Perkins, William (2)

Perkins, William (2), a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was born in Goochland County, Va., Aug. 2, 1800, and, in his own words, was "born again" Aug. 30, 1825. He was licensed to preach in 1828, serving the Church in a local relation with great acceptability for twenty-five years. He was ordained deacon, March 3, 1833, at Petersburg, Va., by bishop Hedding; ordained elder, Oct. 6, 1839, at Fayette, Mo., by bishop Morris. At the session of 1853 he entered the itinerancy as a member of the Missouri Conference, and continued in this connection until he ceased at once to work and live, Jan. 31, 1871. He filled various appointments on districts, stations, and circuits until the fall of 1870, when he was superannuated. "Brother Perkins, as a preacher, was too well known to require panegyric. He was able and faithful — a man of culture and extensive research, which, however, he never obtruded in his pulpit ministrations. There he was the simple, earnest 'messenger of God,' whose trumpet gave no uncertain sound. He was a gifted and useful minister of the New Testament, delighting and glorying in the cross of Christ. All the time during his last illness he was in a very happy frame of mind, exhorting all his friends to increased faithfulness in the service of God" (Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the M. E. Church, South, 1871, p. 606, 607).