PERKINS, William C. (MD) died 1865

PERKINS

Posted By: S. Ferrall - IAGenWeb volunteer
Date: 11/27/2023 at 17:39:21

DIED - At the residence of his father, in Castleton, Vermont, on the 13th of March, '65, Dr. W.C. Perkins, Aged 37 years.

Dr. Perkins came to this place in 1856, and began the practice of medicine. He was very successful in the treatment of diseases and soon became well and favorably known.

In September last he was taken ill and for several weeks was considered at the point of death; but by the skill of his father (an eminent Physician) and the kind care of our citizens, he so far recovered as to be able to accompany his father to his home in Vermont, but never called himself well after his illness here.

Faithful in his studies, attentive to business, a courteous, kind hearted, christian gentleman, Dr. W.C. Perkins was beloved by all with whom he came in contact, and few men upon God's foot-stool could fill his place.

Our entire community join his relatives in mourning. Truly, the "ways of Wisdom are wonderful".

~The Weekly Union (Lansing), Tuesday, March 28, 1865; pg 3

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For the Weekly Union, Obituary - It would seem more than proper, some mention be made of our loss as a community, in the death of Dr. William C. Perkins, which occurred in Castleton, Rutland Co. Vt. at the home of his father, Dr. J. Perkins, March 13, 1865.

Our town has given welcome to few men who brought more willing hands and heart for doing it earnest and faithful service. Few have had such large and noble talents to use for common welfare. Few could have won so honorable standing professionally, as our beloved physician.

Few dying, could have left friends to mourn so great a loss. The life just taken in its full strength and growing promise, lessens the real wealth and worth of community Dollars lost may be regained, buildings burned may be rebuilt, but the manly form and the more manly and maguanimous soul, once lost is gone beyond return.

No more shall our households greet the cheerful and genial visits of him who came with a heart as ready to feel for as his hand was ready to relieve the ills of life.

The particular traits of character, which marked our neighbor and friend, for self-reliance, settled purpose, untiring perseverence, stern integrity, and conscientious fidelity, belong to and gave him greatness.

He was too great and too true not to have enemies. His errors and weaknesses were those superior minds often show - while his excellencies were best known only to those most intimate with him, and able to respond to highest thought and sentiment. He bore the [illegible] of man as means of improving growth as trees are rooted and toughened by storms.

But the load of sorrow, which the death of a wife and the life for which she died, brought, was too much for him to endure. The overtaxed body and spirit began to tell what tongue refused to reveal, of afflictions too deep and too sure for mortal life to sustain unimpaired.

A journey east, with relaxation from care and labor, gave some relief; but a return in the heat of the season, to his wide practice, resulted in an utter prostration of health. He again went east, and then partially recovered so as to ride; to his benefit, often twenty miles a day, in his practice.

Over-exertion brought on relapse, from which he seemed to recover in a measure, ever hopeful in his case he did not despond until his father, who had been unwilling to deny him the comfort of his hopes of life was compelled to tell the near approach of death.

Calm and quietly as became the life departing, he heard the word. Calling his friends around him he takes leave of them, with composure of one going for a short absence. He speaks of his departure as the hopes of a christian along (illegible) On the confines of the grave was seen the fruits which his sorrows had ripened, by grace of God, for the husband and father, the son and the brother, as he entered in the rest and [illegible] of his loved ones [illegible]

~The Weekly Union (Lansing), Tuesday, April 11, 1865; pg 2

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Contributor's Notes:
- Dr. Wm. Cullen Perkins has a gravestone in Oak Hill cemetery, Lansing. The inscription (from a unclear photo on the Iowa Gravestone Photo Project) appears to include the words: died in Castleton, VT. He also has a gravestone in Hillside cemetery, Castleton, Rutland Co., VT (FindaGrave memorial: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/103093398/william-cullen-perkins )

- Neither of the above obituaries gives burial place, but no mention is made that his body was taken back to Lansing. I was unable to access a possible obituary printed in a Vermont paper (newspapers.com). Perhaps an obit from his hometown paper gave more burial info.

- The Death Certificate for Dr. Wm. C. Perkins, age 37y, DOD: March 11, 1865; Name of cemetery: Cong'l, Signed by [illeg] & H.C. [illeg], Town Clerk of Castleton (source: Vermont, U.S.,Vital Records, Ancestry.com database)

- The presumption of the contributor of this obit is that the gravestone in Oak Hill cemetery is a centotaph and that his burial occurred in Hillside cemetery, Castleton, VT.

- Dr. Perkins' wife Martha, and their child, died in 1863, and were originally buried in Old Oak Hill. Their bodies were disinterred in 1894, and reburied in Oak Hill. There is a large monument there with her inscription. For additional info. about Mrs. Perkins see her entry here:
https://iagenweb.org/allamakee/cemetery/OakHillNotes.htm (use the find function on the page or scroll the page)