Packard, Major W.

Born: 1820-05-31 Canada

Died: 1903-02-28 Bloomington, Illinois

Packard moved to Bloomington, Illinois, in 1844 and entered into the study of law with Asahel Gridley and later with David Davis. On July 2, 1846, he married Maria W. Bullock in DeWitt County, Illinois, and the couple had a son who died in infancy. A Democrat in politics, Packard was admitted to the bar in 1846. In 1848, his wife Maria died. In 1850, Packard traveled to California to work in the gold fields, but he returned to Bloomington in 1857, practiced law, and was an active school board member. On May 18, 1857, he married Ellen Harris, and they had two sons and two daughters. In 1860, Packard lived in Bloomington and owned real estate valued at $3,000 and personal property valued at $400.

Gravestone, Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, Bloomington, IL; John M. Palmer, ed., The Bench and Bar of Illinois: Historical and Reminiscent (Chicago: Lewis, 1899), 2:726-27; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), McLean County, IL, 40; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, De Witt County, 2 July 1846; McLean County, 18 May 1857, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL.