispose of. His first step in the mill business was to buy the old King mill, which stood where now stands the fine milling plant of the Perkins and Miller Lumber Company at Westlake. At the same time he commenced a commercial business at this point with A. Rigmaiden at its head, who remained in his employ till 1882. In 185 he built his commodious residence on the lake front, the selection of which site will long reflect credit on his foresight. In 1876 he launched into the mill business lightly, his first work or contract being the cutting of the first material used in the construction of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe R. R. Not venturing in the lumber market, his next work in the saw-milling business was with W. H. Stewart & Co. of Galveston, and was still sawing for them when the log war came on in 1877. At this time his assets amounted to between sixty and seventy-five thousand dollars, consisting of about 45,000 logs in the creeks, his stocks of merchandise and a cash balance of about twelve hundred dollars. Mr. Perkins kept on advancing during the log war as long as he was able and when the eventful epoch in Calcasieu's history closed, after a duration of nearly two years, during which time the mill and log business was paralyzed by the tyrannical action of the special agent of the interior department causing to be made a constructive seizure of every log in Calcasieu waters and absolutely placing an embargo on the shipment of lumber and finally in selling and buying in nearly all the logs in the river, thus confiscating them, Mr. Perkins found himself at this time divested of his logs, his cash and merchandise gone, and him indebted to his merchants in the neighborhood of $15,000. Not daunted at his reverses, he again went to work with a will, recruited his store at Westlake, having abandoned his business on West Fork; started up the old King mill again, this time putting Mr. Chas. Miller in charge and resuming contract with W. F. Stewart & Co. , which contract continued till the spring of 1879, when he severed his connection with that firm, and launched broadside into the lumber business on his own account. In this year he took into copartnership with him Mr. Chas, Miller under the firm name of Perkins & Miller. In this year he also founded the house of A. J. Perkins & Co., of Galveston with W. C. Armstrong namely at it's head, but with H. C. Drew really manager, and remarkable as it may seem, this infant house, with no capital except the indomitable credit and energy of Mr. Perkins tided over many trying difficulties and financial strains, coming through all with a record as bright as the noon-day sun, when in 1880 C. H. Moore was admitted as partner and manager, with capital sufficient to make its battles easy. In 1881 he bought one-fourth interest in the firm of what is now Lock, Moore & Co. then Lock, Ryan & Wehrt, which he kept one year and sold to C. H. Moore netting him clear $5000 in one year's time. In 1881 A. J. Perkins & Co. built the C. & V. R. R. and operated it till in 1885, with H. C. Drew as general manager, at which time a half interest in the road was sold to Lock, Moore & Co., Capt. George Lock becoming general manager and continuing its management to the present time with Mr. A. J. Perkins as president the road in the mean time having been incorporated. Up to 1892 Mr. Perkins continued to do a large commercial business at Westlake at which time his commercial business was sold to the firm of Perkins & Miller, and the whole concern merged into the Perkins & Miller Lumber Company, Ltd., with himself as president; Chas. Miller, vice president and J. A. Landry, Secretary and treasurer, Messrs Miller and Landry assuming the active management of the business. Mr. Perkins virtually retired from active business at this period except to give financial counsel and aid when needed, his name being always a power of strength to the end - his personal credit never impaired, his paper never protested or dishonored. He figured in the organization of both the First National and the Calcasieu banks, and was honored with directorship in both, and was in January, 1984, elected president of the First National and served as such till his health, in June of the same year, required his resignation. Although Mr. Perkins in the last few years had spent a princely fortune traveling in search of health, still he leaves an estate worth safely $200,000, and it can safely be reckoned that ill health and the local environments of the country prevented his ascending the ladder of commercial fame to its topmost round. His success in life may safely be attributed to his pluck, courage and energy, to his honesty of purpose and to his splendid foresight, which was always brought into play and to his splendid capacity for estimating the men who were to be his helpmates in his undertakings. One peculiarity of Mr. Perkins was that his fondest recollections seemed to linger around the days of his early trials and his associates therein, and he never tired of relating incidents thereto; they occupied a green spot in his memory. And providence seemed to decree that one of his youthful companions should be selected to attend him in his last days: Mr. Wm Hughes had accompanied him everywhere since the first of the year and such devotion and mutual love was never witnessed between men as was manifested between Mr. Perkins and Mr. Hughes. Mr. Perkins was born Jan. 25, 1836, in Calcasieu parish, and reared within the confines of this parish (then St. Landry). His father and mother were also reared in this parish. His mother was a Miss Vianna Coward, who died in 1890 at the advanced age of 78. His father, Reese W. Perkins, now in his 84th year, is yet hale, hearty and active, and, in company with his only living brothers, I. A. and Jas. K. Perkins, attended his funeral, and were with him in his last moments. His only living sister is Mrs. John L. Lyons, of Sugar Town. Mrs. O. S. Lyons, deceased, was his oldest sister. Reese W. Perkins of Beckwith creek, also deceased, was his youngest brother. Mr. Perkins also leaves behind him his wife, who was indeed a helpmate, especially in the days of his sorest trials and misfortunes, and to whom is due much credit for the achievements of his life. He also leaves behind to mourn his loss, of his descendants, an only daughter, Mrs. C. P. Hampton; a grand-daughter, Miss Nellie Perkins, daughter of Reese W. Perkins, deceased; and four sons, C. T. Perkins, W. F. Perkins, Dr. A. J. Perkins and C. B. Perkins besides a host of grand-children. Religious services were conducted in a befitting manner by Rev. T. G. Alfred at the residence, after which the remains were taken charge of by the Masonic order who, in company with one of the largest processions ever witnessed in our city, accompanied his remains to the cemetery where, with a beautiful and impressive ceremony by the Masonic order, his remains were laid away to rest forever. "Peace to his ashes".