Milwaukee Legal Families: Miller and Peckham

While meandering around the Miller-Peckham family of Milwaukee I became intrigued by the lawyers and judges.  Pennsylvania born Andrew Galbraith Miller (1801-1874) brought the family (including son Benjamin then 8) to Milwaukee upon his assignment there as a Territorial Judge in 1838.  Benjamin too became a lawyer and married Isabella Peckham, daughter of Albany NY lawyer George Williams Peckham 1796-1873 who moved the family to Wisconsin in the mid-1850s. Isabella was surrounded by lawyers: her father, 2 brothers, her father-in-law, her husband and 2 of her 3 sons.

 

There were some notable lawyers in the extended family such as her paternal uncle Rufus Wheeler Peckham 1809-1873 lawyer, Congressman and NY Supreme Court judge and his son Rufus 1838-1909 who served on the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

Isabella’s fascinating brother George Williams Peckham 1845-1914 not only trained as a lawyer, but as a doctor, then pursued teaching science in Milwaukee and became a spider expert. He certainly broke the pattern. His sons did not pursue a legal career.

WORTH CHECKING: Unusual first or middle names might be Mother’s Maiden Name

While looking in the newspaper archives for Charles E. Ludington, I happened upon an 1896 marriage announcement for Miss Florence Durand of Lake Forest, IL and Mr Ludington Patton of Milwaukee.  Ludington is one of my family names and some of them did live in Milwaukee, so I wondered if Mr Patton was related to my Ludingtons who originated in New York.  I had not encountered the family name of Patton previously.

Doing more research I found that Ludington Patton was born in Nov 1871 to James E Patton and his wife Sarah E Ludington – yeah, Wisconsin records can be SO helpful!  Then checking census records for the family, I found that his mother Sarah was born in Kentucky in 1839 – and she matched up with someone already in my tree.  She was the oldest daughter of New York born Harrison Ludington,the 13^th Governor of Wisconsin. Like with many females, it can be hard to locate them if they change their name through marriage.

I have many individuals in my tree with their mother’s maiden name used as a first or middle name.  In fact, Ludington Patton’s daughter was named Sarah Ludington Patton. So it's worth checking.