Perkins, Elisha M.

Born: 1799-03-11 Kentucky

Died: 1853-06-04 Iowa

Perkins lived in Illinois as early as 1819, when he purchased land in Jefferson County. By 1824, Perkins was living in Sand Prairie Township in Tazewell County, where he erected a band mill in Circleville, which would later be used as a fort during the Black Hawk War. In 1841, Perkins hired Abraham Lincoln to represent him in a land dispute. By 1850, Perkins had relocated to Polk County, Iowa, where he was a miller and owned $700 worth of real property.

Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Jefferson County, 88:784, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Jefferson County, Illinois (Chicago: Globe, 1883), 204; History of Tazewell County Illinois (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman, 1879), 210, 324, 617, 620; U.S. Census Office, Sixth Census of the United States (1840), Tazewell County, IL, 24; Hall v. Perkins, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136397; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Polk County, IA, 46; Gravestone, Webb Cemetery, Norwalk, IA.