the road after crossing the bridge that spans

"Contoocook's bright and brimming river,"

at the pleasant-looking village of Contoocookville in the northern part
of Hopkinton.

There, under that inviting roof, the subject of this sketch, GEORGE
HAMILTON PERKINS, the eldest son in a family of eight children, was
born, October 20, 1836.

His father, the Honorable Hamilton Eliot Perkins, inherited all the land
in that part of the town, and, in early life, in addition to
professional work as a counsellor-at-law and member of the Merrimack
County bar, built the mills at Contoocookville, and was, in fact, the
founder of the thriving settlement at that point.

His paternal grandfather, Roger Eliot Perkins, came to Hopkinton from
the vicinity of Salem, Massachusetts, when a young man, and by his
energy, enterprise, and public spirit, soon impressed his individuality
upon the community, and became one of the leading citizens of the town.

His mother was Miss Clara Bartlett George, daughter of the late John
George, Esquire, of Concord, whose ancestors were among the early
settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts. He is said to have been a man of
active temperament, prompt in business, stout in heart, bluff of speech,
honest in purpose, and never failing in any way those who had dealings
with him.

As "the child is father of the man," so the boyhood and youth of Captain