Library of Congress

PERKINS, George Clement, a Senator from California; born in Kennebunkport, York County, Maine, August 23, 1839; had limited educational advantages; at the age of twelve went to sea as a cabin boy; followed the sea for several years; subsequently engaged in banking, milling, mining, farming, ranching, whaling, and in operating steamships on the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, and Mexico; member, California State senate 1869-1876; Governor of California 1879-1883; unsuccessful Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 1886; appointed in 1893 and subsequently elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Leland Stanford; reelected in 1897, 1903 and 1909 and served from July 26, 1893, to March 3, 1915; on account of ill health was not a candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on Fisheries (Fifty-fourth through Fifty-sixth Congresses), Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment (Fifty-seventh through Sixtieth Congresses), Committee on Naval Affairs (Sixty-first and Sixty-second Congresses), Committee on Railroads (Sixty-third Congress); returned to his home in Oakland, Calif., and lived in retirement until his death there on February 26, 1923; interment in Mountain View Cemetery.