Симеон Перкинс: Политик, Военный и Хронист Новой Шотландии

Canadian politician

Colonel Simeon Perkins (February 24, 1735 – May 9, 1812) was a Nova Scotia militia leader, merchant, diarist and politician. Perkins led the defence of Liverpool from attacks during the American Revolution, French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. In the 1770s, Liverpool was the second largest settlement in Nova Scotia, next to Halifax. He also funded privateer ships in defence of the colony. He wrote a diary for 46 years (1766–1812), which is an essential historic document of this time period in Nova Scotian history. His home is now the Perkins House Museum. He was the grandfather of Joshua Newton Perkins.

A born leader, he held public office for a long period representing Queens County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1765 to 1768 and from 1770 to 1799.

Perkins was born in Norwich, Connecticut, one of sixteen children of Jacob Perkins and Jemima Leonard. He came to Liverpool, Nova Scotia, in May 1762 as part of the New England Planter migration to Nova Scotia. In Liverpool, Perkins immediately began trading in fish and lumber and forged trading ties with New England, Newfoundland, Europe and the West Indies. He had nine children from two marriages. His first wife, Abigail Backus, died four weeks after the birth of his first son Roger. He married again in 1775 to Mrs. Elizabeth Headley (Young) who had been widowed two months before the birth of her daughter Ruth.

His diary, which he began in 1766, remains a vital source for historians studying the society and economy of colonial Canada and notably the battle for identity and loyalty during the American Revolution. Perkins was at first neutral, but became increasingly loyal to the British cause. After relentless American privateer attacks on shipping and an attempted American looting of Liverpool itself, Perkins helped lead the defences of the town and outfitted several privateer ships against the Americans. One of his diary entries, for October 12, 1796 allegedly contains the first report of a UFO sighting in modern North America. Perkins reports the tale circulating at the time of a young lady and two men living at New Minas, Nova Scotia on upper reaches of the Bay of Fundy, who, during a recent sunrise, saw as many as fifteen “ships in the air and a man forward with his hand stretched out.” Perkins continues, "the story did not obtain universal credit but some people believed it." The original copies of Perkins diaries were donated to the Town of Liverpool in 1899 and are now held by the Queens County Museum in Liverpool. The diary was published in five volumes by the Champlain Society between 1948 and 1967. The diaries are now available online. It opened as the Perkins House Museum in 1957 and became part of the Nova Scotia Museum system, the oldest building owned by the province. It became a popular tourism draw in Liverpool open every year during the summer. However the house was closed to the public in 2015 after the province, citing shifting floor beams deemed the building a safety hazard. Repairs were completed in 2021 after delays due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The museum reopened in June 2021.