PECK
862
PECKHAM
abridged 18 lo. and revised in 1848) -.—Rule of Faith (^ISii) :—Ji('pli/ to Jittscom (IHib): — Manly Character (1852) : — Histori/ of Wi/oming (1858), a work which re- ceived high comtnendatioiis not only in this country but in Europe (see North A mer. Bee. July. 1858, p. 280 ; Loml. A themnum, Aug. 28, 1858, p. 260) : — Early Methodism vi/hin the Boiauh of the Old Genesee Conf.from 1788 to 1828 (18G0), of which the North Amer. Review says that " it has the charm of romance, together with the edifying qualities of religious annals:" — Our Country, its Trials and its Triumphs (1865). Dr. Peck was literally a "father of ministers," having left two sons and two nephews in tlie pastoral work in his own Conference, and one daughter, IMrs. Rev. Dr. Crane, of the Newark Conference. See Ladies' Repository, 1871; Pulpit and Peio, 1871, p. 90 sq. ; Northern Christian Advocate, 1876, June 22 ; Life and Times of Geo. Feci:, D.D., tcritten by Fimselfi^. Y. 1874, 12mo) ; Conable, Flist. of the Genesee Conf. ch. i, § 4, 7, 8, 9; ch. iv, § 3 and 53; Meth. Qu. Rer. Oct. 1874, p. 693-696. (J. 11. W.)
Peck, James, a minister of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, of whose early histor\' we have no data, was one of the four ministers who constituted the Wash- ington Conference, organized by bishop Scott Oct. 27, 1864. He w-as then appointed to Asbury Church, in Washington, D. C. After six months he was appointed presiding elder of the Potomac District, in which ca- pacity he served until he was appointed to Sharp Street, Baltimore ; but after eight months he was reappointed presiding elder of the Potomac District. He was elected delegate to the General Conference held in Brooklyn, N. Y., 1872. He was next sent to Asbury Cliurch, Bal- timore, where he died in peace, March 6, 1874. See Minutes of Annual Conferences, 1875, p. 14.
Peck, John, a Baptist minister, was born in Stan- ford, Dutchess County, N. Y., Sept. 11, 1780. His early education was limited. He began preaching as a li- centiate in 1800 at Norwich and Sherburne, N. Y., and in 1804 became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Cazenovia, N. Y., where he was ordained June 11, 1806, and remained until November, 1834, during which time he had the satisfaction of witnessing several revivals among his congregation. He had been appointed gen- eral agent of the Baptist Missionary Convention in 1824, and after resigning his pastoral charge he devoted him- self entirel)' to that institution. In May, 1839, he was appointed general agent of the Baptist Home Mission Association. He travelled extensively in that con- nection, and his services proved very valuable. He continued to preach whenever opportiniitj' presented until his death, Dec. 15, 1849. Mr. Peck was associate editor of a religious periodical called The Vehicle, and afterwards of The Western Baptist Magazine, which was commenced in 1814, and some twelve years after merged in The New York Baptist Register. In 1837, in connec- tion with the Rev. John Lawton, he published A His- torical Sketch of the Baptist Missionary Convention of the State of New York, etc. He also published a Scrip- tural Catechism, and two Biscou7-ses in 1845, See Sprague, Annals of the A mer. Fulpit, vi, 431.
Peck, John Mason, D.D., a Baptist minister of note, was burn al Litchlidd, Conn., in 1789. He had limited early advantages for education, but made such use of them as to find employment as a school-teacher. He removed in 181 1 to (ireenc County, N. Y., where he united with a Baptist Church, a;ul in lfil2 was licensed to preach, becoming in 1814 pastor of a church in Ame- nia, N. Y. In 1816 he repaired to Philadelphia, and spent some time in stud}"- with the Rev. Dr. Staugliton, who was accustomed to receive students for the ministrj' into his family. In 1817 Peck went as an itinerant mis- sionary to the West, laboring in Illinois and Missouri. He visited New England in US2(') to [dead fur missions, and solicit aid for a literary and theological seminary. A school was establislied at Rock Spring, 111., on land given by him for the purpose, of which lie was the
principal in 1830-31. In 1832 he was connected with the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Going in originating the " Amer- ican Baptist Home Mission Society." Shurtleff Col- lege having been established at Upper Alton, 111., in 1835, the Rock Spring Seminary was merged in it. Mr. Peck travelled 6000 miles, and raised .i!20,000— a small sum compared with the millions given for educational endowments in recent years, but for the time an impor- tant contribution. He was also actively interested at a later period in founding the " Covington, Ky., Theolog- ical Seminary," and in 1843-45 was secretary of the "American Baptist Publication Society." He was the pastor of several churches at different times, and an in- dustrious writer. He established in 1829 a periodical, The Pioneer, which was published several years. As an antiquarian he was an assiduous and successful col- lector of books and pamphlets. He died in 18.08. He published in 1832 The EmigranVs Guide, which had a large circulation, and in 1834 a Gazetteer of Illinois. He was the author of the Life of Daniel Boone, in Sparks's "American Biographj',"andof a Life of Father Clarke, a Western preacher. See Forty Years of Pioneer Life ; Memoir of John Mason Peck, D.D.. edited from his jour- nals and correspondence by Rufus Babcock (Phila. 1864, 12mo) ; Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, yi, 402; AUibone, Bict. of Brit, and .4. mer. A uthors, vol. ii, s. v. ; Drake, Diet, of Amer. Biog. s. v.; New - Englander, 1865. (L. E. S.)