William Crowninshield Endicott

William Crowninshield Endicott was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on November 19, 1826. He was the son of William Putnam Endicott and Mary Crowninshield Endicott. He was a direct descendant of John Endecott, a governor of Massachusetts, and was related as a first cousin three times removed to Endicott Peabody, another Massachusetts governor.

Endicott graduated from Harvard University in 1847 and attended Harvard Law School from 1849 to 1850. Before his admission to the Massachusetts bar in 1850, he studied law with Nathaniel J. Lord. In 1852, he was elected to the Salem Common Council, and in 1857, he became City Solicitor. He was a member of the American Antiquarian Society starting in 1862.

In 1853, Endicott entered into a law partnership with J. W. Perry, under the name Perry & Endicott; this partnership was dissolved in 1873 upon his appointment to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. From 1857 until 1873, he also served as president of the Salem Bank.

Although a Democrat and originally a Whig, Endicott was appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court by Republican Governor William B. Washburn. He served on the bench from March 5, 1873, until October 31, 1882. He unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 1879 and for governor in 1884.

In 1885, during Grover Cleveland's first administration, Endicott was appointed Secretary of War. He served from 1885 to 1889 and oversaw significant reforms in the U.S. Army, including establishing a system of examinations for officer promotions. In 1885, he convened and chaired the Board of Fortifications, known as the Endicott Board, which recommended designs for coastal defenses. These fortifications, built during the Endicott Period, remained in use through early World War II.

On December 13, 1859, Endicott married Ellen Peabody in Salem. Ellen was the daughter of philanthropist George Peabody and Clarissa Peabody, and her grandfather was Joseph Peabody, a wealthy Salem ship owner and importer. William and Ellen Endicott had two children: William Crowninshield Endicott Jr., a lawyer and president of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and Mary Crowninshield Endicott. William Jr. married Marie Louise Thoron in 1889, and Mary married British statesman Joseph Chamberlain in 1888 before later marrying William Hartley Carnegie, an Anglican clergyman.

William Crowninshield Endicott died of acute pneumonia in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 6, 1900. His wife Margaret lived until August 20, 1927. They are buried together in the Endicott Lot at Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem.