Amador County Biographies

ELBERT WEST PERKINS

Submitted by Kathy Sedler, September 2004

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	Elbert W. Perkins, a leading business man of Ione, Amador county, 
who owns and conducts the oldest drug store in this vicinity, was born at Copper 
Hill, a mining camp in Amador county, on the 1st of October, 1866, and is a son 
of John Dabney and Julia Fontaine (Brown) Perkins.  His father came to San 
Francisco, California, in the early ‘50s and engaged in the draying business.  
He spent some time at Davis, Yolo county, and at Michigan Bar, Sacramento 
county, where he served as superintendent of the Held mines.  For a time Mr. 
Perkins also drove stage for “Bull” Hamilton between Iona <sic> and Michigan 
Bar, having his headquarters at the Eldred House, Tenth and K streets, 
Sacramento.  In 1876 he established the family home in Ione, where he was 
employed in the mercantile store of George Woolsey until 1880, when he was 
appointed postmaster, which office he filled for four years.  The post office at 
that time was located in a portion of the storeroom now owned by his son.  John 
B. Perkins died in 1917 and his wife survived him a number of years, passing 
away in 1928.  They were the parents of two children, Elbert W. and Martha, the 
latter becoming the wife of A. E. Smith.
	Elbert W. Perkins attended the local grammar schools, after which he 
went to work in a drug store.  He mastered the business and in the course of 
time received a druggists certificate.  In 1887 he and his father bought the 
store with he now owns and of which he became the sole proprietor in 1913 by 
buying his father’s interest.  He has prospered in this business, which has been 
enlarged by the addition of several departments, until today it would do credit 
to a much larger place than Ione.  He carried an extensive stock of goods in 
addition to the regular line of drugs, proprietary remedies and druggists’ 
sundries, and his store is attractively arranged.  Mr. Perkins’ uniform courtesy 
and accommodations is appreciated and he enjoys a large and steadily increasing 
patronage.
	Mr. Perkins was united in marriage to Miss Jessie E. Muir, whose 
father, Thomas R. Muir, is one of the pioneers of this section of the state.  
Mr. and Mrs. Perkins have had three children, Erwin F., Waldo M., and Marjorie, 
who died at the age of thirty-one years.  There are also four grandchildren.  
The democratic party receives Mr. Perkins’ support and he has been actively 
interested in local public affairs, having served as a trustee of the high 
school.  He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has 
attained the chapter degrees, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the 
Foresters of America, the Native Sons of the Golden West and the Lions Club.  He 
is fond of baseball and other outdoor sports and is extremely popular throughout 
the community where he has resided for the past fifty-four years.  He has always 
stood for those things which are calculated to promote the general welfare of 
the community and is one of Ione’s substantial and public-spirited citizens.
 
History of the Sacramento Valley California Biographical, Vol. III by Major J. 
W. Wooldridge, Chicago:  The Pioneer Historical Society Publ. Co., 1931 pp 29-30