Moving to Cleveland, Ohio, after being widowed in 1880, she was for many years actively connected as National Lecturer with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).

On her mother's side, she was descended from the Mathewson family, well known in the early history of Rhode Island and Connecticut.

[3] Perkins early showed a fondness for books and for study, and eagerly read everything at her disposal.

At a very early age Sarah exhibited a natural love for out of door sports, and at the same time developed a great fondness for books and study, and was always an apt scholar.

She remembers a prize of one dollar awarded to her by "spelling down" the entire school even though she was one of the youngest pupils.

[3] She learned the multiplication table by cutting it out of an old book and pinning it to the head of her bedstand, and studying it early in the morning, when she first awoke.

She said to one of her close teacher friends one day, when despondant,— "It is all a mistake that God made me a girl, for if I were a man I could and would preach.

With the money she earned, she started for the academy in Adams, Massachusetts and she continued, in this piece meal way, teaching summers and attending school in the winters, until she acquired a fine education.

For several years Mrs. Perkins taught classes, studied French, took charge of one hundred persons, and looked after eight servants.

[3] Wanting to earn money in order to educate her daughters, Perkins turned to writing children's literature.

[1] In 1880, Mr. Perkins's health began to fail, and a trip to the west was taken, believing it would benefit him, but he died suddenly, October 30.

[4] During the period of 1891–1904, Perkins was the editor of A True Republic, a popular monthly family paper with a large circulation.

[1][2] Perkins' two younger daughters, Florence and Emma,[3] graduated from Vassar College as the valedictorians of their respective classes.

[4] Sarah Maria Clinton Perkins was killed December 2, 1905, by a coal wagon while crossing the street in Cleveland, Ohio.