Son of a Bap­tist preach­er, Per­kins came from a fam­i­ly of 10 child­ren who sang and played var­i­ous in­stru­ments. His mu­sic les­sons be­gan at age three. Dur­ing his fa­ther’s pas­tor­ate at Ham­il­ton, New York, choir re­hears­als were oft­en held at the par­son­age; the lead­er would put the three year old on a small stool, on the ta­ble around which the choir was as­sem­bled, giv­ing him a chance to both see and hear. Later, Per­kins would play the vi­o­lin­cel­lo in church, stand­ing on a stool to fin­ger the in­str­ument.

In 1839, the fam­i­ly moved to New York Ci­ty, where The­o­dore stu­died the pi­a­no­for­te. By age 19, while work­ing as a clerk, he used all his spare time to stu­dy voice and pi­a­no. In 1851, he went to Ham­il­ton, New York, to teach mu­sic at Ma­di­son Un­i­ver­si­ty (lat­er Col­gate) and the Fe­male Sem­in­ary.

In 1854, Perk­ins went to Port Jer­vis, New York, where he taught sing­ing school. In 1855, he mar­ried Ma­ry Cas­key, who for years was his so­pra­no so­lo­ist in ma­ny events. Soon af­ter the mar­ri­age, they moved to Sa­lem, New Jer­sey. In the sum­mer of 1856, he and his wife stu­died at the Nor­mal Acad­e­my of Mu­sic at North Read­ing, Mass­a­chu­setts, un­der Low­ell Ma­son and George Root. In 1859, Per­kins be­came co-prin­ci­pal, with Will­iam Brad­bu­ry, of the Nor­mal Acad­e­my of Mu­sic at Ge­ne­seo, New York. He al­so worked in schools in North Pel­ham, On­tar­io, Can­a­da, and in Tunk­han­nock and Mead­ville, Penn­syl­van­ia, and served as mu­sic­al dir­ect­or in num­er­ous church­es in Brook­lyn, New York, and Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia. He al­so taught voice cul­ture at Prince­ton and La­fay­ette Un­i­ver­si­ties, the Un­ion The­o­lo­gic­al Sem­in­ary, and Croz­er Sem­in­ary, Up­land, Penn­syl­van­ia. His works in­clude:

• The Ol­ive Branch, with T. J. Cook (New York: F. J. Hunt­ing­ton, 1860)
• Shining Star
• The Ev­er­green, with T. J. Cook (New York: F. J. Hunt­ing­ton, 1862)
• The New Shin­ing Star (New York: F. J. Hunt­ing­ton, 1864)
• The Sun­day School Ban­ner (New York: Will­iam B. Brad­bu­ry, 1865)
• Songs for To­day, with Alf­red Taylor & Charles W. San­ders (New York: Big­low & Main, 1872)
• Calvary Songs, with Charles Ro­bin­son (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Amer­i­can Sun­day School Un­ion, 1875)
• Songs Tried and Proved, with Russ­ell H. Con­well (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: A. J. Row­land, 1896)
• Coronation Songs, ed­it­ed by Dr. Deems
• Free Sun­day School Songs
• Glees and An­thems
• Gospel Tent Songs
• Hallowed Songs
• New Shin­ing Star
• Oriental
• Psalm King
• Psalms and Hymns and Spir­it­u­al Songs (ed­it­ed by Charles Ro­bin­son)
• Sabbath An­thems
• Sabbath Car­ols
• The Ev­er­green
• The Gold­en Prom­ise
• The Mount Zi­on Col­lect­ion
• The Roy­al Stand­ard
• The Sac­red Lute
• The Safe-Guard Sing­er
• The Un­ion

• Hustad, pp. 65-69
• Nutter, p. 463

1. Angel’s Pro­cla­ma­tion, The
2. Dark Is the Night
3. Father, When Shall All the Wea­ry Earth
4. Jesus of Na­za­reth Pass­eth By
5. Keep Thou My Way
6. Lundie
7. Nazareth
8. Odenwald
9. Praise Ye Je­ho­vah
10. Repentance
11. There Is No Love Like the Love of Je­sus
12. Thine Eye Can See
13. Wyoming