Mama Blaster is pretty sure she is not related.
The Perkins Brothers Company opened for business on the Athens downtown square in 1905.
From USGENWEB: (
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"Old Newspaper Excerpts 1950 Athens Review Henderson County Texas
Copyright © 2001 by Bunny Shumate Freeman. This copy contributed for use in
the USGenWeb Archives. Fourls1223@aol.com
EXCERPTS FROM THE CENTENNIAL EDITION OF THE ATHENS REVIEW SEPT. 1950
. . . Perkins Brothers Company was opened in Athens in 1905. First manager was John Bass. Guy Ballard became manager in 1917. In 1945 he was replaced by Ralph Hallum. . . "
Blasterz think the Perkins Brothers Co. was a dry goods store, since in the Dallas Public Library, some Perkins Co. bills of sale are found in the papers of a man who traveled around Texas as a manufacturer's agent, selling clothes to stores: (
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George Dorman Manufacturing Agent Collection
George I Dorman was born in Dallas in 1897. . . (and) began his career as a manufacturing agent, working as an independent salesman for several companies, one of which was S. Ginsberg Sons, Baltimore, Maryland, makers of Calvert Clothes. Dorman served as the company's agent, handling its accounts throughout Texas. . . . He passed away December 26, 1984.
The collection consists of the business papers of George I Dorman regarding his business dealings representing S. Ginsberg Sons Calvert Cloths menswear. . . .
Detailed Description of the Collection
. . .
11 Bills of Sale - Athens, TX - Perkins Bros."
Conformation that Perkins Brothers Co. WAS a department store can be found here: (
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"Uncle Fletcher Davis
. . .
The local newspaper, The Athens Weekly Review, reported several of Uncle Fletch’s accomplishments. These articles were usually very brief and contained little or no other information other than the title:
**Fletcher Davis constructed the new Perkins Bros. Dept. Store in Athens in 1913. . . "
Blasterz thought that Perkins Brothers Co. might be a local Athens store, but with more digging, we think it might have been a chain. From Marion Co. TX biographies website: (
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MARION COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES
"B"
THE PAUL LEON BASS FAMILY
BY MYRON BASS
The newspaper headline read, P. L. Bass, 45 year Business Head Here, Dies Monday, October 10, 1955. Then the article continued, Born in Carrollton, Georgia, in 1876, Mr. Bass came to Texas in 1899, settling in Alvarado, but moved to Jefferson in 1909 where he was a manager for Perkins Dry Goods here for a number of years before becoming owner of the present Bass Dry Goods. He married Mattie Amy Cotter in 1896 and to this union were born six children: Leon, Myron, Olivia, Mattie Pearl, James and Maude Estelle.
Many people in Jefferson today had family members who worked with Paul Leon Bass at Perkins Dry Goods when sidewalks and foot crossings were paved luxuries not enjoyed by the horse and buggy traffic. . . .
Paul Leon Bass was born ten years after the close of the Civil War, but his parents, James Arnold and Olivia JOHNSON Bass, were geographical victims of Sherman's march through their home state of Georgia. Paul L. recalled later that at one time he had just one garment - a kind of night gown affair made out of a flour sack.. . .
Mattie Amy COTTER Bass was born October 1, 1876 in Alvarado, Johnson County, Texas, the daughter of Thomas A. and Frances E. PALMER Cotter. It is thought they moved from Tennessee to Alvarado, Texas in the late 1890's. . . . Paul L. Bass moved to Alvarado from Georgia and lived for a while with his brother, John M. and wife, Pearl. John and Jim Bass, his older brothers, were connected with the Mistrot brothers, who operated a chain of dry goods stores over Texas. Paul L. worked for this firm for a short time, but later worked for a grocery store owned by George Cotter, an uncle of Mattie's. . . .
While Mattie was attending Midlothian College, near Alvarado, Paul persuaded her to run away with him and get married. When they returned to tell her father, she reported that she had gone fishing and caught a Bass.
Their first son, Charles Leon, was born in Alvarado, November 27, 1897 and also Frank Myron Bass was born there on June 29, 1901. In 1902 the family moved to Athens, Texas, where Paul worked in the Perkins Bros. Dry Goods store, managed by his brother, John. They lived in Athens for 7 years and lived in 7 different houses, often joking that it was cheaper to move than to pay rent. Two daughters were born in Athens; Frances Olivia July 6, 1905 and Mattie Pearl was born December 22, 1908.
The summer of 1909 the family moved to Jefferson, where Paul assumed management of Perkins Bros. Dry Goods store.
Early in 1913, the three Bass brothers; Jim, John and Paul decided to quit the Perkins stores; and go into business for themselves. They bought a store in Yoakum and all three families moved there. About six months later they bought a smaller store in Kenedy. . . .
Kenedy was a wild and wooly town at that time, often called Six-Shooter Junction because many men wore guns at all times. Paul finally said, This is no place to raise a family and decided to move back to Jefferson where the manager's job of the Perkins store happened to be open.
The store had been moved to newer and larger quarters on the main corner of the business section and enjoyed good business for many years.
. . . About 1941 the Perkins Brothers Company decided to close the Jefferson store which Paul Bass was still managing."