Father: Timothy Perkins
Mother: Mary Ann Sturgeon/Sturgell/Sturgill?

Spouse: Lewis Russell
 m: 18/May/1850 - Gentry Co., Missouri

Child-1: Sarah Elizabeth
          2: Delilah
          3: Stephen Albert
          4: Levina
          5: Eliza
          6: Edward
          7: Harriet Cordelia - b: 21/Jan/1862 - d: 15/Feb/1862
          8: Lewis Napoleon
          9: (unnamed twin) - b: 31/Jan/1863 - MO - d: 10/Feb/1863
        10: John
        11: Charles
        12: Mary Ann (Mollie)

Biographical Details:

It is known that Mary Ann Perkins was born in May of 1830 almost certainly in Putnam County, Illinois.  She was the daughter of Timothy and Mary Ann Perkins and, obviously, was the namesake of her mother.  Even so, her mother's maiden name remains uncertain, although there is circumstantial evidence that it was "Sturgill" or some close variant.  Sometime before 1850, the family of Timothy Perkins, including Mary Ann, migrated from Illinois to Gentry County, Missouri.  Mary Ann Perkins and Lewis Russell were married in Gentry County on  May 18, 1850, and were the parents of twelve children, including two sets of twins.  Ten of these children survived into adulthood.

Few, specific details are known concerning the life of Mary Ann Perkins Russell.  Evidently, she moved with her husband, children, and extended family to the Kansas Territory just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.  However, it is evident that they remained in this locality only for a few years.  Subsequently, in the period during and immediately following the Civil War, Lewis, Mary Ann, and their children returned to Missouri, then moved to Iowa, and finally back to Missouri before 1870.  Within this context, it is likely that she was a typical pioneer wife and mother, suffering considerable hardship and discomfort while providing for the welfare of her family under difficult and primitive conditions.  She is believed to have been a charter member of the Island City Christian Church and died in Gentry County on December 8, 1871, at the relatively young age of forty-one years.  She was buried in the Cooper Cemetery.

1. Russell-Perkins Family Record, unpublished MSS.

2. Ben Glick,"Cooper Cemetery", unpublished. (Gentry County MOGenWeb Archives, www.dropbox.com/sh/slhfvw5i4zjmxft/AACfXYga0yjMKuy-XKE2bcqLa/Cooper.pdf?dl=0, 2014.)

3. Don Raymond, "Cooper Cemetery", unpublished. (Gentry County MOGenWeb Archives, 2002.);  Terris C. Howard, "Cooper Cemetery", unpublished. (Gentry County MOGenWeb Archives, 2002.)

4. Cooper Cemetery, Gentry County, Missouri (www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=28190&CScn=Cooper&CScntry=4&CSst=26&CScnty=1434&, continuously updated).

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