Gustavus W. Peabody (1841-1916) was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and died in Windham, Connecticut. He was a Civil War veteran, enlisting in 1861 as a private in Company I, 10th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded in the battle of Salem Heights, Virginia, in 1863 and thereafter transferred to 114th Company, 2nd battalion, Veterans Reserve Corps, in Depot Camp, Washington, D. C. In 1865 he married Cornelia P. Peabody (b. Painter) in Plymouth, Connecticut, and they lived in New Haven, Connecticut, where Peabody worked as a merchant until moving to Waterbury, Connecticut, sometime before 1880, where he became a farmer. They moved to Windham prior to 1900. Both Peabody and his wife studied Christian Science with William T. Seaver, one of Mary Baker Eddy's students. In 1887 Peabody wrote to Eddy that he and his wife desired to take further courses of study with her, but the available records do not indicate that they did. Peabody was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the New Haven Lodge of Masons.

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