The Database for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in Wells, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel

Eliphalet Perkins


Other names: Eliphalet Perkins, Senior

Status (enslaved, free or both): free

Town: Kennebunkport

Known dates: 1840

The 1840 Census for Kennebunk Port provided a count of 1 under "Free Colored Persons - Females of ten and under twenty-four" in the household of Eliphalet Perkins. Note that this is Eliphalet Perkins "Senior," as the next census entry is for Elliphalet Perkins Jr.

"Eliphalet Perkins, or 'Life' as he was called, and his sons were the last local merchants to carry on extensive trade with the West Indies ... Although in 1840 the Perkins men were still shipping lumber, ships and hoops to the West Indies, that trade was ending ... Local supplies of timber for export, which must have once seemed endless, were depleted. Vessels that carried American raw materials like cotton to Europe were making the best profits." - Butler, p. 62

Bibliography:

1840 US Census for Kennebunkport

Kennebunkport - The Evolution of an American Town - Vol 1 (1603-1923) - by Joyce Butler (2013)


Eliphalet Perkins 1840 census

1840 US Census for Kennebunkport

Icon for /EliphaletPerkins/1840 Kennebunkport census - Silas Perkins and Eliphalet Perkins.jpg
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