Maker Info
Captain Thomas Perkins
Captain Thomas Perkins (1758-1830) was born on a farm in Topsfield and trained as a cordwainer. He left home to seek his fortune in Salem. In about 1770 he shipped out on a privateer. He went into partnership with Joseph Peabody (1757-1844), whom he met aboard ship in the 1780s. Together they were merchants with a sizable fleet of ships going between Salem and the West Indies.
In 1807, Perkins inherited his father's farm in Topsfield. He built a rural home as a retreat on Salem Road. Perkins was a progressive farmer and a founding member of the Essex Agricultural Society in 1818. Perkins spent more of his later years in Topsfield than Salem. When he died, his farm was bequeathed to his nephew, Asa Pingree (2) (1807-1869) a son of his sister, Annar Perkins Pingree. His older brother, David Pingree, was heir to the shipping business. Among many improvements to the farm and the family buildings, Asa built an unusual stone stable / carriage house in 1850. When Asa died in 1869, the farm was passed to his nephew David Pingree (2). He died in 1932, and the farm passed to his grand-nephew, David Pingree Wheatland (b. 1898) who owned it into the 1980s.
