Jared Perkins

Jared Perkins (January 5, 1793 – October 15, 1854) was a United States Representative from New Hampshire and a long-serving clergyman who was active in state and national politics during the mid-nineteenth century. He was born in Unity, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, on January 5, 1793. Raised in rural New Hampshire, he attended the common schools of Unity and nearby Claremont, receiving the basic education typical of the period. His early life in these small communities helped shape the religious and civic interests that would define his later career in the ministry and in public office.

After completing his common-school education, Perkins pursued theological studies, preparing for the Congregational ministry at a time when New England religious life was undergoing significant change. He studied theology under local clerical guidance rather than at a formal seminary, following a common path for aspiring ministers in early nineteenth-century New England. In 1824 he was ordained as a minister, and he entered upon a pastoral career that would span approximately thirty years. During this period he served congregations in New Hampshire, providing religious instruction, pastoral care, and community leadership, and he became a respected figure in the towns where he preached.

Perkins’s prominence as a clergyman and community leader led him into public service in New Hampshire state government. By the mid-1840s he had become sufficiently well known to be chosen for higher office, and he served as a member of the New Hampshire Executive Council from 1846 to 1848. In that capacity he advised the governor and participated in overseeing various aspects of state administration. He continued his involvement in state politics as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1850, representing his constituents in the lower chamber of the state legislature and aligning himself with the Whig Party, which was then one of the two major national political parties.

Building on his state-level experience, Perkins was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-second Congress, representing New Hampshire in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1851, to March 3, 1853. His election reflected both his standing within the Whig Party and the support he enjoyed among voters in his district. During his term in Congress he served at a time of mounting sectional tensions in the years following the Compromise of 1850, though specific details of his committee assignments and legislative positions are not extensively documented. He sought to continue his service in the national legislature but was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1852 to the Thirty-third Congress, as the Whig Party faced growing electoral challenges in New England and across the country.

After leaving Congress in March 1853, Perkins remained active in public life and within his party. In 1854 he was nominated as the Whig candidate for Governor of New Hampshire, an indication of his continued prominence and the confidence his party placed in him despite its declining fortunes nationally. That same year he was appointed a justice of the peace, reflecting the trust placed in his judgment and character in matters of local law and civil affairs. He carried out the duties of that office in 1854, even as his health declined.

Perkins died in Nashua, New Hampshire, on October 15, 1854, before the gubernatorial election in which he was a candidate could be held. His death brought to a close a career that combined religious vocation with sustained public service at both the state and national levels. He was buried in West Unity Cemetery in his native Unity, New Hampshire, returning in death to the community where his life had begun more than six decades earlier.