Misplaced Pages

George Douglas Perkins
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 11th district
In office March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1899
Preceded by	Isaac S. Struble
Succeeded by	Lot Thomas
Member of the Iowa Senate
In office 1874-1876
Personal details
Born	(1840-02-29)February 29, 1840 Holley, New York
Died	February 3, 1914(1914-02-03) (aged 73) Sioux City, Iowa
Resting place	Floyd Cemetery in Sioux City, Iowa
Political party	Republican
Occupation	Newspaper publisher
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Battles/wars	American Civil War

George Douglas Perkins (February 29, 1840 – February 3, 1914) was a longtime newspaper editor, Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 11th congressional district in the northwestern portion of the state, and a candidate for his party's nomination as governor.

He was born in Holley, New York, the son of John Dyer Perkins and Lucy Forsyth. John Dyer Perkins was a Presidential elector from Orleans County, New York, in 1844. John Dyer Perkins was also the brother of Elizabeth Rogers Perkins Humphrey, the great-grandmother of Humphrey Bogart, the actor.

In 1860, he established the Cedar Falls Gazette in Cedar Falls, Iowa. On August 12, 1862, after the outbreak of the American Civil War, he enlisted as a private in Company B of the 31st Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment. His military service ended seven months later on January 12, 1863, when he returned to The Gazette. After 1866, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, and was engaged as agent of the Northwestern Associated Press until 1869. He moved to Sioux City, Iowa, having become engaged in Chicago to Louise Julien, daughter of diamond jeweler Narcissus Julien, and in 1869 became editor and publisher of the Sioux City Journal.

He was elected to one term in the Iowa State Senate, having served from 1874 to 1876. He served from 1880 to 1882 as Iowa's commissioner of immigration. On January 29, 1883, U.S. President Chester A. Arthur named Perkins as the United States marshal for the Northern District of Iowa. In 1885, he was removed by the Democratic President Grover Cleveland.

In 1890, Perkins was one of three major candidates who challenged incumbent 11th district Congressman Isaac S. Struble for the Republican nomination. At the district convention, Struble consistently outpolled the other three until, on the 43rd ballot, his opponents united behind Perkins and hence gave Perkins the nomination. In the worst midterm election for Republican candidates since the Civil War, Perkins was still elected in November 1890 to the 52nd United States Congress, the one known as "the billion dollar Congress." He was re-elected to the three succeeding Congresses. In 1894, he was one of seven Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retirement of James F. Wilson, the winner was John H. Gear. In February 1898, Lot Thomas, a state court judge, challenged Perkins for the Republican nomination to the district nominating convention on the 217th ballot. In all, Perkins served in Congress from March 4, 1891, to March 3, 1899.

George Douglas Perkins Statesman Publisher of a statement essay by Red Cloud in the editorial section of the Sioux City Journal along with the anniversary articles of the papers' founding with the founders' photos. Perkins returned to Sioux City and to the Journal. In 1906, he challenged incumbent Republican Governor Albert B. Cummins for the party's nomination. He served as delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1876, 1880, 1888, 1908, and 1912. Perkins died in Sioux City on February 3, 1914.

References

1. Brigham, Johnson. Iowa: Its History and Its Foremost Citizens, pp. 666 (S.J. Clarke, 1918, Iowa History Project): accessed April 12, 2009.
2. "Perkins Nominated," Hawarden Independent, 1890-07-10 at p. 1.
3. "Reed's Rule is Ended," New York Times, 1890-11-05 at p.1.
4. Dan Elbert Clark, "History of Senatorial Elections in Iowa," pp. 227-35 (Iowa 1913).
5. "Geo. D. Perkins Defeated," Sioux County Bee, 1898-06-24 at p. 8.
6. "Cummins Renominated; a Stand-patter Now," New York Times, 1906-08-02, at p. 1.
7. Obituary of Drusilla Marie Perkins Kazen, granddaughter of George Perkins, Laredo Morning Times, December 15, 2011, p. 11A

• United States Congress. "George D. Perkins (id: P000233)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

External links

• Works by or about George D. Perkins at the Internet Archive

v t e Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum Finkenauer Hinson Miller-Meeks
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack Miller-Meeks Hinson
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young Axne Nunn
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle LeCompte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King Feenstra
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston LeCompte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

• 1840 births
• 1914 deaths
• People of Iowa in the American Civil War
• Republican Party Iowa state senators
• People from Cedar Falls, Iowa
• People from Murray, New York
• American newspaper publishers (people)
• Journalists from Iowa
• Union army soldiers
• Politicians from Sioux City, Iowa
• United States Marshals
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa
• 19th-century American businesspeople
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives
• 19th-century members of the Iowa General Assembly