BIO: George Peck, Wyoming Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, PA & NY Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Denise Phillips Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ________________________________________________ Chaffee, Amasa Franklin. History of the Wyoming Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. New York: Eaton & Mains, 1904, pages 220-223. ________________________________________________ PECK, GEORGE, D.D., was born in Middlefield, Otsego County, N.Y., August 8, 1797, and died in the city of Scranton, Pa., on May 20, 1876. He was the son of Luther and Annis Collar Peck, who gave five sons to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, namely, Luther H., George, Andrew, William, and Bishop Jesse T. He became a Christian in 1812 and united with the Church. He received license to exhort in 1815, and the following year received his local preacher's license. He served a year on Cortland Circuit under the presiding elder, without remuneration. In 1816 he joined the Genesee Conference on trial. He came from Puritan stock, and both of his grandfathers were Revolutionary soldiers. In his boyhood he became familiar with farming, sleigh-making, blacksmithing, shoemaking, coal-burning, and sugar-making. His educational advantages were limited in his boyhood. When he began his lifework he became a broad reader, a careful student - becoming familiar with both Greek and Hebrew. In reasoning power and acquired knowledge he was one of the best-equipped men of his time. In debate and pulpit utterance he was truly great. By a careful study of his fields of labor it will be seen that he personally touched almost every phase of work in our church. When he became junior preacher on Broome Circuit he was on a circuit which embraced territory from "Smithville Flats and Greene, on both sides of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers, down to Vestal." When he became presiding elder of Susquehanna District in 1839 his round of visitation would carry him over all the territory from Lanesboro to Nanticoke, including the present territory of Honesdale District. As the years flew by he saw large circuits diminish in size and many preaching places become charges. In fact, he witnessed the remarkable growth of Methodism within our bounds, and had more to do with the molding of Methodism in this territory than any other man. He had much to do with Cazenovia Seminary before he became its successful president in 1835. His interest in educational matters was always intense. It is claimed that he "was the originator and the first moving spirit in the founding of Wyoming Seminary. 'One evening in the latter part of October, 1839, he delivered an address in the old church at Forty Fort on the subject of education, in which he advanced the idea that a Methodist seminary was needed in the Wyoming Valley, and that Kingston furnished as good a location as could be found for such an institution.'" One of his biographers further claims that he "was the of the first course of study prescribed by the General Conference for traveling preachers." His election to the editorship of the Methodist Quarterly Review "marked a new era in the history of the magazine, the more liberal policy adopted by the Church enabling the editor to devote his time and ability chiefly to its advancement, and to all to his aid an able corps of paid contributors. The result was that the literary excellence of the journal increased with marked rapidity, while, owing to the greater liberality in publication, the mechanical execution and elegance of appearance formed a decided contrast with the preceding volumes." After eight years of very successful work on the Review he was made editor of the New York Advocate. Here his statesmanship was manifest in many lines. He joined the Genesee Conference, became a member of Oneida at its organization, was a member of New York Conference during the years of his editorial work, and in 1852 returned to his former fields of labor, becoming a member of Wyoming Conference at its organization. He served the Church as delegate to General Conference in thirteen sessions of that body, being a delegate from 1824 to 1872. His sound judgment and skill in debate were here of great service to the Church. Wesleyan University conferred the degree of A. M. upon him in 1835, and in 1840 Augusta College honored itself in conferring upon him the degree of D.D. The most important of his publications are Universalism Examined, History of the Apostles and Evangelists, Scripture Doctrine of Christian Perfection, Rule of Faith, Reply to Bascom, Manly Character, History of Wyoming, History of Methodism within the Bounds of the Old Genesee Conference, Life and Times of George Peck. The last two named are of great value to those interested in the history of Methodism within our territory. His love for historical study has preserved much that otherwise would have been lost. He was a member of the Evangelical Alliance which met in London in August, 1846. On June 19, 1819, he married Mary Meyers, of Forty Fort, Pa. Four children were born to them - Revs. George M. and Dr. Luther W., of our Conference, Wilbur F., M.D., and a daughter who became the wife of Rev. J. T. Crane, D.D., of Newark Conference. They celebrated their golden wedding in Scranton, June 19, 1869. He passed to his reward on May 20, 1876, and was buried in the cemetery at Forty Fort. His wife survived him until July 31, 1881, when she died at the home of Rev. G. M. Peck, in Clifford, Pa. We close this sketch by an estimate of one of his contemporaries: "I view him as one of the most remarkable men of our times - one whose genius and piety are indelibly stamped on the ecclesiastical polity and wonderful growth of the Church; whose wise counsels and herculean labors are interwoven in its development. For the past fifty years of his whole life he has been distinguished by a devoted love to the Church and unswerving loyalty to honest convictions of truth." The following were his fields of labor: 1816, Broome (junior preacher); 1817, Cortland (junior preacher); 1818, Wyoming; 1819, Bridgewater; 1820, Canaan; 1821, Paris; 1822-23, Utica; 1824-25, Presiding Elder of Susquehanna District; 1826, Wyoming; 1827, Wilkes- Barre; 1828-29, Ithaca; 1830, Utica; 1831-32, Cazenovia; 1833-34, Auburn; 1835-38, Principal of Cazenovia Seminary; 1839, Presiding Elder of Susquehanna District; 1840-47, Editor of the Methodist Quarterly Review and general Book Editor of the Book Concern; 1848-51, editor of The Christian Advocate; 1852-53, Wilkes-Barre; 1854, Presiding Elder of Wyoming District; 1855, Presiding Elder of Binghamton District; 1856- 57, Scranton Mission (Elm Park); 1858-61, Presiding Elder of Wyoming District; 1862-65, Presiding Elder of Lackawanna District; 1866-67, Providence; 1868, Dunmore; 1869-72, Presiding Elder of Wyoming District; 1873-76, sd.