{"id":37774,"date":"2019-03-21T13:58:34","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T17:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=37774"},"modified":"2019-03-21T13:58:34","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T17:58:34","slug":"james-handaysd-pekins-an-early-advocate-for-the-house-of-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2019\/03\/james-handaysd-pekins-an-early-advocate-for-the-house-of-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"James Handaysd Pekins \u2013 An Early Advocate for the House of Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Portrait<\/a>Before the House of Refuge opened in 1850, there was no institution serving juvenile criminal offenders in Cincinnati.\u00a0 Juvenile offenders were housed with adults in the Hamilton County jail.\u00a0 In the late 1830s, a movement began in Cincinnati to reform the penitentiary system and a man named James Handaysd Perkins took part in this movement.\u00a0 Although Perkins did not live long enough to see it, he had an important role in the start of the juvenile criminal justice system and social services in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

Perkins was born in Boston and moved to Cincinnati as a young man in 1832.\u00a0 He came from a well-to-do family and was a talented writer and speaker, but he seemed to struggle to find his place in life.\u00a0 He suffered from some health problems and also possibly from some mental health issues.[i]<\/a> \u00a0He arrived in Cincinnati in search of a quieter life and with hopes of purchasing land for a farm, but instead he quickly became an up and coming member of society.\u00a0 He began studying law under his friend, Timothy Walker, and joined a group of affluent New Englanders already living in Cincinnati.\u00a0 Perkins even met his wife, Sarah Elliot of Connecticut through his social circles.\u00a0 Even though life seemed to be going well for him, Perkins quickly became disillusioned with the law and attempted a variety of different careers from farming to establishing a milling and tool manufacturing business.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A poem by James H. Perkin<\/p><\/div>\n

Perkins would leave his strongest legacy, though, on the intellectual life of Cincinnati.\u00a0 He was a supporter of the Cincinnati Law Library, the Ohio Mechanics Institute, the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, Cincinnati College, the Western Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Cincinnati Historical Society.\u00a0 He published essays and poems in both Cincinnati publications and Eastern journals.\u00a0 He also served as an editor for several magazines and newspapers.\u00a0 In 1840, he published a book on history and geography entitled Annuals of the West<\/em>.\u00a0 Perkins was also very interested in education, especially the education of women.\u00a0 He was a member of the Western Literary Institute and College of Professional Teachers.\u00a0 He even opened a school for young women in his home with a curriculum he designed himself.<\/p>\n

In 1839, Perkins took a position as a minister at large with the First Congregational Church in Cincinnati and it is in this position that he learned about the lives of the poor in Cincinnati.\u00a0 Perkins felt the best solution to poverty was finding employment for those who were unemployed, so he focused much of his time doing this. (Vitz, 45)\u00a0 Perkins opened an office where he connected unemployed people with work. Out of this work, the Cincinnati Relief Union was established and Perkins served as President from its start until his death (Channing, 122).<\/p>\n

After his first-hand experience with the poor, Perkins began advocating \u201cbroad institutional reform\u201d for public education and prisons and began pushing for a House of Refuge for the city of Cincinnati (Vitz, 45).\u00a0 Perkins stressed the need for a place where \u201call boys and girls violating that law may be sent, there to be educated, reformed, and made worthy of society, and saved from a life of sin\u201d (Channing, 131).\u00a0 Stressing the difference between adults and children who committed crimes, Perkins advocated for reform of the young.\u00a0 He felt that the House of Refuge system could provide this reform.\u00a0 He wrote that in the House of Refuge system \u201cboys and girls\u2026.are received and truly reformed; fifty in a hundred among those who have left them are known to be industrious and upright, — not five of whom would have been saved from crimes and ruin in any other way, so far as can be judged\u201d (Channing, 132).\u00a0 Perkins also saw a House of Refuge as consistent with his Christian beliefs calling it \u201cone of the few direct applications of Christian principle to the practical institutions of society\u201d (Perkins, \u201cHouse of Refuge,\u201d\u00a0 125).<\/p>\n

\"House<\/a>

Cincinnati House of Refuge in 1856<\/p><\/div>\n

Although Perkins was among the first Cincinnatians pushing for the establishment of a House of Refuge, he did not live long enough to see the opening of Cincinnati\u2019s House of Refuge.\u00a0 His life-long struggles with his physical and mental health came to end in December of 1849 when he committed suicide.\u00a0 He left behind his wife Sarah, five young children, and a legacy of working for solutions to Cincinnati\u2019s social problems.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[i]<\/a> In his article, \u201cThe Troubled Life of James Handasyd Perkins,\u201d Robert Vitz suggests that Perkins may have struggled with depression and self-esteem issues from a young age.<\/p>\n

\n

References:<\/p>\n

Perkins, J.H. (James Handasyd). 1843. House of Refuge. The Western Law Journal<\/em>. 1,no. 3: 125. https:\/\/search.proquest.com\/docview\/126835400?accountid=2909<\/a> (accessed 12 February 2019).<\/p>\n

Perkins, J. H. (James Handasyd)., Channing, W. H. (William Henry). 1851. The memoir and writings of James Handasyd Perkins.<\/em> Vol. 1 Cincinnati: Trueman & Spofford.\u00a0 https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/nyp.33433076014608<\/a>\u00a0 (accessed 12 February 2019).\u00a0 Available in ARB in 2 volumes:\u00a0 RB \u00a0F495 .P34y<\/a><\/p>\n

Vitz, Robert C. 1995. The Troubled Life of James Handasyd Perkins. \u00a0Queen City Heritage <\/em>53, no. 3: 40-48. http:\/\/library.cincymuseum.org\/starweb\/journals\/servlet.starweb<\/a> (accessed 12 February 2019).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before the House of Refuge opened in 1850, there was no institution serving juvenile criminal offenders in Cincinnati.\u00a0 Juvenile offenders were housed with adults in the Hamilton County jail.\u00a0 In the late 1830s, a movement began in Cincinnati to reform … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,83,31],"tags":[53,1498],"class_list":["post-37774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arb","category-langsam-library","category-uc","tag-cincinnati-history","tag-house-of-refuge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}