Peabody, A. S., 1836-1898.

The collection contains biographical material on the Peabody family and Aven Nelson. Various newspaper clippings, maps, and letterheads concerning Laramie history are found in the collection. Also included are photographs and stereo cards of downtown Laramie, a manuscript of Landmarks of Albany County by W.E. Chaplin and three artifacts.

Alfred Symonds Peabody (1836-1898) was a Laramie, Wyoming, grocer, businessman, and civic leader. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and married Catherine Barr Holmes (1844-1933) in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1864. Catherine’s father, Gideon S. Holmes, was appointed U.S. Consul in Cape Town in 1850. Six of the couple’s seven children were born in Cape Town. The Peabody family came to Laramie in 1878, where A.S. Peabody managed a grocery store on 2nd Street. Peabody was a member of the Wyoming Territorial Assembly in 1886. He was also a member of the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees and was mayor of Laramie in 1890. The family were members of the Baptist church, where A.S. Peabody played the organ and sang in the choir.

The children were: Alfred Holmes (1865-1920), who worked at the Laramie National Bank after graduating from the University of Wyoming; William Hooper (1867-1952), who succeeded his father as manager of the grocery store; Charles Thompson (1869-1954), a surveyor who worked for W.O. Owen of Laramie; Herbert Christian (1874-1953); Katherine (1877-1963), who married Harry Warren Nice, pastor of the First Baptist Church, in 1899; and Grace Augusta (1883- ), who directed the First Baptist Church choir.