Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1809–1873)

Rufus Wheeler Peckham ( born December 20 1809 in Rensselaerville, New York, † November 22, 1873 ) was an American lawyer and politician. From 1853 to 1855 he represented the State of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Rufus Wheeler Peckham was born about three years before the outbreak of the British - American War in Rensselaerville in Albany County, and grew up there. He completed his preliminary studies. In 1827 he graduated from Union College in Schenectady. He studied law. His admission to the bar he received in 1830 and then began practicing in Albany. Between 1838 and 1841 he was district attorney in Albany County. Politically, he was a member of the Democratic Party.

In the congressional elections of 1852 for the 33rd Congress, he was in the 14th electoral district of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of John H. Boyd on March 4, 1853. He retired after March 3, 1855 from the Congress. As a Congressman he had presided over the Committee on Revolutionary Claims.

After his conference time he went back to his work as a lawyer after. He was judge of the New York Supreme Court for the third judicial district of New York - a position which he held 1861-1869. As an Associate Justice (associate judge ) the Court of Appeals, he worked on 17 May 1870 until his death. On November 22, 1873 was a collision between two steamers on the ocean, and he remained at sea.