Nevada Genealogy Trails Washoe County Hon. George E. Peckham Biography

HON. GEORGE E PECKHAM. Perhaps every state in the Union as well as many foreign lands have contributed to the citizenship of Nevada, and from all sections of the world have come men of firm purpose, of unfaltering energy and of strong determination. They have made valuable citizens of this commonwealth and have largely promoted its interests along every line leading to the improvement of the state. Mr. Peckham is a worthy son of Massachusetts, his birth having occurred in Fall River on the 8th of March, 1851.

The family is of English origin and was established in New England at an early period in the colonization of this country. The grandfather of George E. Peckham was a Baptist minister, devoting much of his life to that holy calling. J. C. Peckham. the father, was born in Rhode Island and was united in marriage to Miss C. B. Sherman, a descendant of the the noted Roger Sherman, who was also the ancestor of General William Sherman and of Hon. John Sherman, so long secretary of the United States treasury. Mr. J. C. Peckham became a merchant and was active in business life in the east. He adhered to the faith of the church in which he was reared and lived a life in harmony with his professions. In 1854 there was a cholera epidemic in the town of Fall River, and Mr. Peckham, his wife's mother and one of his daughters all fell victims to that dread disease, dying within a few hours. The widow and her two children survived, and in i860 they started for California, making the trip by way of the isthmus route. George E. Peckham was then about nine years of age. After a time spent in the Golden state they removed to Galena, Nevada, where the brave pioneer mother engaged in cooking for a lumber camp in order to provide for herself and her children.

George E. Peckham, then a youth of thirteen years, carried the mail from Washoe city to the camp near Galena, the trip being about thirty miles. He covered that distance on foot six days a week, carrying from five to twenty-five pounds of mail upon his back. While in California he had been engaged in driving stock from the range to Oakland, and he was such a good pedestrian that he preferred to walk rather than ride horseback. After living in Galena for a time the family removed to the vicinity of a sawmill two miles from Reno. The mother was again married in Virginia City, becoming the wife of T. W. Norcross on Christmas day of 1865. By her second marriage she also had two sons: Frank and Charles Norcross, who are now prominent citizens of Nevada. Mrs. Norcross passed away in 1897 at the age of sixty-seven years, but Mr. Norcross is still living and is now a resident of Oregon.

Almost continually since his arrival in California when a boy of nine years. George E. Peckham has made his own way in the world and in his youth he also assisted his mother. After her second marriage he remained with her and his stepfather until he attained his majority. He was educated in San Francisco, and when he became of age Mr. Norcross deeded to him eighty acres of land, upon which he now resides and to which he afterward added an additional tract of eighty acres. Since then he has sold a small portion of the farm, but still retains possession of one hundred and forty acres of this property. He has developed one of the fine farms of Truckee meadows, and upon it has erected one of the nice residences, a large barn and other substantial buildings for the shelter of grain and stock. The home is in a delightful location, and the entire place is characterized by neatness and thrift. Mr. Peckham makes a specialty of the raising of hay and potatoes, although he also produces other crops and utilizes a part of his land for pasturage purposes, which pays him as well as to plant it to grains. He built his residence in 1875 and has planted all of the trees upon the place, which add greatly to its value and attractive appearance.

On the 10th of February, 1876. Mr. Peckham was united in marriage to Miss Emma Jane Shepherd, a native of Ontario, Canada, and six children have come to bless their home, namely: Ethel May, who is now an accomplished school teacher; George Arthur, who is upon the home farm with his father; Hattie A., also a teacher; James Garfield, who is married and works in the quartz mill at Dayton; Alfred Rufus, of Reno: and William, at home. The sons Arthur and James are noted bicycle riders, and were in the team that won the championship for Nevada in the fifty-mile relay race.

Mr. Peckham was an active Republican until 1892, but becoming dissatisfied with the principles contained in the party platform, he joined the ranks of the Populist party and was its candidate for governor of Nevada in 1894. In 1896 he was a candidate for elector on the Bryan ticket and in 1898 was candidate for regent of the university, while in 1900 he was elected on the fusion ticket to the state assembly. He proved a most capable representative and was the author of the apportionment bill which raised the membership of Washoe county from four to seven members in the assembly. As a legislator his career was marked by unfaltering loyalty to the general welfare, for he ever placed the good of the state before partisanship and the advancement of public interests before personal aggrandizement. He has a wide and favorable acquaintance throughout Nevada, and has inscribed his name high upon the roll of honored citizens because of his splendid career, in which, depending upon his own efforts from early boyhood, he has steadily worked his way upward to a leading position in financial, political and social circles.