George William Peacock Biography

As published in the "Commemorative Biographical Record of Prominent and Representative Men of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin containing Biographical Sketches of Business and Professional Men and Many of the Early Settled Families", The J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1906.

Transcribed by Michelle Laycock

George William Peacock, of Section 6, Waterford township, is one of Racine County's representative farmer citizens. He was born on the farm upon which he now resides, Oct. 2, 1853, son of Melvin and Sarah Talcott Peacock, the former a native of Vermont, and the latter of Ohio.

Benjamin Peacock, the paternal grandfather, was also a native of Vermont, and came to Wisconsin in the forties, among the pioneers, purchasing 188 acres of land in Waterford township, on which he died when sixty-seven years old. His wife, Clarissa (Wilcox) Peacock, lived to be eighty-two years old. She bore her husband four children: Henry; Mary, who was the wife of Thomas Gault; Amelia, who first married William Cooper (who went to California in 1849 and died there), and is now the wife of Alfred Talcott; and Melvin, the father of our subject. Benjamin Peacock served as a soldier in the war of 1812.

On the maternal side, Mr. Peacock is a grandson of William Talcott, a native of Connecticut, who removed at an early day to Ohio, came to Vienna, Wis., was one of the first settlers at Oshkosh, Wis., and then came to Waupun. He worked at carpentering, but finally coming to Racine early in the forties he followed farming until his death, at Caldwell, at the age of seventy-three. His wife, Rosanna (Porter) Talcott, was about fifty-eight years old at the time of her death. She bore her husband five children: Henry, Russell, Sarah, Alfred and William.

Melvin Peacock, father of George W., was an early pioneer settler of Wisconsin, coming to this section with his father in the forties. His father made a permanent home on the 188 acres of land which he purchased, and which he later divided between his two sons, Melvin and Henry. Melvin Peacock left his share to his widow, who still controls it, although it is now in the possession of her son, George W., our subject. Melvin Peacock died in 1868, aged thirty-eight years, while his widow who still survives, is seventy-two years of age. They had a family of five children, but two of whom survive, George W. and Benjamin, the latter a resident of Big Bend, Waukesha Co., Wis. Those deceased were: Rosanna, who married Edwin Wedge; Abraham, who died when four years old; and Nellie, who died aged two years.

George William Peacock has spent his entire life, with the exception of eight months when he was in Montana, on the farm in Waterford township. He attended the district schools, receiving a good education, and in 1895 purchased his brother's interest in the farm property, which he is now cultivating. Mr. Peacock was married March 27, 1879, to Miss Jennie Elizabeth LaBarre, daughter of Darius William and Sarah Ann (Stark) LaBarre. Mr. and Mrs. Peacock are members of the M. E. Church, of which he is a trustee. Politically he is a Prohibitionist, and he and his wife are Good Templars.

The parents of Mrs. Peacock were natives of New York State, and came from Ithaca, N. Y., to Wisconsin in 1868, settling in Mukwonago, where they lived for a number of years, Mr. LaBarre still making his home in that neighborhood. They had a family of five children: Jennie Elizabeth, the wife of Mr. Peacock; Emma, the wife of W. W. Perry, of Milwaukee; Andrew, of near Mukwonago; Helen, the wife of W. Addenbrooke, of Milwaukee; and Catherine, wife of E. J. Bossingham, of Toledo, Ohio.

Mrs. Jennie E. Peacock's paternal grandfather was Ephraim LaBarre, also a native of New York State, of French descent. He was a farmer in his latter years. He was sheriff of Ithaca for a few years. He died just before the Civil War, when over sixty years of age, and his wife, Clarissa (Ives) LaBarre, a native of Holland, also died when well advanced in years. They had twelve children, seven of whom are now living: Alma, the wife of Isaiah Brown, of Ithaca; Darius W.; Sarah, the wife of Frank Mowry, of Ithaca; Joseph, of St. Joseph, Mich.; Kate, the wife of Barney Hagins, of near Ithaca, N. Y.; and Edward and Andrew, of Alabama.

George Stark was the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Peacock. He was a native of New York and removed to Michigan at an early day, settling near Burlington, that State, where he took up land and died at an old age. He was twice married, his first wife, Betsy Brown, bearing him ten children, while there were two children born to his union with Catherine Saviskohl, Mrs. Peacock's grandmother.