Thomas C. Perkins

Quick Facts

Significance:

Boston Vigilance Committee member

Following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, Thomas C. Perkins joined the Boston Vigilance Committee, an organization that assisted freedom seekers coming to and through Boston on the Underground Railroad. 

Though his name and address appeared on the official list of members published by the Vigilance Committee, his identity has not been confirmed, and his specific contributions to the group remain unknown. Thomas C. Perkins is listed in the Boston City Directory from 1850 at the same address on the Vigilance Committee’s broadside—91 Washington Street. However, the directory provides no indication of his occupation. Perkins does not appear on other directories during the time period.¹

If you are a researcher or descendant of Thomas C. Perkins from Boston and can provide any further evidence of his work in the Boston Vigilance Committee, please e-mail us.  

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Footnotes

1. The Boston Directory, (Boston: Sampson and Murdoch Co., 1850), 261; "Members of the Committee of Vigilance," broadside printed by John Wilson, 1850, Massachusetts Historical Society.