Susan Perkins was born into slavery. Her owner was Timoloen G. Trice, who lived in Frederick Hall, Louisa County, Virginia. She married Solomon Perkins sometime before the war. She gave birth to a daughter named Catherine on January 29, 1861, but Solomon's mother Winnie later denied that Solomon was Catherine's father. Solomon enlisted in the Union army, and Susan eventually married a man named Nelson Johnson. In 1890, Catherine secured a minor's pension of $8 per month, backdated to 1866. It is unclear when or where Susan died.