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- from "The family of John Perkins of Ipswich, Massachusetts"
John (Abraham, John, John) was born in Ipswich, Mass., Aug. 28, 1676. He received his preliminary education at the Ipswich Grammar School, under the instruction of Mr. Daniel Rogers, son of President Rogers of Harvard College. He entered Harvard College in 1691, and was graduated in 1695. He was married first to Mary McFarland Dec. 11, 1697; she was the widow of Duncan McFarland of Boston. It is not known when she died; she was living in Boston in 1714, as upon the 6th of August of that year. Dr. John Perkins and his wife Mary, who was administratrix of the estate of her former husband, McFarland, conveys land in Boston, that formerly belonged to him, to Joseph Mayer. Shortly after leaving college, he studied medicine, and began the practice of that profession in his native town. When the new meeting- house was built in 1700, he, and the other physicians of Ipswich, Drs. Bridgman and Dean, were each assigned a separate pew, as a marked appreciation of the value of their services. He did not remain long in Ipswich, but removed to Boston, and was in practice there for many years, though he resided at intervals again in Ipswich. After the death of his first wife, he married Mary Checkley, who was the daughter of Anthony Checkley, of Boston. She was born Oct. 14, 1673. The date of their marriage is uncertain, but the fact appears evident by a deed of property given to his son Nathaniel, in which the estate of his "father-in-law, Anthony Checkley," is spoken of. In deeds on record for the conveyance of land, he sometimes calls himself a "physician of Ipswich," and sometimes "of Boston." In 1740 he executed a deed of gift to his son Nathaniel of all his property, real and personal, including "all his interest in his grandfather Beamsley's farm at Muddy river, and what interest he may have in the estate of his father-in-law, Anthony Checkley, Esq.," and "excepting only debts due to me from my son-in-law, Joseph Ingraham, and my daughter Hannah, and from Joshua Lee." This deed, he states, was given " for love & affection to my son Nathaniel, and in consideration of an obligation he has laid himself under to provide honourably for his mother during her natural life." No provision is made in this instrument for his own support. No will is to be found, or account of administration of his estate, or anything by which we can fix the time of his death. The catalogue of Harvard College says his death took place in 1740.
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