This paper traces events in the life of George Peabody. Born in Danvers, Massachusetts near Boston, Peabody attended a district school for four years and was apprenticed in a general store at an early age. After four years of apprenticeship, Peabody worked with his brother in a drapery shop, then traveled to the District of Columbia with his uncle to open a store at age 16. By 19, Peabody was in partnership in the firm Riggs, Peabody and Co., a drygoods importing and wholesaling business now relocated in Baltimore (Maryland). Highlights of Peabody's life are noted: (1) he was a financier in the sale of state bonds abroad; (2) he was disappointed in romance; (3) he was snubbed by British aristocracy until the Duke of Wellington accepted his invitation; (4) he had made numerous endowments to cultural institutes, low-cost housing in England, science museums, and libraries which were named after him; (5) he had worked to restore an educational system to the South after the devastation of the Civil War; and (6) at his unusual funeral there was a public display of sorrow. (EH)