Frederic Beecher Perkins
| Frederic Beecher Perkins | |
|---|---|
Frederic Beecher Perkins
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| Born |
September 27, 1828 Hartford, Connecticut, US |
| Died | January 27, 1899 (aged 70) Morristown, New Jersey |
| Occupation | Librarian Writer Editor |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Anne Wescott |
| Children | Thomas Adie Perkins Charlotte Perkins |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Clap Perkins and Mary Foote Beecher |
Frederic Beecher Perkins (27 September 1828, Hartford, Connecticut - 27 January 1899, Morristown, New Jersey) was an American editor, writer, and librarian. He was a member of the Beecher family, a prominent 19th American religious family.
Frederick Beecher Perkins was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Mary (Beecher) Perkins and Thomas Clap Perkins. He was the grandson of Lyman Beecher, a Presbyterian minister best known as a revivalist and social reformer. He was also the father of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a prominent American feminist, sociologist, novelist, and a lecturer for social reform. Perkins entered Yale University in 1846 and though he left two years later before he finished his degree, Yale awarded him a master of arts degree in 1860. In 1848, he worked in his father’s law office, and by 1851 Perkins was admitted to the Connecticut Bar. In 1852, Perkins graduated as a librarian from Connecticut Normal School, now Central Connecticut State University, and became a teacher for a short time in Greenwich, Connecticut. He held various posts in Hartford until 1854, in which year he went to New York City, remaining until 1857. Then, returning to Hartford, he became assistant editor of Henry Barnard's American Journal of Education for three years.
in 1857, Frederic was married to Mary Fitch Wescott, and together they had two children, Thomas Adie in 1859 and Charlotte in 1860. After Charlotte's birth, a physician advised Perkins that his wife's life would be in danger if she were to bear any more children. Soon, Perkins would leave his family, where they remained in an impoverished state. Charlotte would go on and described her father as a "stranger" and states that he was "distant and little known". Though Perkins had abandoned his family, Charlotte noted gratitude towards her father, recognizing that "...by heredity I owe him much; the Beecher urge to social service, the Beecher wit and gift of words and such small sense of art as I have." Charlotte also reflected that he "took to books as a duck to water. He read them, he wrote them, he edited them, he criticized them, he became a librarian and classified them. Before he married he knew nine languages and continued to learn more afterward…In those days, when scholarship could still cover a large portion of the world’s good books, he covered them well."
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