- WINFIELD SCOTT PECKHAM (deceased). Among those who have been
instrumental in
- building up the present civilization of Green county, and
have left a marked impression upon their generation, was Winfield
Scott PECKHAM, the subject of this sketch, who passed out of
life on April 15, 1898, in his sixty-ninth year.
- Mr. PECKHAM was born in Oneida county, N.Y., on March 19,
1829, and was a son of Abel
- and Ada (BROWN) PECKHAM, who were natives of Rhode Island.
Thy had a family of eleven children, seven now living; Nelson,
of Beaver City, Oklahoma; George O., of Ashland, Wis.; Joshua,
of Lincoln county, Neb.; Halsey, of Gothenburg, Neb.; Sallie,
widow of Isaac ARMSBURY; Ada, widow of V. D. BURT, of Albany,
Wis.; and Polly, wife of John ATKINSON, of Pawnee City, Nebraska.
The paternal grandfather of our subject was Joshua PECKHAM, of
English stock, descended from Sir John PECKHAM, who came from
England to Newport, Rhode Island, in 1638. The maternal grandfather
of our subject was a native of Rhode Island, a soldier in the
war of 1812, who located, when an old man, with is son in Illinois,
where he died, aged about eighty years. He was a son of a well-known
Baptist minister, Nathan BROWN.
- Abel PECKHAM, the father of our subject, came from Chautauqua
county, N.Y., to Green
- county, Wis., in 1851, and located in a farm of eighty acres
in Albany township. In the log house standing on this farm the
family lived until 1856, when Mr. PECKHAM erected a commodious
brick house, where he remained all his life. His birth occurred
in 1798, in Grafton, Rensselaer Co., N.Y., and after a useful
and busy life his death occurred in 1864. In 1820 he married
Ada BROWN, who was born in Petersburg, N.Y., in 1800. In 1822,
Mr. and Mrs. PECKHAM moved to Trenton, in Oneida county, where
he worked at the cooper's trade for many years. Later on in life
the family settled on a farm in Chautauqua county, where Mr.
PECKHAM cleared up the land and lived until his removal to Wisconsin.
- Winfield Scott PECKHAM remained under the parental roof until
1849, when he removed to
- Wisconsin, locating in the city of Milwaukee, where he remained
four years, working at his trade of cooper. In 1853 he came to
Albany, with the intention of devoting his time to farming, and
here bought eighty acres of land on Section 35, which he improved,
while continuing work at his trade, which in those days was a
very lucrative one.
- On Jan. 1, 1862, Mr. PECKHAM was married to Mrs. Eleanor
(BAILEY) TURNER, the widow
- of Merritt TURNER, of Luzerne county, Penn. After his marriage
he erected a small frame house on his land, in which he lived
one year, when he purchased eighty acres on Section 27, where
they lived two years, and in the fall of 1866 he moved to his
father's place on Section 26, which until the spring of 1887
was the family home. At that time advancing years and the acquisition
of a competency caused Mr. PECKHAM to decide on removal into
the neighboring village of Albany. Building one of the most commodious
and complete houses in the town, the family removed to it, and
there the kind and generous father breathed his last. Two children
were born to Mr. and Mrs. PECKHAM: George T. married Cora Belle
PRICE, and now lives on the old farm, with four children, Everett,
Lester, Harry and Jessie; Lydia M. married Edward PHELPS, of
Albany, and they have a family of nine children, Florence, Dana,
Roy, Marion, Eleanor, Edna, Chester, Lila and Ivan. By her former
marriage Mrs. PECKHAM had two children: Gilas H. who married
Maria FINN, and lives in Albany township, near the village, and
three children, Lelia, Claudia, and Hallie; and Lowell E., who
married Ida PECKHAM, and has four children, Effie, Annie, Glennie
and George, the father dying in 1896.
- Mrs. PECKHAM was the daughter of Harry and Mercy (COLVIN)
BAILEY, natives of Rhode
- Island, who moved to Pennsylvania when quite young. They
had fourteen children, eight of whom survive: Mrs. PECKHAM; Otis,
of Oakley, Penn.; Henry, of Richland county, Wis.; Perlina, wife
of Halsey PECKHAM, of Gothenburg, Neb.; Albert, of Richland county;
Huldah, Mrs. BROWN, of Ashland, Oregon; Jason of Cadott, Wis.;
and Polly, wife of James SMITH of Gering, Neb. The parents located
in Richland county, Wis., in 1855, buying a large tract of land;
the father dying in 1883, the mother in 1879, both having been
good and worthy members of the Baptist Church. Mrs. PECKHAM is
connected with the Methodist Church.
- All his life Winfield S. PECKHAM voted with the Republican
party, firmly advocating its principles.
- A prominent and influential man, he filled many local positions,
and on account of his interest in school matters was made clerk
of the educational board, both in the country and in the village.
Mr. PECKHAM left behind him a record of an industrious, self-respecting
life, and in his death Green county lost a most estimable citizen.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 343-344.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
|