Peter Perkins
Peter Perkins was an American patriot, planter and politician who represented Pittsylvania County, Virginia during the final session of the House of Burgesses, several of the Virginia Revolutionary Conventions and in the first session of the Virginia House of Delegates, as well as led the county militia during the American Revolutionary War.
Early life and education
Probably the eldest surviving son born in then-vast Goochland County to the former Bethania Hardin and her farmer husband, Col. Nicholas Perkins. The family soon moved southward to the area drained by the Dan River in what was then Halifax County and about 1745 Nicholas Sr. started a plantation at Berry Hill, which this son inherited upon his father's death in 1762. Perkins had at least three younger brothers. Constant Perkins inherited their father's last Pittsylvania home, and like this brother also served as in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Pittsylvania County 1782-1788, but had no children during his marriage to Agatha Marr. Nicholas Perkins would marry Leah Pryor of Orange County, North Carolina and in 1767 erected the first separate Baptist Church in Virginia but would later move his family to Tennessee. Another brother was Thomas Hardin Perkins. This man's sisters included: Bethania, Anne, Mary and Elizabeth.Career
Peter Perkins invested in real estate in Pittsylvania County as well as in North Carolina. He also operated an ordinary at his home, and farmed tobacco using enslaved labor. Although Peter Perkins does not appear in the published 1787 Virginia tax census, in 1782 he paid taxes for 25 slaves in Pittsylvania County; his brother Nicholas was taxed for 26 slaves and Constant Perkins paid taxes based on 18 slaves.Decades earlier, Pittsylvania voters elected Perkins and fellow militia captain Benjamin Lankford their representatives to what proved to be the final session of the House of Burgesses, which began in 1775. After Governor Dunmore prorogued that assembly, Pittsylvania voters elected Perkins and Lankford and the men they had replaced as burgesses their representatives to the first Virginia Revolutionary Conventions, and Perkins and Lankford to most of the others. However, no record exists that Lankford nor Perkins actually appeared at the Third Revolutionary Convention and Perkins was not elected to the final convention, nor as to the first session of the Virginia House of Delegates. Voters also elected Perkins as one of Pittsylvania County's two representatives in the newly established Virginia House of Delegates; this time he served in the part-time position alongside Abraham Shelton.
Meanwhile, during the conflict, the patriotic Perkins served on the county' Committee of Safety since its inception in 1775, as well as led a company of the Pittsylvania County militia, rising in rank from captain to major to lieutenant colonel. However, authorities disagree as to whether Perkins ever led troops in the field. Although local historian Maud Carter Clement believed Capt. Perkins led the local militia during the French and Indian War and at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March 1781, modern historians have not found corroborative documentation. Like fellow Pittsylvania delegate Abraham Shelton, Perkins' major revolutionary wartime activity involved gathering supplies for the troops within the county, which held one of the Commonwealth's major depots at Peytonsburg. During the three months that Perkins' home served as a hospital as discussed below, Perkins also operated a ferry. Perkins also at various times served as the Pittsylvania county sheriff. His brother-in-law John Wilson became colonel of the county's troops and ultimately county lieutenant.
After the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March 1781, Perkins' home, Berry Hill, along with nearby plantation houses of his brothers, and of William Harrison, served as hospitals for those wounded during the battle. Peter Perkins later received more reimbursement than the other three men: £50 for the rental compared to £40 to his brother Constant for house rental, £35 for Harrison for his home's rental and £16.10 awarded Nicholas Perkins for damage to his home.
Perkins remained in Pittsylvania County for a while after the war, but sold Berry Hill to Major Peter Wilson.Clement p. 213 n.5 Clearly, by 1795 had moved across the border to North Carolina, where he and a partner owned an iron furnace, and Perkins may also have continued his political career with a term in the North Carolina legislature.