William
Peffer was born in Cumberland County on 10th September, 1831. At the
age of fifteen Peffer became a school teacher. However, after the
discovery of gold in California he moved to San
Francisco. He failed to make his fortune and moved to Indiana.
On
the outbreak of the Civil War Peffer
joined the Union
Army as
a private. He developed into a good soldier and reached the rank of
second lieutenant and served as regimental quartermaster and adjutant.
After
leaving the army Peffer studied law and after qualifying worked in
Clarksville, Tennessee before moving to Fredonia, Kansas. Peffer continued
as a lawyer but also edited the Fredonia
Journal, the Coffeyville Journal
and the Kansas Farmer.
Peffer
joined the Populist Party. The recently
formed party advocated the public ownership of the railroads, steamship
lines and telephone and telegraph systems. It also supported the free
and unlimited coinage of silver, the abolition of national banks,
a system of graduated income tax and the direct election of United
States Senators.
In
1891 Peffer was elected to the Senate and served until March 1897.
The following year he failed in his attempts to become Governor of
Kansas. William Peffer died in Grenola, Kansas, on 6th October, 1912.
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