In tracing the Wisconsin spider experts George Williams Peckham and his wife Elizabeth Gifford, I began re-constructing her family. Elizabeth, known as Bessie, was born in 1854 to landscape architect Charles Gifford and his wife Mary Child in Milwaukee. Her father died when she was about 7 and her mother remarried.
Confirming her stepfather’s surname was not easy as it was spelled differerently in every record found. Luckily Wisconsin has some great genealogical websites that helped piece it together. Always search a local or county biographical record – it might just provide priceless information.
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