Kings County Biographies This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm HARRISON F. PEACOCK Well known throughout central California as a fruit grower, Harrison F. Peacock of Hanford, Kings county, was born in Oneida county, N. Y., May 5, 1836. There he remained until he was twelve years of age and then began his education in the public schools near the home of his childhood. Then he was taken to Wayne county, in the same state, where from his sixteenth year to December, 1863, he was engaged as a farm hand, and thus he had begun his career as a self-made man, and it was to be continued as a soldier. In the year last mentioned he enlisted in Company B, Ninth New York Heavy Artillery, for service in the Civil war. He participated in quite a number of important engagements and in many that were less noteworthy, was promoted to be a sergeant and received honorable discharge at the end of his term of enlistment, in 1865 at the close of the war, and was discharged from the Second Heavy Artillery. In 1868 Mr. Peacock came to California and settled in Napa county, where he found employment at mason work in which he had had enough experience to gain a practical knowledge of the trade. He stuck to such employment for years, until his health failed, then turned to farming and teaming. Eventually he took up railroad land in Tulare, now Kings county, which he still owns and on which he has made his home since 1875. While his career here has not been without its reverses, his prosperity has been in a general way progressive and his success compares favorably with that of any farmer of the better class in his vicinity. During recent years he has given much attention to fruit growing, which he has made a source of considerable profit. He has taken an intelligent interest in irrigation and was one of the builders of the Lakeside ditch. As a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. Peacock keeps in touch with comrades of the Civil war period. He married, January 25, 1872, Miss Rebecca J. Bonham, a native of Illinois, and they had three children: Mary, deceased; Grace and George; of these George is in the dairy business in Kings county. As a citizen Mr. Peacock is public-spirited to a degree that makes him helpful to the community. History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 pp. 701-702 Transcribed by Kathy Sedler HARRISON F. PEACOCK of Hanford, was born in Oneida County, New York, in 1836. He was the youngest child in a family of twelve children, ten of whom still survive, -- five brothers and five sisters. His father, Joseph Peacock, a native of England, came to Oneida County in 1808, and settled in that brotherhood of Quakers. He died in 1840, leaving his widow and a large family to mourn his faithful guidance and support. Our subject lived with his mother until nine years of age, and was then bound out with his brother-in-law, who was then living in Wayne County. At the age of fifteen years he commenced his own support, and was engaged in farm life until 1863, when he enlisted at Walworth, Wayne County, in Company B, Ninth New York Heavy Artillery, under Colonel William Seward. They were then forwarded to the Department of the Potomac, and in 1864 were in the siege of Petersburg and the Wilderness. At Frederick City they had a sharp eight-hours fight with General Early, who outnumbered them three to one, and they were obliged to retreat. In this exposure our subject was taken sick, and for six weeks was confined in the hospital at Washington, District of Columbia. He then reported to his regiment at Shenandoah valley just before the fight at Winchester, where he displayed signal bravery, thirty men from his company being killed, though he marvelously escaped. Continuing in service until the close of the war, they were then sent to New York city, and reviewed before the city hall, and in September, 1865, were paid off and mustered out of State service. He was paid to October 10, 1865. Then he went to Hart�s island. Mr. Peacock then went to his mother�s home in Madison, Wayne County, which he had provided for her with the amount received at the time of his enlistment. In the fall of 1866 he went to Benton County, Iowa, and there engaged in mason work. After acquiring a knowledge of the business he began contracting and building, in which he was successfully engaged until the spring of 1869, when he started for California. Taking a steamer from New York and crossing the Isthmus at Panama, he then re-embarked on the steamer Montana for San Francisco. On arrival he began investigations toward finding his brothers, who came to the State in the early 50�s. After traveling through several counties he finally found his brother Ezra in the Berreyessa valley, Napa County, and there remained until the fall, when he went to Solano County and engaged in mason work and farming. In 1872 he went to Cloverdale, Sonoma County, and started a feed stable, and in 1874 he came to the Lucerne district, where he took up 160 acres of railroad land, five miles southeast of Hanford. With the incoming water he began farming, put in a crop of corn and secured a large yield. He then gradually worked into wheat, alfalfa and the stock business, and has since added eighty acres to his original purchase. He now has 100 acres in alfalfa, 6 acres in vines and orchard, and the remainder in grain. He was married in Santa Rosa to Miss Rebecca J. Bonham, a native of Iowa, and to this union has been added three children, -- Mary A., George E. and Grace G. Mr. Peacock is a member of McPherson Post, G.A.R. Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, California Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892 p. 414 Transcribed by Kathy Sedler