Perkins, Abner bio

History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co., Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 958, Woodland Township
Abner Perkins, agriculturist, is a native of Maine, where he was born in the year 1810; his father, Stephen P., was born in Maine, where he married Miss Alice Stone. In 1831 Abner directed his footsteps to Virginia, and while living in Fredricksburg he united his fortunes to Miss Asenath Merrill, a daughter of Benjamin Merrill, of Maine, by whom he had 5 children, 2 of whom are living: Mehetabel and I. J. Perkins. After 20 years he came to Astoria, where then and in subsequent years he taught school. Miss Mehetabel Perkins, whose energetic and enterprising disposition is scarcely equaled in Western annals, takes care of the home farm, having complete control, and when the storms of winter are too cold for many a strong man to venture forth, Miss P. may always be found hard at work, taking care of the stock or doing other farm work with an energy that savors strongly of pioneer days when women bore a prominent part in the growth and development of the county. Miss P. has gained considerable local celebrity as a prose and poetical writer.