The story of Solon Perkins and the Perkins family – ancestry and progeny – is further revealed by history researcher Eileen Loucraft. She forwarded this recent find:

Re: Solon Perkins ~

His father, Apollos Perkins (1799-1877) was the editor of the first northern NH Whig newspaper “White Mountain Aegis” – the first issue was in Lancaster, NH May 22, 1838. Did his father come to Lowell for his anti slavery views? Was he present when Lincoln came to town in 1848?

The Apollos Perkins’ families are descendants of John Howland so they are all Mayflower descendants. President George H.W. Bush, President George Bush, First Lady Barbara Bush, The Baldwin brothers, Humphrey Bogart, Henry Cabot Lodge and Sarah Palin come from this line. John Howland’s house is the only remaining original home still standing.

Solon’s brother Henry Phelps Perkin, Sr. was the grandfather of the actor Osgood Perkins, great grandfather of the actor Anthony Perkins and gg-grandfather to Oz Perkins who starred in “Legally Blonde.” Osgood Perkins graduated from Harvard University in 1915. He served in WW1 then began his stage career. He died at the age of 45 of a heart attack when Anthon Perkins was five years old.

Solon’s brother, Henry Perkins, Sr.  was killed by a train in Wilmington going into Boston in 1908 at the age of 74. He was a former member of the City Council and a 33rd Degree Mason. His granddaughter was married to the son of former Mayor of Lowell, Charles D. Palmer, but they later divorced. Mayor Palmer’s wife is a Hildreth so they are buried in the private Hildreth cemetery along with Benjamin Butler.

Anthony Perkins wife, Berinthia “Berry” Berenson was killed on Flight 11 on September 11, 2001. Anthony Perkins died of AIDS in 1992 in Hollywood, California. He played Norman Bates in the Hitchcock movie “Psycho”.

So I would say that Solon came from a pretty connected family!

History by “crowdsourcing” – especially when being led by our Lowell Historical Society board member and avid researcher  Eileen Loucraft – is a wonder! Thank you Eileen. Historical research finds strange bedfellows! We will stay-tuned.