Henry Perkins
Encyclopedia
Henry Farnham Perkins was an American
zoologist and eugenicist.
, Chittenden County, Vermont
in the house where he spent his entire life in the affluent "Burlington Hill" neighborhood next to the University of Vermont on May 10, 1877. He was born into a family with Midwestern roots that trace back to Mayflower
passengers, Love Brewster
, a founder of the town of Bridgewater, Massachusetts
; Elder William Brewster
, the Pilgrim colonist leader and spiritual elder of the Plymouth Colony
; and William Bradford, Governor of the Plymouth Colony and the second signer and primary architect of the Mayflower Compact
in Provincetown Harbor
. He was also a descendant of Martha Wadsworth Brewster
, a notable 18th-century American poet and writer.
He was the only son and the second child of George Henry Perkins and the grandson of Frederick Perkins and Harriet Olmstead. Henry's father was a noted American educator, naturalist
and Professor of Geology
and kindred sciences at the University of Vermont
. His father served as Dean of Arts and Sciences, vice president and was appointed interim president of the University of Vermont during World War I. He was also the state geologist of Vermont from 1898 to 1933. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University
, class of 1867; received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Yale in 1869.
His mother was Mary Judd Farnham, an 1863 graduate of Knox College, and a daughter of Eli Farnham and Jerusha Brewster Loomis
. She attended the debates between Abraham Lincoln
and Stephen A. Douglas
at Knox College on October 7, 1858. It was said of her that she was a woman of superior mental endowments. She was the president of the Vermont Chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
, and was active in her church and philanthropic work. Her first cousin was Dr. George Trumbull Ladd
an American
philosopher, educator and psychologist
.
Mary's parents had emigrated to Illinois
in 1836 and were the among the founders and pioneers of Galesburg, Illinois
. They built a temporary cabin in Log City near current Lake Storey, just north of Galesburg, the settlers having decided that no log cabins were to be built inside the town limits. They were also instrumental in the founding of Knox College. Eli Farnham served as secretary of the Board of Trustees for nearly forty years and also the first school teacher in Galesburg.
in 1899 and was awarded his PhD
in Zoology
at Johns Hopkins University
in 1902. The title of his doctoral thesis was The Development of Gonionema Murbachii, which was on the development and life cycle of Gonionema murbachii
(a type of jellyfish). After receiving his doctorate, he joined the faculty of UVM where he remained until his retirement.
, Mary Edmunds, born at Baltimore, Maryland on October 18, 1874 the daughter of James Richard Edmunds and Anna Smith Keyser. She was the sister of Dr. Charles Keyser Edmunds, one of his fellow graduate students at Johns Hopkins. He was president of Canton Christian College
in Canton
, Kwangtung Province
, China
and the fifth president of Pomona College
in Claremont, California
. Another brother was James Richard Edmunds, Jr., a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania
, and a notable Architect
in Baltimore, Maryland.
She was a descendant of John Howland
, (c. 1599–1673) who was one of the Pilgrims who travelled from England to North America on the Mayflower, signed the Mayflower Compact
, and helped found Plymouth Colony. She was also the great great granddaughter of Thomas Hurst Hughes, the founder and owner of the Congress Hall Hotel
in Cape May, New Jersey
, and a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives
from New Jersey
.
Henry and Mary were the parents of two children, Anna Keyser Perkins-Middlebrook, who married as her second husband, Stanwood Wollaston and Harriet Perkins.
His interest in eugenics began shortly after the end of World War I. It was after WWI that he learned of a study by the U.S. Army which was used as part of the draft process. The results from the Army study showed that men from Vermont had an inordinately high rate of "defects" (such as diabetes, epilepsy, "deformities" and "mental deficiency"). Perkins saw this as a problem that needed to be fixed. He went about trying to "fix" this through investigation and social reform. This reform, as denounced by historian Nancy Gallagher in her research titled Breeding better Vermonters, also targetted french canadians and american natives in Vermont state, considered insane invasion to eliminate.
Around the same time, he revamped his Zoology curriculum and began teaching courses specifically on Heredity and Evolution. His heredity class provided the first known venue for eugenics education at UVM and the inspiration for a "Eugenics Survey" -- a field station to study Vermonters.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
zoologist and eugenicist.
Early life and ancestry
He was born at 205 South Prospect Street in BurlingtonBurlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
, Chittenden County, Vermont
Chittenden County, Vermont
Chittenden County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of 2010, the population was 156,545. Its shire town is Burlington. Chittenden is the most populous county in the state, with more than twice as many residents as Vermont's second-most populous county, Rutland.Chittenden County...
in the house where he spent his entire life in the affluent "Burlington Hill" neighborhood next to the University of Vermont on May 10, 1877. He was born into a family with Midwestern roots that trace back to Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
passengers, Love Brewster
Love Brewster
Elder Love Brewster was an early American settler, the son of Elder William Brewster and his wife, Mary Brewster. He traveled with his father, mother and brother, Wrestling, on the Mayflower reaching what became the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620...
, a founder of the town of Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Bridgewater, Massachusetts
For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Bridgewater, please see the article Bridgewater , Massachusetts.The Town of Bridgewater is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, 28 miles south of Boston. At the 2000 Census, the population was 25,185...
; Elder William Brewster
William Brewster (Pilgrim)
Elder William Brewster was a Mayflower passenger and a Pilgrim colonist leader and preacher.-Origins:Brewster was probably born at Doncaster, Yorkshire, England, circa 1566/1567, although no birth records have been found, and died at Plymouth, Massachusetts on April 10, 1644 around 9- or 10pm...
, the Pilgrim colonist leader and spiritual elder of the Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...
; and William Bradford, Governor of the Plymouth Colony and the second signer and primary architect of the Mayflower Compact
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists, later together known to history as the Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower...
in Provincetown Harbor
Provincetown Harbor
Provincetown Harbor is a large natural harbor located in the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts. The harbor is mostly 30 to deep and stretches roughly one mile from northwest to southeast and two miles from northeast to southwest, i.e., one large, deep bowl with no dredged channel necessary for...
. He was also a descendant of Martha Wadsworth Brewster
Martha Wadsworth Brewster
Martha Wadsworth Brewster was an 18th-century American poet and writer. She is one of only four colonial women who published volumes of their verse before the American Revolution and was the first American-born woman to publish under her own name.-Early life:She was born on April 1, 1710 in...
, a notable 18th-century American poet and writer.
He was the only son and the second child of George Henry Perkins and the grandson of Frederick Perkins and Harriet Olmstead. Henry's father was a noted American educator, naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
and Professor of Geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and kindred sciences at the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
. His father served as Dean of Arts and Sciences, vice president and was appointed interim president of the University of Vermont during World War I. He was also the state geologist of Vermont from 1898 to 1933. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, class of 1867; received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Yale in 1869.
His mother was Mary Judd Farnham, an 1863 graduate of Knox College, and a daughter of Eli Farnham and Jerusha Brewster Loomis
Loomis Homestead
The Loomis Homestead in Windsor, Connecticut is one of the oldest timber-frame houses in America. The oldest part of the house was built in 1640 by Joseph Loomis who came to America from England in 1638 . Later additions to the Loomis house were made around the turn of the eighteenth century. The...
. She attended the debates between Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
and Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the Northern Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. He lost to the Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, whom he had defeated two years earlier in a Senate contest following a famed...
at Knox College on October 7, 1858. It was said of her that she was a woman of superior mental endowments. She was the president of the Vermont Chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was the first mass organization among women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity." Originally organized on December 23, 1873, in...
, and was active in her church and philanthropic work. Her first cousin was Dr. George Trumbull Ladd
George Trumbull Ladd
George Trumbull Ladd was an American philosopher, educator and psychologist.-Early life and ancestors:...
an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
philosopher, educator and psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
.
Mary's parents had emigrated to Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
in 1836 and were the among the founders and pioneers of Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County....
. They built a temporary cabin in Log City near current Lake Storey, just north of Galesburg, the settlers having decided that no log cabins were to be built inside the town limits. They were also instrumental in the founding of Knox College. Eli Farnham served as secretary of the Board of Trustees for nearly forty years and also the first school teacher in Galesburg.
Education
He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Vermont, Burlington in 1898, received his M.ScMaster of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
in 1899 and was awarded his PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in Zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
in 1902. The title of his doctoral thesis was The Development of Gonionema Murbachii, which was on the development and life cycle of Gonionema murbachii
Jellyfish
Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...
(a type of jellyfish). After receiving his doctorate, he joined the faculty of UVM where he remained until his retirement.
Marriage and family
He married on June 11, 1903 at Baltimore, Baltimore County, MarylandBaltimore County, Maryland
Baltimore County is a county located in the northern part of the US state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 805,029. It is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Towson. The name of the county was derived from the barony of the Proprietor of the Maryland...
, Mary Edmunds, born at Baltimore, Maryland on October 18, 1874 the daughter of James Richard Edmunds and Anna Smith Keyser. She was the sister of Dr. Charles Keyser Edmunds, one of his fellow graduate students at Johns Hopkins. He was president of Canton Christian College
Lingnan University (Guangzhou)
Lingnan University in Canton, Kwangtung Province, China , was a private university established by a group of American missionaries in 1888. At its founding it was named Canton Christian College .It was incorporated into Chung Shan University in 1953...
in Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, Kwangtung Province
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and the fifth president of Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
in Claremont, California
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
. Another brother was James Richard Edmunds, Jr., a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, and a notable Architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
in Baltimore, Maryland.
She was a descendant of John Howland
John Howland
John Howland was a passenger on the Mayflower. He was an indentured servant who accompanied the separatists, also called the Pilgrims, when they left England to settle in Plymouth, Massachusetts...
, (c. 1599–1673) who was one of the Pilgrims who travelled from England to North America on the Mayflower, signed the Mayflower Compact
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists, later together known to history as the Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower...
, and helped found Plymouth Colony. She was also the great great granddaughter of Thomas Hurst Hughes, the founder and owner of the Congress Hall Hotel
Congress Hall (Cape May hotel)
Congress Hall is a historic hotel in Cape May, New Jersey occupying a city block bordered on the south by Beach Avenue and on the east by Washington Street Mall....
in Cape May, New Jersey
Cape May, New Jersey
Cape May is a city at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 United States...
, and a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives
United States Congressional Delegations from New Jersey
These are tables of congressional delegations from New Jersey to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. -United States Senate:-United States House of Representatives:-Sources:* *...
from New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
Henry and Mary were the parents of two children, Anna Keyser Perkins-Middlebrook, who married as her second husband, Stanwood Wollaston and Harriet Perkins.
Career
In 1903, he was appointed associate professor of Zoology at University of Vermont, Burlington. He taught biology, entomology, anatomy and physiology, and embryology during the first half of his career. In 1911 was promoted to full professor and served as chairman of the Zoology Department. His sporadic research projects involved field studies in the rapidly fading naturalist tradition: studies of birds, game fish, and marine invertebrates. He retired in 1945 and remained active in the UVM Alumni Association until his death in 1956.His interest in eugenics began shortly after the end of World War I. It was after WWI that he learned of a study by the U.S. Army which was used as part of the draft process. The results from the Army study showed that men from Vermont had an inordinately high rate of "defects" (such as diabetes, epilepsy, "deformities" and "mental deficiency"). Perkins saw this as a problem that needed to be fixed. He went about trying to "fix" this through investigation and social reform. This reform, as denounced by historian Nancy Gallagher in her research titled Breeding better Vermonters, also targetted french canadians and american natives in Vermont state, considered insane invasion to eliminate.
Around the same time, he revamped his Zoology curriculum and began teaching courses specifically on Heredity and Evolution. His heredity class provided the first known venue for eugenics education at UVM and the inspiration for a "Eugenics Survey" -- a field station to study Vermonters.
Death
He died on January 3, 1956 in Burlington, Vermont. He is buried in Greenmount Cemetery, Burlington, Vermont.Further reading
- Academy of Natural Sciences. The Development of Gonionema Murbachii Publisher Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1903
- Jones, Emma C. Brewster. The Brewster Genealogy, 1566-1907: a Record of the Descendants of William Brewster of the "Mayflower," ruling elder of the Pilgrim church which founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. New York: Grafton Press, 1908.