Republican assemblyman and banker Raymond A. Peabody was born on February 24, 1883 in Baldwin, Wisconsin, where his great-grandfather had settled before the Civil War. After attending the local schools he became a railway telegraph operator and in 1903 entered the mercantile and lumbering business in Washburn County. At about age 33 he embarked on a career in banking, insurance and finance. Eventually he became an officer in the State Bank of Centuria and the First State Bank of Prairie Farm and a member of the executive council of the Wisconsin Bankers Association.
In addition to his business interests, Peabody was a director of Wisconsin Indian Head Country, Inc.; a director and officer of the Polk County Association of Commerce; director of the Highway 35 Association; and, during World War II, chairman of the Polk County Council of Civilian Defense.
Peabody wrote that he had always been interested in “civic betterment,” and shortly after settling in Milltown he became involved in local politics. He was a member of the Milltown village council from 1922 to 1930 and mayor for three years. From 1930 to 1942 he was a member of the Polk County Board. For three years he was board chairman. In 1942 Peabody successfully ran for a seat in the Assembly; thereafter he was reelected six times. In the Legislature Peabody was a charter member of the Legislative Council. In 1952 he was selected to be a delegate pledged to Taft for the National Republican Convention
