162 



HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



FAMILY HISTORY OP GEORGE HAMILTON PERKINS. 



II (M F M F), Captain Benjamin Harriman. II 3 (MM F), 

 Benjamin Emery, a captain in the Revolutionary war. Ill 1 (F F), 

 Roger Eliot Perkins (1769-1825). 



IV 1 (F), Hamilton Eliot Perkins, studied at the Harvard Law 

 School and for sixteen years presided over the probate court of Merri- 

 mac county; was interested in lumbering. IV 2 (M), Clara Bartlett 

 George. Fraternity of M: IV 3, Captain Paul R. George, who was 

 remarkably efficient. IV 4, John H. George, one of the most brilliant 

 lawyers in New Hampshire. 



V 1 (Propositus), GEORGE HAMILTON PERKINS. 



Child of Propositus: VI 1, Isabel Perkins. VI 2, Larz Anderson 

 (born in Paris, 1866), after being graduated from Harvard, spent two 

 years in travel around the world. He was a captain and assistant 

 adjutant general, United States volunteers, during the Spanish Ameri- 

 can war; was appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary 

 to Japan in 1912. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



CARROLL, S. George Hamilton Perkins, U. S. N., His Life and Letters. Boston: Houghton 

 Mifflin Co. 



50. PERRY FAMILY. 



MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY was born at Newport, Rhode Island, 1794. 

 He entered (March 1809) the United States navy as a midshipman at the naval 

 station in New York City. Within a few months he was on board his brother's 

 ship, the Revenge, and a little later was made Commodore Rodgers's aid on board 

 the President. He took part in the affair of the Little Belt, which precipitated the 

 War of 1812. He accompanied Commodore Rodgers on his cruise in the seas of 

 northern Europe. In 1813 he became lieutenant. After the war he made a voyage 

 to Holland on his father's merchantman, but in 1817 reentered the navy. He 

 was connected with the colonization of Liberia. He had many encounters with 

 pirates, and in 1824 he sailed to the Mediterranean as part of the squadron to 

 protect United States commerce from these pirates. In command of the Brandy- 

 wine, he induced the city of Naples to pay the claims of American citizens for 

 ships and cargoes that had been confiscated. During his ten years of shore duty 

 he organized the Brooklyn (New York) naval lyceum; conceived and advocated 

 the use of the ram on war vessels; studied the system of light-houses on the French 

 and English coasts; introduced successfully the dioptic system of illumination; 

 and was superintendent of the school of gun-practice at Sandy Hook. Because 

 of his great activity in modernizing the navy, he is known as the "Father of the 

 Steam Navy." In 1840 he was appointed commodore in command of the Brook- 

 lyn navy-yard and the New York naval station. In 1843, as commander of a 

 squadron of 80 guns, he sailed on a mission to suppress piracy and the slave-trade. 

 His services in the Mexican war were most important in gaining control of the 

 Western coast. In 1853 he visited Japan, and the next year secured a treaty 

 whereby Japan was opened up to the civilization of the West. Upon his return 

 he wrote a report that was published in three volumes. He suffered long from 

 a "rheumatic" infection which caused his death in 1858. 



Matthew Perry was superior to his brother Oliver in most matters of judg- 

 ment and administration. He gave attention to detail, had a sense of humor, 



