 His siblings who lived past infancy were Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge (1866–1948), Mary Curry Breckinridge (1875–1918), and half-sister Eleanor Breckinridge Chalkley (1862–1943).Tutored by James Lane Allen as a young man, Breckinridge attended State College (now University of Kentucky) in 1880-81 before he graduated from Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.He graduated from Princeton University in 1889 and studied for the bar at Columbia University and the University of Virginia.