Wheeler Hazard Peckham (January 1, 1833 – September 27, 1905) was an American lawyer from

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and an unsuccessful nominee to the

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Early life

Peckham was born in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

, on

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, 1833 to Rufus Wheeler Peckham and Isabella Adoline; his mother died when he was 15. He was educated at The Albany Academy and at his father's alma mater,

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the s ...

, where he joined

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before leaving early due to poor health. Peckham studied law at his father's partnership with Lyman Tremain and was also among the first students to attend

Albany Law School Albany Law School is a private law school in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1851 and is the oldest independent law school in the nation. It is accredited by the American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary ...

. Peckham then left New York to practice in the northwestern United States, where he became what the ''New York Times'' called "one of the best known attorneys in that part of the country."''Wheeler H. Peckham's Career: An Upright and Able Lawyer Who Has Served the Public Well.'' ''New York Times'', January 23, 1894.

Legal practice

Poor health caused him to return to New York City in 1867, where he established the firm of Miller & Peckham and gained fame first as a constitutional lawyer, and later as a special prosecutor for the State. He was involved in the unsuccessful prosecution of Mayor A. Oakey Hall in 1872, and also prosecuted former

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was an American political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society. It became the main local ...

leader

"Boss" Tweed William Magear "Boss" Tweed (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878) was an American politician most notable for being the political boss of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party's political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th ...

with Tremain in 1873. Peckham again represented the State against Tweed in 1876, when he won a $6 million verdict in a civil fraud suit. Championed by his brother and businessman Daniel Manning, Peckham was appointed by Governor

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

New York County District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County, New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws (federal l ...

on November 30, 1883, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John McKeon, despite pressure from a barrage of applicants. However, Peckham tendered his resignation a mere eight days after taking the oath of office, citing ill health. He then returned to private practice in the

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offices of Miller, Peckham & Dixon, where he focused primarily on civil practice. Peckham also served as the President of the

New York City Bar Association The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, commonly referred to as the New York City Bar Association (City Bar), founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization has been headquartere ...

from 1892 to 1894.

Nomination to U.S. Supreme Court

In 1894, Cleveland, who was then in his nonconsecutive second term as

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, nominated Peckham to replace

Samuel Blatchford Samuel M. Blatchford (March 9, 1820 – July 7, 1893) was an American attorney and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from April 3, 1882, until his death in 1893. Early life and career Blatchf ...

on the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the nomination was caught in the middle of a political tug-of-war between Cleveland and

Senator David B. Hill, and Wheeler became the second nominee of Cleveland that Hill managed to block, by a vote of 32-41 on February 16, 1894. Senator

Edward Douglass White Edward Douglass White Jr. (November 3, 1845 – May 19, 1921) was an American politician and jurist. A native of Louisiana, White was a Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court justice for 27 years, first as an Associate Justice of ...

was instead confirmed to the Court. By the time another seat on the Court was vacant after the death of Howell E. Jackson in 1895, Hill had been weakened politically, and Cleveland turned to Wheeler's brother,

Rufus Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname (from Latin ''wikt:rufus, rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include: Given name Politicians * Marcus Caelius Rufus, (28 May 82 BC – after 48 ...

, who was confirmed within six days.

Social role

Peckham was one of the most famed New York City lawyers of his time, and an active participant in New York City politics and society. He presided over social events as a member and president of the City Club, and he advocated for reform of "municipal degradation:"

The issue is simply one of men. You cannot remedy matters by law nor by system, you have got to remedy it by the simple expedient of turning out the maladministrators and putting in their places men who are honest and capable. We must organize a power that will overcome present conditions and put in office men who are capable and aggressively so. Vice, that has awakened such an outburst of public opinion, is but one of the things that must go.''New York Times'', January 5, 1901
mdash;account of dinner talk on "The Causes of Our Present Municipal Degradation," presided over by Wheeler Peckham.
Samuel Clemens Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fa ...
was among the notable guests.

Family

His father,

Rufus Wheeler Peckham Rufus W. Peckham (November 8, 1838 – October 24, 1909) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1896 to 1909, and is the most recent Democratic nominee approved by a Republican-majorit ...

, was also a lawyer, and a

New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the supreme court, highest court in the Judiciary of New York (state), Unified Court System of the New York (state), State of New York. It consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeal ...

judge and

congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

. His brother, also named

, was also a New York lawyer, state court judge, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Legacy

Peckham is buried in the Peckham family plot at

Albany Rural Cemetery The Albany Rural Cemetery was established October 7, 1844, in Menands, New York, United States, just outside the city of Albany, New York. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful, pastoral cemeteries in the U.S., at over . Many historical ...

, along with his wife, Annie Aertsen Keasbey (1826,

Salem, New Jersey Salem is a city in and the county seat of Salem County,New Jersey County Map

– October 30, 1916), whom he married in 1855. His father, who was lost at sea, also has a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

there.

References

Sources

''The History Box: Brief Sketches on Important Men of New York City''
from ''Celebrated Trials'' by Henry Lauren Clinton, 1897. *Many of the family names and dates were found at the Peckham family plot at Albany Rural Cemetery, Section 11, Lot 19. {{DEFAULTSORT:Peckham, Wheeler Hazard 1833 births 1905 deaths Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery New York County district attorneys New York (state) lawyers Lawyers from Albany, New York Presidents of the New York City Bar Association Union College (New York) alumni Unsuccessful nominees to the United States Supreme Court The Albany Academy alumni 19th-century American judges