Dorchester Illustration no. 2378 Nathaniel Royal Perkins
Note: a week away
Program: Sunday, November 18, 2018 2 pm. Dorchester Historical Society, 195 Boston Street
The 26th Yankee Division and Massachusetts in World War 1
Brigadier General Leonid Kondratiuk, Director of Historical Services at the Adjutant General’s Office of the Massachusetts National Guard, will discuss the 26th Infantry “Yankee” Division and its role in World War 1,. Brigadier General Kondratiuk is an expert in Massachusetts military history and formerly served as chief of National Guard history at the Pentagon.
Also, in commemoration of the centennial of World War 1, the Dorchester historical Society presents an exhibit honoring the Dorchester residents who served our country during World War I.
We hope to continue our WW1 biographies, but for the centennial of Armistice Day and the official end of the First World War, we introduce the man who created the collection of World War I Dorcheser servicemen’s index cards and photos given by his widow to the Dorchester Historical Society:
Doctor Nathaniel Royal Perkins
Nathaniel Royal Perkins was born on September 10, 1847 in Plainfield, Vermont. He was the youngest of five children born to Amherst and Experience (Reed) Perkins. His father, Amherst, was a grist and saw miller. He is a descendant of John Perkins, who came from Bristol, England and landed at Nantucket aboard the ship Lyon on February 5, 1631 and who had originally settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
Nathaniel attended the Newbury Seminary in Newbury, Vermont before attending Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He then attended the Boston University School of Medicine where he graduated in 1876; he was a member of only the third graduating class of the Medical School. While at school in 1872, Nathaniel married Clara Amelia Livingston, who was also from Vermont. According to her family genealogy, she was a descendant of Captain Benjamin Livingston, who fought in the Battle of Lexington and Concord as a “minuteman” before he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Continental Army under General Gates. Because of this, Clara was very active in the Daughters of the American Revolution. Nathaniel and Clara were married in Newport, Vermont on May 23, 1872; Nathaniel was 24 and his bride was 20 years old. The couple did not have children until after Nathaniel graduated from Boston University. Their first child, Roscoe, was born on April 6, 1879 in Haverhill, New Hampshire. Dr. Perkins was practicing medicine in nearby Woodsville, New Hampshire at the time. The 1880 census is when we first see Nathaniel living and working in Winchendon, Massachusetts. He was listed as a “home physician” and lived with his wife, Clara, his son, Roscoe (age 5), a son Leon (age 3 months), and a servant, Mary Cullinane. Dr. Perkins practiced medicine in Winchendon for fourteen years before moving his practice to Dorchester in 1890.
By the time of the United States Census in 1900, Dr. Perkins and his family were living in Dorchester at 1122 Adams Street. They again, had a live-in servant living with them. Unfortunately, his young son, Leon, died when he was just three years old from Scarlet Fever. Clara gave birth to a daughter, Clara Aleda, in 1884. In 1910, the family was still at the same house on Adams Street but Roscoe was no longer living at home. Clara Aleda worked as a public school teacher and the family still had a live-in servant. In 1908, Dr. Perkins was elected president of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society.
In 1917, at the age of 70, Dr. Perkins was working for one of the local registration boards that was set up under the Selective Service Act of 1917. It was the duty of the local boards to register young men for the draft and classify them according to the needs of the certain war-time industries. Each local board registered an average of 5,000 men. Dr. Perkins was assigned to a local board, Selective Service Board No. 21; we found his signature on many of the draft cards for the men in his photograph collection.
In 1920, Dr. Perkins was 73 years old and, according to the census, still practicing medicine. In fact, he was elected assistant secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Registration in Medicine in 1921. He was still living in the same house on Adams Street with his wife, Clara, his daughter Clara Aleda, and a live-in servant.
Dr. Perkins died suddenly on two years later on September 23, 1922 at the age of 75. His obituary appeared not only in Boston newspapers, but in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania newspapers as well, where his son, Roscoe, was himself practicing medicine. His funeral was held at the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Lower Mills, and he was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Winchendon, Massachusetts.
Sources:
Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.
Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.
Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2013.
Ancestry,com. New Hampshire, Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659-1947 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011.
Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929 [database on-line].
Newspapers.com – The Boston Globe – 22 May 1922 – Page 11
Newspapers.com – The Boston Globe – 23 Sep 1922 – Page 11
Newspapers.com – Harrisburg Telegraph – 23 Sep 1922 – Page 2