PERKINS, Samuel Elliott, jurist, born in Brattleborough, Vermont, 6 December, 1811; died in Indianapolis, Indiana, 17 December, 1879. He passed his youth on a farm and had few educational advantages. After attaining his majority he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Richmond, Indiana, in 1837. He was appointed prosecuting attorney for the Wayne circuit in 1843, was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1844, and from that year till 1864 was a judge of the supreme court of the state. He was judge of the superior court of Marion county in 1873-'6, and in the latter year was again placed on the supreme bench, of which he was chief justice at his death. He was professor of law in the North Western Christian university, and editor and proprietor of "The Jeffersonian," a Democratic paper, and published "Digest of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of Indiana" (Indianapolis, 1858) and "Pleadings and Practice under the Code in the Courts of Indiana" (1859).