Bishop Perkins

Bishop Perkins (September 5, 1787, in Becket, Massachusetts – November 20, 1866, in Ogdensburg, New York) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served one term as a United States Representative from New York from 1853 to 1855. His career spanned more than half a century of public service at the county, state, and federal levels during a period of significant political and constitutional change in the United States.

Perkins spent his early years in Massachusetts before pursuing higher education in New York. He graduated from Williams College in 1807, a notable achievement at a time when relatively few Americans obtained a collegiate education. Following his graduation, he read law in the traditional manner of the period, preparing for admission to the bar through apprenticeship and independent study rather than through a formal law school.

In 1812, Perkins was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Lisbon, New York, in St. Lawrence County. As his legal practice developed, he relocated to Ogdensburg, New York, where he continued to build his reputation as an attorney. His legal expertise and growing prominence in local affairs led to a long tenure in county government. From 1820 to 1852, he served as clerk of the board of supervisors of St. Lawrence County, a position that placed him at the center of county administration and local governance for more than three decades. In addition, he was appointed district attorney of St. Lawrence County on February 24, 1821, and held that office until May 21, 1840, overseeing criminal prosecutions and representing the county in legal matters for nearly twenty years.

Perkins’s experience in local government and law naturally drew him into broader state political affairs. He was a delegate to the New York State constitutional convention of 1846, participating in the revision of the state’s fundamental law at a time when many states were modernizing their constitutions to address changing political, economic, and social conditions. In the same year, he was elected to the New York State Assembly, serving in 1846 and 1847, and returning again in 1849. As an assemblyman, he contributed to state legislation during a period marked by debates over internal improvements, banking, and the evolving relationship between state and local governments.

Building on his long record of public service, Perkins was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress, representing New York in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1853, to March 3, 1855. His term in Congress coincided with a significant period in American history, marked by intensifying sectional tensions and major legislative struggles over the expansion of slavery and the organization of western territories. As a member of the Democratic Party representing New York, he participated in the legislative process and the democratic governance of the nation, representing the interests of his St. Lawrence County constituents in the national legislature. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1854 and thus served a single term in the House.

After leaving Congress, Perkins returned to Ogdensburg, New York, where he resumed and continued the practice of law. He remained a respected figure in the community, his long career reflecting sustained engagement in both the legal profession and public service. Perkins died in Ogdensburg on November 20, 1866, at the age of 79. He was interred in Ogdensburg Cemetery, closing a life that had been closely intertwined with the legal and political development of northern New York during the first two-thirds of the nineteenth century.