Sedgwick County KSGenWeb
Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.
Chapman Brothers 1888
Pages 413 - 415
JOSEPH PEACHEY, residing in the city of Wichita, presents in his life a splendid example of downright hard labor, close application to business, and perseverance. He commenced in life at the foot of the ladder, but blessed with a prudent and sensible wife as helpmeet, not too proud to labor, he is now able to take life easy and comfortably, in the enjoyment of the fruits of his early industry. He has been called the finest bricklayer in the West, a business with which he became thoroughly acquainted in his early manhood, and from which he mainly laid the foundation of his little fortune.
Mr. Peachey, a native of Old England, was born in Cambridgeshire, May 27, 1833, and his parents, Joseph W. and Pleasant Peachey, were also of English birth and parentage. Joseph, when a youth of fifteen years, commenced his apprenticeship at tunneling and sewer-building, at which he worked until reaching his majority, in different parts of his native county. He became familiar with the different branches of this business, working at high and middle level sewers, some of them twelve feet in diameter and some eighteen, and as many miles long. He estimates that he has assisted in building, during a period of six years, fifty-eight miles of sewer. Part of this labor consisted in making a tunnel under Regent's Park, Cornwall, a suburb of London. He also labored in the tunnel under the London docks, and at that time detected a fraud involving 175,000 pounds sterling, which through his instrumentality was saved the company. The latter rewarded him by making him foreman of their works, a position which he occupied for a period of twenty years.
Mr. Peachey, at the age of nineteen years, was married, in 1852, to his present wife, Miss Sophia Howlett, who, like himself, was of pure English stock, a native of Cambridgeshire, and born in 1833. She was reared by her parents in the doctrines of the Church of England, and with her husband continues her membership in the same. Her parents, William and Sarah Howlett, are now deceased. Mr. Peachey, in addition to his regular trade, also gained a fine knowledge of gardening, in which he was assisted by his wife, to whose ability, skill and splendid constitution he is indebted for a large measure of his success. After marriage they located upon a tract of land upon which they raised grain and vegetables, and Mrs. Peachey assisted her husband in the harvest-field, handling the reaping-hook first, and afterward the flail in threshing, with a skill and endurance equal to that of her husband.
Our subject and his wife both cherishing the laudable ambition to build up a home and acquire a competency, determined to cross the Atlantic and seek their fortunes in the New World. Accordingly, in the spring of 1871, taking with them their two children, they boarded the steamship "City of Antwerp," at Liverpool, and after a safe voyage landed in New York City. After farming seven years in the Empire State, they made their way further westward, and certainly have no reason to regret that they chose their permanent location among the rich resources of Southern Kansas. They located in the then village of Wichita, and Mr. Peachey for a year afterward employed himself on the Santa Fe Railroad, then resumed his old trade of bricklayer, in which he made his substantial start in life. The good wife cultivated the land around their modest home, and the garden products yielded them a handsome income. She transported her vegetables to market in baskets, and each year found them laying by a snug little sum of money for future investment. They now own, besides their comfortable home, eight lots within the city limits, which each year are increasing in value. Mr. Peachey loans money upon the best of real-estate security, and claims that any healthy and industrious man, of good judgment, can make a fortune in Southern Kansas.
Two children who were born in England, and one in New York State, have come to bless the union of our subject and his wife. These were named, respectively: Joseph W., Reuben and Simon; all three are residents of Wichita. Mr. and Mrs. Peachey proudly claim four grandchildren, the offspring of their son Joseph W., who married Miss Hannah Mann, of Orleans County, N. Y. These bear the names of Sophie (dead), Bessie, Ruby and Salena. Our subject, upon becoming a naturalized citizen, identified himself with the Republican party, with which he uniformly casts his vote. While in England he and his estimable wife were members of St. Marley's Episcopal Church, Newton, which was presided over by Rev. William Tilear.
Among the thrilling experiences which Mr. Peachey encountered during his experience as a sewer-builder, was an occurrence in the Whitechapel sewer, which caught fire, and which threatened the instant death of himself and three men who were with him. Mr. Peachey, with admirable presence of mind, succeeded in saving himself and companions, and by his heroism was the object for a long time afterward of admiration by all acquainted with the circumstances of the case. He also carried three men from Baron Rothschild's refinery at the time of a boiler explosion, saving their lives also. Although not by any means an aged man, the scenes of his varied history, if given ample space, would make a good-sized book. He and his wife and two younger sons are now visiting in England.
[ Home ]
|
