Perkins family
another excerpt from Heinegg
PERKINS FAMILY
1.Esther1 Perkins, born say 1710, was in Accomack County on 8 December 1730 when Thomas Blair, Gentleman (her master?), paid her fine for having a bastard child [Orders 1724-31, 201, 115a]. Esther died before 1 June 1748 when her son Jacob was bound apprentice in Accomack County: "Mulatto Boy Son of Esther Perkins, deced" [Orders 1744-53, 273]. Esther's children were
2i. ?Ann, born say 1726.
3ii. ?Darky, born about 1728.
4iii. ?Joshua1, born about 1732.
5iv. ?George1, born say 1735.
v. Jacob1, born December 1745, a "Mulatto Boy Son of Esther Perkins, deced," aged two years last Christmas, bound as an apprentice shoemaker to George Bundick, Jr., on 1 June 1748 and then bound instead to James Gibson [Orders 1744-53, 273, 280].
vi. ?Arcadia, born about 1746, a six-year-old "Mulatto" bound to George Hoyetil on 29 January 1752 [Orders 1744-53, 570].
2.Ann Perkins, born say 1726, was granted a patent for land in Bladen County, North Carolina, on 25 April 1767. She sold 50 acres on a branch of Raft Swamp on 12 December 1768 and sold another 100 acres on Beaver Dam Branch of Raft Swamp to William Lowry, son of James Lowry, on 18 February 1775 [DB 23:71, 481]. She was taxable in Bladen County on two "Mulatoes" in 1771: her son Jordan Perkins and Thomas Sweat [Byrd, Bladen County Tax Lists, I:60]. She was the mother of
i. Jordan1, born say 1758.
ii. ?Olive, born say 1762, married Ephraim Sweat according to the 18 April 1811 Opelousas, Louisiana marriage bond of their son Gideon Sweat [Opelousas license no.6].
iii. ?Nancy, born before 1776, head of a St. Landry Parish household of 6 "free colored" in 1820 [LA:108].
3.Darky (Dorcas) Perkins (Esther1), born about 1728, was six years old in September 1734 when she was bound apprentice to James Gibson in Accomack County court [Orders 1731-36, 133]. Dorcas or another daughter of Esther may have been the mother of the members of the Perkins family who remained in Accomack County. They were
i. Jemmy (James), born about 1748, a four-year-old "Mulatto" bound as an apprentice shoemaker to George Hoyetil in Accomack County in 1752 [Orders 1744-53, 571].
ii. Joshua2, born about 1752, a member of Captain Windsor Brown's Virginia Company of troops when Brown advertised in the 6 June 1777 issue of the Virginia Gazette that he had deserted. Brown described him as: a mulatto, about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches high, 24 or 25 years old, and is a straight made fellow; had on a short striped jacket, a felt hat bound round with French lace [Virginia Gazette, Purdie edition, p. 3, col. 3]. His only heir Sally Perkins applied for his pension in Accomack County on 29 March 1834 for Revolutionary War service as a seaman [Orders 1832-36, 21, 313].
iii. Nimrod, born say 1755, bound an apprentice shoemaker to William Sacker James in Accomack County on 28 August 1765 [Orders 1764-65, 489]. He was taxable in Accomack County in 1785 and 1790 [PPTL, 1782-1814, frames 154, 347], a "Mulatto" taxable in Northampton County in 1787 and 1788 [PPTL, 1782-1823, frames 74, 81], and head of an Accomack County household of 2 "other free" and one white woman in 1800 [Virginia Genealogist 2:13]. He was about seventy-two years old on 31 July 1832 when he testified in Accomack County court that he enlisted as a drummer on board the galley Diligence from 1777 until 1781 and that he had received a Virginia Military Land Warrant for 100 acres [Orders 1828-32, 537].
6iv. Cady, born say 1758.
v.Abraham, born say 1760, a "free Negro" taxable in Accomack County from 1798 to 1812 [PPTL, 1782-1814, frames 363, 499, 698, 732, 796], head of St. George's Parish, Accomack County household of 7 "other free" in 1800 [Virginia Genealogist 2:159] and 8 in 1810 [VA:48].
7vi. Adam, born say 1765.
vii. Esther2, born about 1773, ordered bound out by the churchwardens of Accomack Parish in Accomack County to Leah James on 30 May 1775 [Orders 1774-7, 352], head of an St. George's Parish, Accomack County household of 3 "other free" in 1800 [Virginia Genealogist 2:159]. She registered in Accomack County about 1832: born about 1773, yellow complexion, 5'5-3/4" high, born free in Accomack County [Register of Free Negroes, 1785-1863, no. 593].
viii. Oliver, a "free Mulatto" ordered bound out by the churchwardens of Accomack Parish in Accomack County to Shadrack Bayly on 30 May 1775 [Orders 1774-7, 354].
ix. Comfort, head of a St. George's Parish, Accomack County household of 5 "other free" in 1800 [Virginia Genealogist 2:160].
4.Joshua1 Perkins (Esther1), born about 1732, was two years old (no parent or race indicated) on September 1734 when he was bound to James Gibson in Accomack County court [Orders 1731-36, 133]. He was probably one of the mixed-race sons of Esther Perkins since her son Jacob was also bound to James Gibson. Joshua owned land in Bladen County, North Carolina, on the province line adjoining land entered by Benjamin Davis before 20 October 1761 [Philbeck, Bladen County Land Entries, no. 1210 (called Joshua Parkins)]. He purchased 125 acres in Bladen County on Wilkerson Swamp, a branch of the Little Pee Dee River, on 1 November 1768 and sold this land on 26 April 1770. This was part of a tract of 250 acres, the other half owned by Robert Sweat in 1754 and sold by Philip Chavis in 1768. And he was granted 100 acres on Wilkerson Swamp on 22 Dec 1769 [Bladen DB 23:80, 121, 104-5, 424-5, 147-8]. These lands are on the present-day border of Robeson County near the county line of Dillon and Marlboro Counties, South Carolina. He was a "Mulato" taxable in Bladen County with his wife and sons George and Isaac in 1768 and 1769 [Byrd, Bladen County Tax Lists, I:7, 17]. He was taxable in Washington County, Tennessee, in 1787 (called Joshua Perkins, Sr.) but not in 1788, perhaps because he was over age [Creekmore, "Early East Tennessee Taxpayers," East Tennessee Historical Society's Publications, (1963):108; Tennessee Ancestors, 5:37].
Joshua and his children's race and color were described in detail in an 1858 Johnson County, Tennessee trial in which his great-grandson, Jacob F. Perkins, sued John R. White for slander because he called him a "free Negro." The race of Joshua's great-grandchildren was not self evident since Joshua and his descendants had married white or light-skinned women. Eighteen elderly deponents, many who had known the family when they lived near the Pee Dee River in South Carolina (where Joshua had apparently moved after selling his Bladen County land), deposed that they had known Joshua/ Jock and his children: George, Jacob, Joshua, Isaac, Lewis, and Polly. He kept race horses and a ferry by Roan's Creek and associated with "decent, respectable" white people like Landon Carter. He married Mary/ Polly Black in 1753. She was fair skinned, called a Scotch woman. He moved back to North Carolina in 1785 (Washington County?) and died on 10 April 1801 [The Perkins File in the T.A.R. Nelson Papers in the Calvin M. McClung Collection at the East Tennessee Historical Center, depositions of Anna Graves and John J. Wilson].
The Johnson County court decided that Jacob F. Perkins was indeed a "free Negro" [Johnson County, Tennessee, Circuit Court Minutes 1855-58, July 17, 1858, 427], but it considered depositions from fifty-nine persons before making this decision. The depositions provide the physical descriptions of many members of the family as well as a description of their life in the white community. Sixteen of twenty-two elderly deponents who had actually seen old Joshua Perkins said he was of African descent:
Can't say whether ... full blooded. The nose African. Believe they were Africans ... always claimed to be Portuguese. All married white women [The Perkins File, deposition of John E. Cossen].
as black as any common mulatto. Hair short and curled and kinky ... [The Perkins File, deposition of Larkin L. White].
He was a very black and reverend negro ... [The Perkins File, deposition of Reuben Brooks].
black man, hair nappy ... Some called Jacob (his son) a Portuguese and some a negro ... I helped Jock shell corn. He was said to be a hatter [The Perkins File, deposition of John Nave, 88 years old].
Knew old Jock (Joshua) in North Carolina on Peedee ... right black or nearly so. Hair kinky ... like a common negro [The Perkins File, deposition of Abner Duncan, 86 years old].
However, six persons who had seen old Joshua Perkins said he was dark-skinned but not African. They seem to have argued in their depositions that the Perkins family must have been something other than African - Portuguese or Indian - since they were relatively affluent and had good relations with their white neighbors:
dark skinned man ... resembled an Indian more than a negro. He was generally called a Portuguese. Living well ... Kept company with everybody. Kept race horses and John Watson rode them [Ibid., deposition of Thomas Cook, 75 years old].
mixed blooded and not white. His wife fair skinned ... They had the same privileges [Ibid., deposition of Catherine Roller, 80 years old].
Hair bushy & long - not kinky. Associated with white people ... Associated with ... the most respectable persons. Some would call them negroes and some Portuguese [Ibid., deposition of John J. Wilson, about 70 years old].
He was known of the Portuguese race ... Four of his sons served in the Revolution ... Jacob and George drafted against Indians ... they came from and kept a ferry in South Carolina [Ibid., deposition of Anna Graves, 77 years old].
They kept company with decent white people and had many visitors [Ibid., deposition of Elizabeth Cook, about 71].
I taught school at Perkins school house ... they were Portuguese ... associated white peoples, clerked at elections and voted and had all privileges [Ibid., deposition of David R. Kinnick, aged 77].
Some who testified in favor of the Perkins family had never seen Joshua Perkins and seem to have been genuinely confused about the family's ancestry:
I was well acquainted with Jacob Perkins (one of Joshua's sons). A yellow man - said to be Portuguese. They do not look like negroes. I have been about his house a great deal and nursed for his wife. She was a little yellow and called the same race. Had blue eyes and black hair. Was visited by white folks [Ibid., deposition of Mary Wilson].
One of the deponents, seventy-seven-year-old Daniel Stout, explained very simply how people of African descent could have been treated well by their white neighbors:
Never heard him called a negro. People in those days said nothing about such things [Ibid., deposition of Daniel Stout].
According to the depositions, Joshua and Polly's children were
8i. George2, born 22 March 1754 in Liberty County, South Carolina.
9ii. Jacob2, born say 1756.
10iii. Isaac3, born say 1758.
11iv. Joshua3, born in November 1759.
v. Lewis1, born say 1762, perhaps the Lewis Perkins who was taxable in Carter County, Tennessee in 1805 [1805 Carter County Tax List]. He was said to be a dark-skinned man with red complexion [The Perkins File, deposition of John J. Wilson]. A sixty-five-year-old woman deposed in 1858 that she had known Lewis, and that Lewis [had] kinky hair [Ibid., deposition of Sarah Oaks], and a sixty-nine-year-old man deposed that Lewis [was] dark and bushy headed [Ibid., deposition of Goulder Hicks].
vi. Polly, perhaps identical to Mary Perkins, born before 1776, head of a St. Landry Parish, Louisiana household of 2 "free colored" in 1820 [LA:105], mother of Eady Perkins according to the 10 October 1825 Opelousas license for her daughter's marriage to James F. Carr [Opelousas license no.42]. She was called Polly Perkins when her daughter Edith Perkins married Stephen Goin of South Carolina on 17 November 1826 in Opelousas [License no.78]. James Carr, born 1776-94, was head of a St. Landry Parish household of 2 "free colored" in 1820 [LA:101].
5.George1 Perkins (Esther1), born say 1735, was a "Mulatto" servant charged in Accomack County court with absenting himself from the service of Andrew Gilchrist, administrator of James Gibson, on 28 August 1751 [Orders 1744-53, 522, 554]. He may have been the George Perkis who was in the Berkeley County, South Carolina Detachment of Captain Benjamin Elliot, drafted November 1759 and discharged January 8, 1760, in the same list with "Carter, a free Negro," Gideon Bunch, Ephraim Bunch, James Bunch, and Jacob Bunch [Clark, Colonial Soldiers of the South, 939]. He was living in Craven County, North Carolina, when he was acquitted of an unspecified crime by the October 1761 Craven County court. He was ordered to pay a little over 12 pounds damages to Edmond Morgan on 13 June 1769 [Minutes 1761-62, 45a; 1766-75, 115b]. He was called a husbandman on 27 February 1771 when he purchased 200 acres in Craven County on the west side of Cahoogue Creek for sixty barrels of tar. He sold half of this land on 3 October 1774 and was called a "free Negro" when he sold the remainder by deed proved in September 1785 Craven County court [DB 19:202; 26:124-5, 130]. He was a taxable head of his own "Black" Craven County household in 1769 [SS 837] and head of a Craven County household of 4 "other free" in 1790 [NC:131]. He was bondsman for the 3 February 1786 Craven County marriage of Sarah Perkins to Isaac Carter. He may have been the father of
i. Isaac2, born about 1756, head of a Craven County household of 2 "other free" in 1790 [NC:131] and 2 "free colored" in Craven County in 1820 [NC:67]. He married Deborah Godett, 24 March 1784 Craven County bond. She was named in the 1803 Craven County will of her father George Godett [CR 28.801.20]. Isaac entered land on the south side of the Neuse River and west side of Macock's Branch on 9 December 1813 [Grants 4:177]. He was living with his wife Deborah, born 1763, when he made a declaration in Craven County court to obtain a Revolutionary War pension on 13 May 1829. He testified that he enlisted for three years in May 1778 and was granted pension certificate no. 4666 on 30 November 1818. He still had 100 acres of land in his possession, and included with his pension application was a copy of his deed of 30 January 1827 by which he sold 150 acres on the south side of the Neuse River and head of Handcocks Creek near the head of Macocks Branch to Isaac Carter. Joseph Physioc testified that: from a long and intimate acquaintance with the General Conduct and Character of the Said Isaac Perkins, we do not hesitate to declare that (though a man of Colour) we do believe him to be too honest in principal to practice anything like a fraud. His lawyer, Samuel Gerock, called him a "Negroe Man, and Old Soldier of the Revolutionary Army" when he appealed for the restoration of his pension [National Archives Inv. File 41.953]. His will, proved in Craven County in August 1830, mentioned his wife Deborah and sister Sarah Carter and her children [WB C:326].
ii. Sarah, married Isaac Carter.
6.Cady Perkins (Dorcas1, Esther1), born say 1758, was the mother of George Perkins who was ordered bound by the overseers of the poor to Sarah Bradford by the Accomack County court to be a farmer on 31 January 1792. She may also have been the mother of Stephen and Lott Perkins who were ordered bound to Caleb Harrison to be farmers on 1 March 1792. On 27 March Sarah Bradford brought a case against John Mears, George's former master, for detaining George in his service. After a hearing, the court ordered the overseers of the poor to bind George to Elizabeth Bardford [Orders 1790-6, 305, 324, 326, 343]. Cady was the mother of
i. George3, Sr., registered in Accomack County about 1832: born about 1780, a dark yellow, 5'8-3/4", born free in Accomack County [Register of Free Negroes, 1785-1863, no. 602].
ii. ?Stephen1, born 1 February 1780, listed in a register certified in Accomack County on 29 September 1807: a Dark Mulatto colour or Brown, 5 feet 5 Inches, Dark hair, Dark Eyes [Register, no.12].
iii. ?Lot, born 22 April 1785, listed in a register certified in Accomack County on 29 September 1807: a light Black Dark Mulatto, 5 feet 6-1/2 Inches ... Born Free [Register, no.8].
7.Adam Perkins, born say 1765, was taxable in Norfolk County from 1791 to 1812: called a "N"(egro) in 1797; a labourer on Western Branch in a "List of Free Negroes and Mulattoes" in 1801, head of a household with males Nathan and Wright Perkins and females Annas, Betsey and Lucretia Perkins; called a "M"(ulatto) in 1802; taxable on a slave aged 12-16 in 1803 [Personal Property Tax Lists, 1791-1812, frames 29, 88, 145, 231, 304, 384, 434, 468, 487, 582, 695, 747]. He was head of a Norfolk County household of 6 "other free" in 1810 [VA:820]. He purchased 5 acres in Norfolk County at the head of the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River for 7 pounds, 10 shillings on 4 September 1790 and purchased another 7 acres adjoining Thomas Archer and John Weaver for 14 pounds on 1 November 1797 [DB 32:87; 37:143]. Annias was a "B." (Black) taxable on 2 horses in Western Branch in Norfolk County from 1815 to 1817 [Personal Property Tax Lists, 1813-24, frames 110, 148, 265]. Adam and Annias may have been the parents of
i. Betsey, born say 1792, married William Bass, 2 November 1812 Norfolk County bond, Adam Perkins surety.
ii. Nathan, born say 1794, a "B.M." (Black Male) taxable in Western Branch in Norfolk County from 1815 to 1817 [Personal Property Tax Lists, 1813-24, frames 110, 266].
iii. Wright.
iv. Lucretia.
8.George2 Perkins (Joshua1, Esther1), was born on 22 March 1754 in Liberty County (present-day Marion County), South Carolina, according to his pension application [National Archives Pension File RF-8113]. He applied for a pension while living in Lawrence County, Kentucky, on 15 March 1834. He was living in South Carolina when he entered the service in Charleston. He served four tours of ten days each in the militia under Lieutenant Richard Whittington in 1780. He lived for about twenty-six years (1787-1813) on the Watauga River in the part of North Carolina which later became Washington County, Tennessee, and lived in Lawrence County, Kentucky, for another twenty-one years (1813-34). A copy of his 5 April 1780 Bladen County marriage bond to Keziah Manning, with John Cade (one of the captains he served under) as bondsman, was included in Keziah's application for a widow's pension [RF-8113]. He was taxable in Washington County in 1788 and received a grant for 100 acres in Washington County on Little Doe Creek near Roans Creek from the State of North Carolina on 17 November 1790 and another 100 acres on the Watauga River on 16 October 1797 [Creekmore, Tennessee Ancestors, 5:37; Carter County, Tennessee DB A:141, 149 (This part of Washington County became Carter County, Tennessee)]. He purchased 200 acres in Washington County, Tennessee, on Little Doe Creek of the Watauga River on 24 May 1793 [Washington County DB 2:273-275]. He sold 200 acres of this land on 21 October 1795, another 100 acres on 28 December 1797 [Carter County DB A:104, 136], sold 100 acres on the Watauga River on 10 February 1804, 100 acres on Roans Creek on 26 November 1804, 50 acres on Little Doe Creek on 26 August 1805, and another 50 acres in this area on 10 April 1807 [Carter DB A:468-9, 532-3; B:16, 108-9]. George died in Lee County, Iowa, on 16 November 1840 and Keziah died on 12 August 1849 according to their only surviving child Ann Graves [National Archives Pension File RF-8113]. Their children were
i. Stephen2, born 6 September 1783, purchased 190 acres on Doe River on 12 September 1806 and sold this land on 10 August the same year [Carter County DB A:111-3]. He married Catherine Summa and had 11 children.
ii. Anna Graves, born about 1780 since she was seventy-seven years old in 1858 when she made a deposition in Missouri for the Johnson County, Tennessee trial of Jacob F. Perkins [The Perkins File, deposition of Anna Graves].
9.Jacob2 Perkins (Joshua1, Esther1), born say 1756, was taxable on 200 acres in Washington County, Tennessee, in 1787, 1788, and 1789 [East Tennessee Historical Society's Publications, (1963):108; Tennessee Ancestors, vol. 5, No.1 (April 1989):37, 82]. He purchased 200 acres on Little Doe Creek of the Watauga River in Washington County, Tennessee, on 11 May 1791 [DB 2:272-3]. He was a school teacher who married Nancy Graves, daughter of John Graves, a constable, and his wife Susan, a white woman [The Perkins File, deposition of James Bradley]. Johnson Hampton testified for the pension application of his son Jacob3 Perkins that Jacob2 Perkins came to Carter County, Tennessee, about 1802 and that Jacob2 told him he had lived in South Carolina near the Little Pee Dee River during the time of the Revolution. Jacob served in the Revolution under General Marion and: was [a] respectfully up right honest man and was considered by his neighbors. John J. Wilson, who helped to bury him, testified that [Jacob]: and wife were both members of the Babstez Church he was a respectable man and a good citizen and was regarded by his neighbors. His son Jacob3 Perkins testified that Jacob2 Perkins also served several tours against the Indians after coming to Carter County (then Washington County, North Carolina). And he was married to Ann Graves by Jonathan Mulkey, a Washington County preacher while the county was still a territory of North Carolina (1790-96). He further testified that his father died on 4 April 1819, and his mother lived with him until her death on 8 November 1842 [National Archives Pension File R-8105]. James Bradley deposed that he knew Jacob's children: Joseph, Sally, Esther, Joshua, Amos, John, Susan, and Keziah [The Perkins File]. In his 22 March 1819 Carter County, Tennessee will, he mentioned his wife Nancy and their children: Joseph, Joshua, Amos, Jacob, John, Sarah, Esther, Keziah, Lydia, and Susanna, and he asked that land he owned in Burke County, North Carolina, be sold and divided between William and Benjamin (no last name mentioned), the two children of his daughter Sarah [WB 1:387-8]. His children were
i. Joseph. He and his brothers, Joshua, Amos, Jacob, and John Perkins entered land on Cranberry Creek in 1827 [Burke, The History of the North Carolina Country, 1777-1920, 212]. They were the original owners of the Cranberry Iron Forge in Watauga County [Arthur, History of Watauga County, 264].
ii. Sarah, mother of William and Benjamin Graves.
iii. Esther3.
iv. Joshua5, born in 1796, married Elizabeth Kite. They were the parents of Jacob F. Perkins, plaintiff in the 1858 Johnson County suit [The Perkins File, Plaintiff's Attorney's Notes/ Outlines of Argument]. Jacob F. Perkins was a school teacher. He clerked at elections, voted, and associated with whites.
v. Amos.
vi. Jacob3, born about 1799, since he was about fifty-three years old on 16 October 1852 when he testified for a survivor's pension [National Archives File R-8105]. He was a school teacher [The Perkins File, deposition of Dr. John E. Cossen].
vii. John.
viii. Susan.
ix. Keziah.
x. Lydia.
10.Isaac3 Perkins (Joshua1, Esther1), born say 1758, received a grant for 100 acres in Washington County on Campbell's Creek from the State of North Carolina on 17 November 1790 and was living in Granville County (Greenville?), South Carolina, on 19 January 1796 when he sold this land to Jacob Perkins [Carter County DB A:110, 147]. He purchased 100 acres in Greenville District, South Carolina, in 1796 and sold 200 acres there in 1797. He purchased 100 acres in Greenville District on 8 September 1796. On 29 March 1798 he sold by two deeds (signing) a total of 500 acres of land in Greenville County on the waters of "Guilden Creek of Enoree Reiver" which was land he had been granted on 1 December 1794 [DB D:320, 509, 511]. He was head of a Buncombe County, North Carolina household of 12 "other free" in 1800 [NC:183], 11 "other free" in Opelousas, Louisiana in 1810 (living near Gilbert Sweat) [LA:325], and one "free colored" over forty-five years of age in 1820 [LA:108]. He married Hannah Sweat according to the 16 January 1819 Opelousas Courthouse marriage license of their son Stephen Perkins of South Carolina [Opelousas license no.3]. Isaac and Hannah's children were
i. George3, born say 1785, married Polly Ashworth, daughter of James Ashworth and Keziah Dial of South Carolina, 4 December 1810. George was head of a St. Landry Parish household of 5 "free colored" in 1820 and 10 in 1830 [LA:107, 27].
ii. Isaac4, born say 1787, married Sarah Singleton, 24 May 1810 St. Landry Parish bond; and second, Mary Sweat, 23 September 1811 Opelousas marriage [Opelousas marriage license no.3]. He was head of a St. Landry Parish household of 3 "free colored" in 1820 [Census p.108].
iii. Stephen3, born say 1790 (in Craven County, South Carolina), son of Isaac Perkins and Hannah Sweat, married Nancy Johnson, daughter of Isaac Johnson and Mary Willis, on 16 January 1819 in Opelousas [Opelousas marriage license no.3].
iv. ?Lewis2, born say 1792, head of a St. Landry Parish household of 4 "free colored" in 1820 [LA:107].
11.Joshua4 Perkins (Joshua1, Esther1), born in November 1759 in present-day Marion County, South Carolina, was taxable on one poll in Washington County, North Carolina, in 1788 (called Joshua Perkins, Jr.) in the same list as George Perkins and Gilbert Sweat, and he was taxable on 100 acres in 1791 [Creekmore, Tennessee Ancestors, 5:37, 72, 81]. He was head of a Buncombe County, North Carolina household of 7 "other free" in 1800 [NC:183]. He married Mary Mixon according to the 2 October 1810 Opelousas Marriage of his daughter Sarah Perkins [Opelousas Parish Courthouse, marriage license no.14]. He was head of an Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana household of 6 "other free" in 1810, one "free colored" over forty-five years of age in 1820, and one over fifty-five years of age in 1830 [LA:26]. On 25 May 1830 he was called a "f.m.c." (free man of color) when he made a deposition for Gilbert Sweat, "f.m.c.," in a case held in St. Landry Parish in which he testified that he would be seventy-one years old in November 1830, was born on the Little Peedee River in what was then called Marion County, South Carolina, in the same area as Gilbert Sweat. About the year 1777 he helped Sweat run off with Frances Smith, wife of John Barney Taylor. They travelled the same route from South Carolina: to North Carolina to Tennessee to Big Black River, Mississippi, and finally to Louisiana about 1804. However, they sometimes did not see each other for several years at a time [Parish of St. Landry, case no.1533]. On 15 June 1837 when he was about seventy-eight years old, his three daughters filed suit in the Court of Probate of St. Landry Parish to have a curator appointed to administer his estate because he was blind and supposedly feeble. They were Mary Perkins (wife of James Ashworth), Sarah Perkins (wife of Jesse Ashworth), and Elizabeth Perkins (wife of James Goings). He was living with his son Jordan Perkins at the time. The estate was said to contain considerable property, mainly cattle. The case was dismissed on 3 April 1840, apparently due to the death of Joshua. His children were
i. Elizabeth, born say 1787, married James Goings. He was born before 1776, head of an Opelousas Parish household of 3 "other free" in 1810 [LA:305] and 7 "free colored" in 1820 [LA:101].
ii. Jordan, born say 1789, married Jinny Goen on 12 March 1814 in Opelousas [Opelousas license no.9]. He was head of a St. Landry Parish household of 6 "free colored" in 1820 [LA:101].
iii. Sarah, born about 1791, daughter of Joshua Perkins and Mary Mixon, married Jesse Ashworth, "of South Carolina," son of James Ashworth, Sr., and Keziah Dial, on 2 October 1810 [Opelousas license nos.14, 17]. James Ashworth, Sr., was head of an Opelousas household of 11 "other free" in 1810 [LA:306]. Sarah Ashworth was a fifty-nine-year-old "Mulatto" in the 1850 Calcaisieu Parish, Louisiana census.
iv. Mary, born about 1796, daughter of Joshua and Mary Perkins, married James Ashworth, Jr., son of James and Keziah Ashworth, on 23 September 1811 in St. Landry's Parish, Louisiana [Opelousas license no.13].
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