#1-Published in the Pilot July 2, 1919

Mrs. A. C. Jones had word yesterday from Mrs. Ella Roger, of Portland, Oregon, that her father, Alonzo Perkins, suffered a paralytic stroke on the 22nd and died on the 25th, last Wednesday. He was living with his daughter, Ella, Mrs. Rogers, whose husband, is also near death with cancer, having lost one hand already. Mr. Perkins was in his 96th year, as near as we can learn his age. He lived in this city for a good many years and was county judge for a long time. Fannie, Mrs. Slipp, lives in Portland alos. She lost her husband, a railroad man, about a year ago. Mrs. Perkins died last fall some time. Two of the boys are living, Dudley in Portland and Chas. in California somewhere. Fred and Frank are both dead.

#2-Printed in the Washington County Nebraska Enterprise July 3, 1919

ALONZO PERKINS PASSES

Alonzo Perkins, one of Washington county’s earliest pioneers, passed away June 25, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Fanny Slipp, at Portland, Oregon.

The men who made the history in an early day for Nebraska and Washington County are rapidly slipping away and scarcely a week goes by that we are not called upon to chronicle these sad events.

The young people of the present generation scarcely realize what these pioneers have done for them in the early days of the county when grasshoppers and drought almost drove them from the state; but many of them stayed in spite of hardships and trouble and after more than half a century of growth under the influence and guidance of these sturdy men, Nebraska and Washington County stand in the front ranks and the present and future generations have the pioneer men and women to thank for this fact.

Alonzo Perkins was born in Waterloo, New York in 1826, and had therefore attained to the ripe old age of ninety-three at the time of his death.

He served in the Mexican War, having gone as a volunteer from Illinois. In 1856, Mr. Perkins came to Nebraska settling at Calhoun where he ran a saw mill for a few years, later going to Genoa, Neb., where he conducted the same business and where as Mrs. Perkins often remarked to Blair friends, “we passed our happiest days.”

Having a liking for good old Washington County, Mr. Perkins came back in a few years, settling at Fontanelle where he became a farmer. Later he moved to Omaha for two or three years and then returned to Washington County settling at Blair where he served as county judge for ten years. He also served in 1857 as a member of the legislature when Nebraska was a territory.

Mr. and Mrs. Perkins had six children, all of whom have lived in Blair, of which number four survive him. They are Dudley, Ella, now Mrs. Rogers, and Fanny, now Mrs. Slipp, of Portland, Oregon and Charlie who resides in California. Fred died while they were living in Blair and Frank passed away after they moved to Oregon. Mrs. Perkins preceded her husband to the Great Beyond only a few months ago and had also lived to an advanced age.

Mr. and Mrs. Perkins left Blair twenty odd years ago and went out to Portland to live where their children had previously gone a few years before.

They left many warm friends in Blair at that time, only a few of whom remain. Mrs. and Mrs. Al Jones being perhaps the most intimate friends left as they were next door neighbors for years. Those old friends whose friendship began in an early day and ripened through all these years and who have gone were L.F. Hilton, John Boggs, John T. Bell, W.D. Haller and perhaps other whom the writer did not know personally.

Funeral services were held June 28, at the home of the daughter, Mrs. Ella Rogers, at Portland, Oregon.

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file at the Blair Public Library.~~~

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