Charlotte Bass Perkins

Charlotte Bass Perkins (August 2, 1808 – December 15, 1897) was an American Christian missionary. She lived at the mission in Urmia, Iran, from 1835 to 1857; her husband Justin Perkins was also a missionary.

Biography Charlotte Bass was born in Middlebury, Vermont, to William and Fidelia Bass. She attended Ipswich Female Seminary in 1832 and married Justin Perkins in July 1833. Earlier that year, Justin had accepted a commission to work among the “Nestorians” (Assyrian Church of the East members, also referred to as East Syriac Christians) from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In September 1833, Justin and Charlotte departed the United States from Boston, ultimately destined for Persia. She also delivered her first child during their journey on August 26, 1834, while in Tabriz, Iran. She was ill and unaware of the birth of her daughter for the first three days. Charlotte survived, though her husband later said that she never did fully recover from the effects of this illness. Eventually, the Perkinses, along with Asahel Grant and Judith Grant, arrived in November 1835 to Urmia, where they would establish their mission. Charlotte continued to live and work at the mission until 1857. By then, she had had seven children: four who died before the age of 1, one who died at age 3, one who died at age 12, and one who would live into adulthood. The loss of her twelve-year-old daughter Judith Grant Perkins especially effected Charlotte's health and well-being. In 1863 she wrote a letter to the directors asking that she be released, but this request was denied. At an unknown later date, Perkins was released from the asylum. She was with her husband Justin when he died in 1869 in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Charlotte was living with her son Henry Martyn Perkins in Woolwich, Maine, when she died in 1897 in her ninetieth year of age.