Wheeler Hazard Peckham was born on January 1, 1833 in Albany, Albany Country, New York, United States. He was the eldest son of Rufus Wheeler Peckham, and Isabella Lacey, and a brother of Rufus Wheeler Peckham. He was descended from John Peckham who was in Rhode Island in 1638.
Wheeler Hazard Peckham attended the Albany Boys' Academy, a French boarding-school at Utica, where he learned French, and is said to have spent a year at Union College. Being delicate, he did not complete his college course. Instead he traveled for a year in Europe and returned in 1853 to study law at the Albany Law School, of which he was one of the first students, and with his father's firm, Peckham & Tremain, with which he practised after being admitted to the bar in 1854.
A hemorrhage of the lungs in 1856 caused Wheeler Hazard Peckham such alarm that he left his business for another tour in Europe, and upon his return, fourteen months later, took up his residence for a couple of years at Dubuque, Iowa, removing to St. Paul, Minn. , in 1859 and remaining there until 1864. He then returned to the East with health restored and, in the fall of that year, entered into a law partnership with George M. Miller and John A. Stoutenburgh of New York City. The firm had a large general practice, and Peckham proved amply able to handle the very considerable share of it which fell to him. As early as 1868 he appeared in the federal Supreme Court in cases involving the power of a state to tax "greenbacks". Peckham contended, and was upheld by the Supreme Court, which reversed the holding of the New York court of appeals, that the power did not exist.
Among the opposing counsel was Charles O'Conor, who, it is said, was so impressed with Peckham's presentation of the case that he called Peckham to assist him in the prosecution of William M. Tweed and his associates in 1873. There were two trials, the first resulting in a "hung jury, " but in the second Tweed was convicted and the heavy work had been done by Peckham. Like his father before him, he was a vigorous opponent of Tammany Hall, but he never was "in politics" in the sense of seeking office. When appointed district attorney by Governor Cleveland in 1884 he held office less than a year. He was one of the founders of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York in 1869 and served as its president from 1892 to 1894, inclusive.
In January 1894 he was nominated by President Cleveland to fill a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court. Senators Hill and Murphy of his own state, both organization Democrats, opposed him because of his independent course, and by invoking the custom known as "senatorial courtesy, " prevented his confirmation. But they could not impair the professional standing and reputation which he built up during a half-century at the bar, nor the innumerable friendships which he formed in various parts of the country and in all circles in which he moved. He died suddenly, on September 27, 1905, in his office in New York City.
Wheeler Hazard Peckham advocated for reform of "municipal degradation".
Wheeler Hazard Peckham was a member of the New York State Bar Association and took a practical interest in law reform.
On April 30, 1855, Wheeler Hazard Peckham was married to Anne A. Keasbey, whom he had met while traveling in Europe.
