Bishop W. Perkins

Bishop Walden Perkins was a United States representative and Senator from Kansas. Born in Rochester, Ohio, he attended the common schools and Knox College. He prospected for gold through California and New Mexico from 1860 to 1862 and served four years in the Union Army during the Civil War as sergeant, adjutant, and captain. He studied law in Ottawa, Illinois and was admitted to the bar in 1867, commencing the practice of law in Princeton, Indiana. He moved to Oswego, Kansas, and continued practice; he was a local county attorney for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad for two years and prosecuting attorney of Labette County in 1869. He was a judge of the probate court of Labette County from 1870 to 1882, and became editor of the Oswego Register in 1873.