William R. PECKHAM, deceased, was an enterprising farmer and early settler of Tingley Township, removing from Homes County, Ohio, to Ringgold County, Iowa, in the fall of 1864. He located on section 21, where he had a farm of eighty acres, and also had eighty on section 15, northwest of the village of Tingley. He was a prominent citizen of the township, and was held in high esteem by all who knew him.

He was born in Holmes County, Ohio, August 25, 1836, a son of William and Rebecca (RAWLSTON) (sic, should be RALSTON) PECKHAM. He was reared in his native county, and was there married, December 28, 1857, to Kate BELL, a daughter of Alexander and Nancy BELL. After his marriage, he settled on a farm in Ohio, where they lived until the fall of 1860, where they moved to DeKalb County, Missouri, and came from there to Ringgold County, Iowa, and a year later returned to Ohio.

Soon after his return to Ohio, Mr. PECKHAM enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Sixty-sixth Ohio Infantry, and served five months, being mustered out in 1863.

In 1864, he came again to Iowa, and located on the farm where he died, May 16, 1884. He was a devoted member of the Christian church. Mrs. PECKHAM resides on the homestead with no children of her own, but is raising a boy, with whose assistance he carries on the farm. Her residence is a good two-story frame building, and her other farm buildings are comfortable and commodious. She is a member of the Christian church, and an esteemed citizen of the township.

NOTE: William R. PECKHAM was interred at Tingley Cemetery, Ringgold County, Iowa.

From John C. PECKHAM's biography on page 407 of Portrait and Biographical Album of Sumner County, Kansas, "John C. PECKHAM, a well-known citizen of South Have, well-to-do and living retired from active labor, has just passed his sixty-ninth birthday, having been born January 7, 1821. He is a native of Holmes County, Ohio, born and reared on a farm, of parents who located in that region during the period of its earliest settlement. They hewed out a homestead from the heavy timber, and there spent their last days. The mother, however, was cut down in the prime of life, dying when her son, John C., was a mere child. She was a lady of many estimable qualities, and a consistent member of the Christian Church. Eleven children were left motherless at her death, of whom John C. was among the younger. The mother bore the maiden name of Cynthia COOK. William PECKHAM, the father, after the decease of his first wife, was subsequently married to Mrs. Rebecca (RALSTON) McLAUGHLIN, and there were born to them six children who were all reared upon the same farm, and there the father and step-mother died. The latter was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. PECKHAM belonged to the Christian Church. He and his first wife were natives of Rhode Island, where the paternal grandparents of our subject lived for many years. After the death of the Grandfather PECKHAM the son brought his mother to Ohio, and she died in Holmes County at the advanced age of one hundred and one years. . ." John C. PECKHAM, William's half-brother, served with Company A of the 32nd Missouri Infantry during the Civil War. He married Isabel HACKENBERRY of Holmes County, Ohio, and the couple were the parents of six children: Sarah J., Alice, James W., Eliza, Emma, and Emma.

SOURCES:
Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa, Pp. 297-98, 1887.

Portrait and Biographical Album of Sumner County, Kansas, p. 407, CHAPMAN Brothers. New York. 1885.

WPA Graves Survey

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2009

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