William Crowninshield Endicott (November 19, 1826 – May 6, 1900)[1] was an American politician and Secretary of War in the first administration of President Grover Cleveland (1885–1889).

[4] In 1873, Endicott, although a Democrat (and originally a Whig), was appointed by Republican governor William B. Washburn to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, where he served until 1882.

Endicott oversaw many important changes in the organization of the United States Army, including the establishment of a system of examinations to determine the promotion of officers.

[7] Her grandfather was the distinguished Salem ship owner, Joseph Peabody, who made a fortune importing pepper from Sumatra and was one of the wealthiest men in the United States at the time of his death in 1900.

[1][12] His wife lived another twenty-seven years, until her death in Boston on August 20, 1927, after which she was buried with William in the Endicott Lot at Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem.