This celebrated poet, whose works have given pleasure to so many of his fellow-creatures, was born in Kensington Parish, in the town of Berlin, Conn., as he quaintly gives it, "Tuesday forenoon, September 15, 1795." The poet traced his descent, on his father's side, "to James Percival, who, about 1706, moved from Barnstable, Massachusetts Colony, to East Haddam, Conn. He married the daughter of the celebrated Leydan Pastor, John Robinson. In England, the family may be directly traced to the Barons of the time of William the Conqueror."
     James Percival's boyhood was passed in this quiet eddy out of the busy current of worldly life, where he early became noted for his precociousness as well as for his quiet demeanor, which drew him entirely away from the usual boyish sports. "At this time, he lived," said an intimate friend, "in a world of his own - an ideal world. He knew and cared very little respecting the real world of mankind. His cast of mind was highly imaginative."
     In January, 1807, James suffered a severe loss in the death of his father, and shortly afterward, James and another brother were placed under the charge of their uncle, Rev. Seth Hart, who kept a private boarding school at Hempstead, R. I. Here he remained a year, when he was placed under the tuition of the Rev. Israel B. Woodward, of Wolcott, a town adjacent to Kensington; from here he again returned to Hempstead, and it was during this second stay that he gave vent to his feelings in poetry. After having spent the usual three years in preparing for college, in the early autumn of 1810, he entered as a member of the Freshman Class at Yale. Upon graduating, young Percival returned to Kensington, and after some deliberation, determined to commence the study of medicine, being drawn thereto both by the example of his father and, in a secondary way, by an interest in botany. He wavered between this and the law for several years, finally returning to his first choice, and completed his studies with Dr. Ives, at New Haven. "He had already acquired a wide reputation as a prodigy of learning, and for his facility in acquiring knowledge. When it was known that he had applied for a medical degree, there was considerable excitement about his examination. No one of the Medical Board dared to ask him questions out of his own province; and they examined him for several hours, trying, if possible, to exhaust his knowledge. But he came out triumphantly from the ordeal; and it was said at the time that no student had ever been proved with such severe tests, and none had ever passed so brilliant an examination."
      After taking his degree, Percival was engaged for a time as private tutor, and as a lecturer, in the Medical College, on Anatomy. About this time he became, also, interested in the study of language, and afterward spent some time with the Indians. He then commenced the practice of his profession at Kensington, but the prevalence of an alarming and malignant fever soon after his arrival, the mortality occurring so preyed upon him that he then and there gave up his practice.
     In 1821, Percival launched his craft upon the uneasy and uncertain sea of letters. In this year, he published a "small, dingy-looking 18mo of 346 pages, containing the first part of his Prometheus;" and a number of other forms. Its reception was most flattering. The title-page bore the following extract from Southey:

From History of Grant County, Wisconsin, 1881, p. 741 - 742.

     The occasion is here taken to relate briefly of Dr. Percival's residence in Hazel Green, whose death in the hospitable home of Dr. Jenckes, with whom he resided, elicited very general and extended notices from the press of this country and Europe. At the bar, in the pulpit and amid the walks of philosophy and science, tributes were paid to his genius, his virtues and his literary fame.
     Previous to the labors of Mr. Percival for the American Mining Company, the Legislature of Wisconsin adopted a law providing for the geological and mineralogical survey of the State, at an annual expense of not more than $2,500, and to commence in the lead mining district. Under this law Edward Daniels was appointed State Geologist by Gov. Farwell, and began the discharge of the trust while Mr. Percival was investigating for the mining company. Upon the completion of his labors, many of those interested in mining felt anxious that the State geological survey should be conducted by that gentleman, believing that if made by one so competent and so eminent in his profession it would be of great practical benefit to the public. A request to this effect was therefore preferred to Gov. Barstow by the prominent citizens and land-owners of the State, and Dr. Percival was appointed, and entered upon the discharge of his duties August 1, 1854.
     An acquaintance, admirer and friend of the dead poet, speaking of his life and habits at this period, says: "He entered upon his new field of labor in the mines with much zeal and pleasure, which seemed to increase with the prosecution of his researches, whether viewing the rocky bluff of a stream or examining the debris from some mineral range, with the view of deducing some facts connected with industrial science for the benefit of mining. His ardor and earnestness in the discharge of his duties were intense, and hardly ever until the fading hours admonished him the day for toil was ended would he turn his steps homeward. This unflagging devotion to the love of work and the consequent exposure therefrom probably was the leading cause of his last illness. However eccentric or forbidding Dr. Percival appeared to outside observers, in the private social circle he was full of cheer and mirth, his utterances often sparkling with wit and wisdom.
     "There were occasional intervals of a few days that an unpleasant restraint seemed to rest upon him - probably produced by ill-health - at other times his intellectural powers would, apparently, exercise free scope in the domain of thought, then (if he felt communicative) to sit in his presence and 'drink at the fountain' was an inspiring pleasure that few men have ever been able to impart. The true and beautiful were real existences with him. Nothing short of a clear and correct knowledge of everything worthy of investigation would satisfy him.
     "Whether botanizing a flower or placing a piece of rock in its proper geological order, the utmost care and accuracy was exercised. Neither was his intellectual greatness and power confined to geology and poetry, but embraced a variety of subjects. We relate the following incident as an illustration: During the earlier years of Thomas H. Benton's Senatorial career, while addressing the Senate upon a measure of importance, he eloquently portrayed the future of his country, predicting that at no very remote time a railroad would span the Continent, built as a necessity for the wants of the millions yet to people the vast area west of the Mississippi. Upon reading that speech, Percival (at his home in New Haven) opened a drawer and took therefrom a previously written article upon the feasibility of a highway across the Rocky Mountains, and the duty of the Government to construct it, expressing the strongest conviction that the topography of the country was feasible for a railroad that would erelong be needed to facilitate the commerce of the country. He at once forwarded the document to the Missouri Senator, who, after reading it, arose in the Senate and paid Percival a handsome compliment, at the same time asking permission to have it read to the Senate, which was granted; but in those days even Senators deemed such projects Utopian, visionary.
     "Percival's knowledge of the geography and topography of the country was characterized by the same thoroughness that entered into other fields of study and research.
     "It is a matter of fact, recorded in his biography, we think, that he wrote no poetry for a number of years previous to coming West. But the Muse had not departed - was only held in reserve - as the following incident will testify. While surveying the mining land near Sinsinawa Mound for the American Mining Company, in the year 1853, Percival was lodging for the time at one of the early-built hotels in Fairplay in which the sleeping apartments were partitioned with boards with a narrow hall extending the entire length of the building. In those days the boarders, mostly miners, were not governed by any rules of custom for time of repose, but were in the habit of wending their way up the stair-case and along the dark hall at all hours of night. The noise was quite annoying to the Doctor. Wishing in some way to enter his protest against such disorder and confusion, he took a pencil and slip of paper from his pocket, and, while waiting for breakfast, wrote a caustic poem in Greek, which, during the day he read to two or three of his friends, also its translation in English. While not very severe on the landlord, the house and boarders were neatly 'done up.' Another anecdote illustrating his character: After writing a preliminary report of his survey of the Hazel Green Lead Mines to the President of the American Mining Company, he submitted it through the general agent of said company, William Warner, Esq. Mr. W., who was a highly educated gentleman, suggested a change of a single word, substituting another that he deemed the better. Percival insisted upon the correctness of the word as he had used it. Remonstrance proved unavailing. The definitions of words and their proper use in sentences were to him positive things, and, after writing an important document, he could not admit it contained mistakes.
     "While prosecuting his researches he was taken ill, and what was at first thought to be a mild attack of intermittent, resulted, after many days, in defiance of medical skill, in his death. He died on the 2d of May, 1856, in the second story front room of Dr. Jenckes' residence, Hazel Green, surrounded by kind friends, who tenderly and affectionately ministered to his temporal wants, and closed his eyes forever at the dawn of the day, as the sun was just rising and threw a flood of golden light over the scene. He was buried on the following Sabbath in the village churchyard, where his grave can be seen to-day without 'storied urn' to detail the virtues of him who sleeps beneath the sod, the sleep of sanctified rest. But the memory of his worth, like moonbeams on the stormy sea, has doubtless lighted up many a darkened heart, and lent to the gloom surrounding a checkered life a beauty so sad, so sweet, that one would not, if he could, dispel the darkness which enshrouds it."

This biography generously submitted by Roxanne Munns.