Perkins, William K., 1818-1863

found: NUCMC data from Arkansas Hist. Comm. for His Papers, 1851-1860(William K. Perkins; farmer, businessman, and constable, of Scott County, Ark.; b. ca. 1818 in Illinois; d. 1863; William K. Perkins was a farmer, businessman, and Illinois native who came to Arkansas in 1850 as an early settler of Scott County. The area where he lived until his death in 1863 is now part of Booneville in Logan County. In 1854, Perkins was elected constable of Boone Township and held this office until 1860. He was born in 1818 in St. Claire, Illinois, to Ephraim and Lucinda Perkins, who moved their family shortly afterwards to Benton County, Tenn. Perkins remained in this area throughout his adulthood, marrying Parthenia Herrin on Mar. 27, 1839, and fathering four children. Parthenia died in 1846 and on Nov. 30, 1847, Perkins married Martha Sykes. He and Martha then moved to Greene County, Miss., where they lived briefly and where their first son was born. Of his four other children with Martha, only two lived past infancy. During the Civil War, Perkins briefly joined the Booneville Unit of Company A, Second Arkansas Mounted Rifles. He was shot and killed near his home in the fall of 1863)