Obituaries of Joshua Perkins Children

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Johnson County, Tennessee, United States
Surname/tag: Perkins

On 6 October 1860. Joshua Perkins published in the "Tennessee Baptist" the obituaries of three of his children: Sara Evalina Perkins, James Overton Perkins, and Richard Graves Perkins. In those he said that Sarah Evalina was his "only daughter and oldest child." Since the 1850 census included two female children (Evaline and Nancy Ellen) and the 1860 census included none, we can only conclude that Nancy Ellen had died well earlier than 1860 and that, at the time of her death, Sarah Evalina was the "only daughter" left alive.

It appears that neither of the girls married.

Obituaries for Children of Joshua Perkins (1796 - 1880)

Tennessee Baptist
6 October 1860, page 4, column 3.

Sara Evalina Perkins

SARA EVALINA PERKINS, my only daughter and oldest child, died of pneumonia, in Johnson county, at her father's house, on the 8th of October, 1857, in her 38th year. She was a member of the Baptist church at Cobb's creek; was baptized by Eld. Valentine Bowers, in the year 1841. She has left her seat in the church and was well thought of by all that knew her, for she left a good name and her works do follow.

JAMES OVERTON PERKINS, my youngest child and only son, that lived with me, died at his father's house in Johnson county, of inflamation of the bowels, after an illness of two days, on the 19th March, 1860, in his 28th year. His last words were these, "Lord have mercy on my poor soul, have mercy, O Lord." Calling on all the pieces of the campany to pray with him. He was bbaptized by Eld. Brown, in Cobb's Creek church, in the year 1853. He was beloved by all that knew him, and universally lamented. The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

RICHARD GRAVES PERKINS, my second son, died at his residence in Johnson county, on the 6th day of September, 1860, of typhoid fever, in his 37th year. Left a wife and five children to mourn for a husband and father, but their loss we trust is his gain. He was a Baptist in every sense of the word. Baptized by Eld. Bowers, in 1850. He was apprised of his death; directed his wife how he wanted the children raised, and committed them all to the care of Him who careth for the widow and orphan. ~ JOSHUA PERKINS

REMARKS

We sincerely sympathize with our afflicted brother, thus thrice bereaved within less than a year. May he in the midst of his sorrows so realize the sovereign efficacy of divine grace to minister balm to the wounded spirit, as that he may be [???blad] to "glory in tribulations also." ~ T.

The editor of the "Tennessee Baptist," in his remarks following the obituaries, states that the three deaths occurred in "less than a year," but the death year for Sarah is clearly 1857. Either the editor mis-spoke or 1857 is a typographical error (probably should be 1859). No other source for Sarah's death date has been found.