George Clement Perkins (August 23, 1839 – February 26, 1923) was an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Perkins served as the 14th

governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...

from 1880 to 1883, and as

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from California from 1893 to 1915. He also served in the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

Life and career

Perkins was born in 1839 in

Kennebunkport, Maine Kennebunkport is a resort town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,629 people at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. The town center, the area in and around Dock Squa ...

, the son of Lucinda (Fairfield) and Clement Perkins. Perkins ran away to sea at age twelve, eventually arriving in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1855. After making an unsuccessful effort at staking a mining claim in Butte County, Perkins worked a succession of jobs in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

and the mining town of

Oroville Oroville may refer to: * Oroville, California, United States * Oroville, Washington, United States ;Other uses * Lake Oroville, in Butte County, California, USA * Oroville Dam, in Butte County, California, USA * Oroville Municipal Airport, in Butt ...

, including driving a mule team and working as a store clerk. Perkins eventually bought the Oroville store he clerked at, and was soon grossing $500,000 a year. Perkins was elected to California State Senate in 1869, representing Butte County. While in serving in the Senate in Sacramento, Perkins met businessman Charles Miner Goodall, with whom Perkins would form what would become the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. Leaving his Oroville business to be operated by his brother, Perkins moved to San Francisco in 1875 and expanded his interests in the shipping industry.

Perkins sought the Republican nomination for governor in 1879 and ran a successful campaign emphasizing his purported independence from railroad interests given his interests in shipping, a competing industry. During Perkins' term as governor, former

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

general John Mansfield served as his

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

. Perkins was appointed to the Senate by Governor Henry Markham in 1893 following the death of

Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, and Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician from Watervliet, New York. He served as the eighth governor of Calif ...

. As a Senator, Perkins was a part of the powerful

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

political machine, commonly called the Southern Pacific Political Bureau, headed by Southern Pacific chief counsel William F. Herrin. Perkins is buried alongside his wife Ruth Parker Perkins in Mountain View Cemetery in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

Personal life

Perkins married Ruth Parker, the daughter of his business partner Edward Parker, on May 3, 1864, in Marysville. Born in 1843 in

County Cork, Ireland County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are Mallow, Macroom, Mi ...

, she immigrated to California with her family at age eight. An avid reader of poetry, Ruth Perkins had several poems of her own published in magazines and newspapers. She died on February 4, 1921, in Oakland, California. Perkins and his wife Ruth had seven children. Mount Perkins in California is named after him.

References

External links

* * George Clement Perkins Papers. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, George C. 1839 births 1923 deaths Republican Party California state senators Republican Party governors of California People from Kennebunkport, Maine Republican Party United States senators from California Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California) 19th-century members of the California State Legislature 20th-century United States senators 19th-century United States senators