San Francisco County
Biographies
IGNATIUS M.
PECKHAM
For many generations the name of Peckham has been prominently identified with the legal profession and the judiciary in the eastern states and in California, and I. M. Peckham, now chief assistant to the United States attorney in San Francisco, has in every phase of his successful career upheld the prestige and reputation of his family in this respect.
Mr. Peckham is a native of San Jose, California, where his birth occurred November 23, 1888, and he is a son of James Albert and Catherine (Higgins) Peckham, the former a native of Santa Cruz, California, and the latter of Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Peckham’s paternal grandfather, Judge R. F. Peckham, who was born in Rhode Island, came to California in 1846 by way of Cape Horn. He was a veteran of the Mexican war. He settled in San Jose, and later moved to Santa Cruz. By profession he was an attorney, and served as a district judge. He was widely known as an authority on Spanish land grants, and was a personal friend and associate of General John C. Fremont, who figured so notably in early California history. Tom Reed, a native of Maine, who became speaker of the national house of representatives, studied law in Judge Peckham’s office in San Jose. Many members of Mr. Peckham’s family have been prominently identified with the bar in past generations. James Albert Peckham, his father, himself studied law, but did not practice. He was associated for many years with the pioneer hardware firm of Huntington & Hopkins in San Francisco, and is yet living, having had a career of success and material reward.
I. M. Peckham attended St. Joseph’s school in San Jose and continued his studies at the high school in that city. Having decided upon the profession of law as his life’s work, he entered Stanford University, from which institution he received the degree of Juris Doctor in 1913. He was admitted to the California state bar in 1912, in which year he had begun practicing in San Jose. There he continued for one year, on the expiration of which period he opened an office in San Francisco. In 1929, Mr. Peckham was appointed chief assistant to the United States attorney in San Francisco, and has fulfilled the duties of this office with outstanding merit and satisfaction to the public. He was a candidate for public office in 1922, when he ran unsuccessfully for the position of public defender. In 1926 he was a candidate for a seat upon the bench of the district court of appeals, but lost by the small majority of twenty-five hundred votes. He has the reputation of having a most thorough knowledge of the law, and he has made this available to others through his position as teacher of constitutional law in the San Francisco Law School. Civil practice has been his special field.
Mr. Peckham was married February 29, 1924, to Miss Rose Jordan, who was born in San Francisco and is of English descent. They have one son, Jordan Neville Peckham, born in 1925.
Mr. Peckham is a member of Stanford Parlor, No. 76, Native Sons of the Golden West, and of San Francisco Lodge, No. 3, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He belongs to the California Pioneer Society, of which his father and grandfather were also members. Mr. Peckham has a record of vigorous support to local measures of civic import, and he has gained hosts of friends by his democratic and cooperative spirit among his fellows.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of
San Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 3 Pages 317-319.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S SAN
FRANCISCO BIOGRAPIES