Samuel Elliott Perkins

Samuel Elliott Perkins (December 6, 1811 – December 17, 1879) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor, and judge from the state of Indiana. He served as a Justice on the Indiana Supreme Court from January 21, 1846, to January 3, 1865, and again from January 1, 1877, until his death on December 17, 1879.

Biography Born in Brattleboro, Vermont in 1811, Perkins was orphaned by age five. He went to live with family friends in Massachusetts and began studying law under an attorney while living in rural New York. He arrived in Indiana in 1836, where he studied under an attorney in Richmond

Perkins was a partner at a prominent firm in Indianapolis that became the modern firm of Baker & Daniels. He practiced law there with Oscar B. Hord (later Indiana Attorney General), Thomas A. Hendricks (later Governor of Indiana and U.S. Vice President), Conrad Baker (another future Governor), and Abram W. Hendricks (Indiana General Assembly member). Hord married Perkins's daughter, Mary Josephine Perkins.

Perkins returned to the court in 1877, succeeding Justice John Pettit, but died shortly after in 1879. He was succeeded by Justice John T. Scott. Altogether, he served a total of twenty-two years on the Supreme Court.