Fenner Harris Peckham
Fenner Harris Peckham was born on January 27, 1820, in Killingly, Connecticut, to Hazael and Susannah Peckham. His father was a physician who died around 1835. He married Catherine D. Torrey on July 23, 1840, and they had at least five children: Catherine, born around 1841; Rosa, born around 1843; Fenner, born around 1844; Ella, born around 1846; and Sarah, born around 1848.
He graduated from Yale University around 1842, and he worked as a physician in Killingly. By 1850, he owned $6,000 of real estate. According to an early biographer, he “soon became the leading man” of the area, and his “services were sought far and wide.” The family moved to Providence, Rhode Island, around 1851, and his wife died on February 22, 1853.
In August 1861, he received a commission as a surgeon in the 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery. The regiment was stationed in South Carolina, and according to one biographer, the “enervating character of the climate and his arduous duties compelled him to resign” on February 22, 1862. In April 1863, he received an appointment as surgeon of the local Board of Enrollment.
He married Rhoda A. Fairbanks on July 13, 1870, and by 1870, he owned $6,100 of real estate and $3,000 of personal property. He served two terms as presidents of the Rhode Island Medical Society, and he served as a surgeon at the Marine Hospital in Providence. He moved to Putnam, Connecticut, in the 1870s. His health deteriorated in the 1870s, and he spent several winters in Florida to “escape the rigorous climate of New England.” By 1878, he was suffering from Bright’s disease. He died of kidney disease in Providence on February 17, 1887.
Image: Fenner H. Peckham (Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island)
DATABASE CONTENT
| (4793) | Peckham, Fenner Harris | 1820-01-27 | 1887-02-17 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Surgeon
- Rank out: Surgeon
- Rank highest: Surgeon
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 1
- (13453) [writer] ~ Fenner H. Peckham to Edwin Metcalf, 5 January 1863
People - Records: 1
- (4793) Peckham, Fenner Harris is the [friend of] (4667) Metcalf, Edwin
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (263) [officer] ~ 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery
SOURCES
1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Connecticut Town Marriage Records, pre-1870, available from Ancestry.com; Connecticut Deaths and Burials Index, 1650-1934, available from Ancestry.com; Rhode Island Marriage Index, 1851-1920, available from Ancestry.com; Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission Index, 1647-2008, available from Ancestry.com; Rhode Island Death Index, 1630-1930, available from Ancestry.com; Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island, Vol. I (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers, 1908)
