BIOS: Jacob W. PECK, Summit Township, Somerset County, PA

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History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, PA; v.3; Bedford County by E.
Howard Blackburn; Somerset County by William H. Welfley; Lewis Pub. Co.,
NY/Chicago 1906; ppg. 418-421

Jacob W. Peck.

Jacob W. Peck, a successful farmer of Summit township, Somerset county,
and a minister of the German Baptist Brethren church, descends from one of
the old families of the county.  He was born in what was formerly Addison
(now Elk Lick) township, June 18, 1845, the son of John and Elizabeth
(Maust) Peck, the grandson of John Jacob and Annie (Olinger) Peck, and the
great-grandson of the American ancestors, John Adam and Katarina Fillabina
(Smith) Peck.
John Adam Peck was born in Switzerland, of German parents, about the year
1750.  He came to America in the ship Hamilton, sailing from Rotterdam,
on October 6, 1767, landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  On April 12,
1772, he married Katarina Fillabina Smith.  They settled in Lancaster
county, Pennsylvania.  John Adam was a weaver, and became possessed of
considerable property.  This he sold and received payment in Continental
money, which so depreciated in value that it caused his financial ruin.
With wife and family he packed his belongings in a prairie schooner and
crossed the mountains to southern Ohio, where his health failed him.  He
contracted ague, and was compelled to return to the more healthy region of
Pennsylvania, where he settled in Addison township, Somerset county.  Here
he cleared a farm from the wilderness and here died and was buried on the
farm.  This farm is now owned by two of his great-grandchildren.  John was
a favorite name in the family, as the following list of the children of
John Adam and Katarine F. (Smith) Peck will show: John Jacob, grandfather
of Jacob W. Peck; John, John Daniel, John George, John Peter, Henry, whose
given name was most likely John; Catherine, Elizabeth.
(II) John Jacob Peck was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, March 20, 1773.
He was a farmer and helped clear the homestead farm in Elk Lick.  He was a
religious man and a faithful member of the Brethren church.  He was a Whig
in politics.  He married Annie Olinger, December 22, 1799.  The children of
John Jacob and Annie (Olinger) Peck were thirteen.  It was in this
generation that the name changed from Pick, the original form, to Peck;
Susannah, Mary D., John, Sarah, Catharine, Jacob, Jonas, John, the father
of Jacob W.; Elias, the only living member of the family, lives in Falls
City, Nebraska, aged ninety-two years; Lydia D., Eliza, Moses, Daniel. 
John Jacob Peck died March 2, 1852.
(III) John Peck, the eighth child and fourth son of John Jacob and Annie
(Olinger) Peck, was born on the farm in Elk Lick, September 18, 1813.  He
received a limited education in the subscription schools of the day.  He
became a farmer, and with his brother Jonas owned a farm of eight hundred
acres, a greater part of which they had reclaimed from the forest.  In 1856
John bought out his brother and became sole owner.  He was an extensive
stock-raiser as well as farmer.  In church relations he was a German
Baptist and strictly observed the rules of that denomination.  He was
faithful to all his obligations and a good citizen.  Politically he was a
Republican of the deepest dye.  John Peck married, November 13, 1837,
Elizabeth Maust, born May 1, 1818, a daughter of Abraham Maust.  The
children born to John and Elizabeth (Maust) Peck are: William, a retired
farmer and owner of part of the home farm; he married Mary A. Weimer and
has four sons, Sherman, Albert, Jonas and Charles.  Mahlon, died in
infancy.  Abraham, deceased; he was a farmer near Friedens; he married
Lucinda Barclay and had one daughter, Ada (Mrs. George Reitz).  Jacob M.,
see forward.  Sarah Ann (Mrs. Jacob M. Fike), lives near Somerset and has
one son, John.  Magdalena, married Samuel P. Meyers, of Meyersdale; they
have two daughters, Elizabeth (Mrs. C.C. Heckle) and Emma (Mrs. S.S.
Rickard).  Two other daughters perished at the burning of the Meyers
residence in Meyersdale several years ago.  Lewis A., a farmer, owning the
larger part of the home farm; he is a minister of the German Baptist
Brethren church; his first wife was Mary Fike, to whom was born Howard,
Cora and Stella (Mrs. Dalton Cook); his second wife was Annie Baer, to whom
has been born John Galen and May.  Elizabeth (Mrs. J.P. Growall) of
Rockwood.  Jonas and Susan, twins; Jonas died in infancy and Susan is Mrs.
Cyrus A. Just, of Meyersdale; their children are Sadie, Edith and Florence. 
Mary died in childhood.  John Peck, the father of these children, died May
1, 1890, and Elizabeth (Maust) Peck, their mother, passed away September
22, 1896.
(IV) Jacob W. Peck, fourth son and child of John and Elizabeth (Maust)
Peck, was educated in the public schools.  He worked on the farm for his
father until of age, and for six years thereafter, until his marriage at
the age of twenty-seven, was in his fathers' employ.  After marriage he
rented a farm in Elk Lick, which he worked for one year and then rented the
home farm for two years, at which time he became by purchase the owner of
one-half the homestead, which he cultivated for six years.  He then bought
a farm at Summit Mills and moved thereto, renting out his other farm.  For
four years he owned and worked the Summit Mills farm and then sold it.  In
1884 he bought the fine farm near Meyersdale, known as the Abraham Saylor
farm, and one of the highest priced farms in the neighborhood.  Here Mr.
Peck has since resided.  The farm contains one hundred and ninety-two
acres, all under cultivation except twenty acres leased to the Meyersdale
Fair Association.  There are extensive orchards and commodious barns and
buildings on the property.  In 1887 Mr. Peck built the present residence
building.  He carries on a general farming business and is rated as one of
the most successful farmers of Somerset county.
In 1870 Mr. Peck became a member of the German Baptist church.  He became
a deacon and studied for the ministry, to which he was in due time elected
in the first degree, passed to the second and then to the third degree as
minister and bishop of the Summit Mills congregation, preaching in two
churches.  Mr. Peck is a well-read man and stand high in the estimation of
those who know him.  Politically he is a Republican.  He has been director
of the poor for Somerset county and was president of the board that erected
the building for the insane.  For fifteen years he was auditor of Summit
township, and is one of the present board of supervisors.  In 1900 he was
United States census enumerator.
Mr. Peck chose as his life partner Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and
Elizabeth (Beachley) Flickinger, of Elk Lick township.  She was born
November 29, 1849, and was married to Jacob Peck on December 29, 1872.  She
is a member of the same church as her husband.  The children of this
marriage are: Cora Alice, born October 25, 1873; she married John P.
Saylor and lives on the adjoining farm; they have three children, J.
Vincent, Emmert and Alva.  Lloyd Dillon, born August 29, 1875; he has
taught several years in the public schools, but is now a farmer with his
father.  John Elmer, born July 18, 1877, also a farmer.  Emma May, born
April 10, 1880, at home.  Carrie, born April 8, 1882, who makes her home
with Bishop Lint in Meyersdale.  Missouri, born June 21, 1883, stenographer
in the Citizen's national Bank of Meyersdale.  Sadie Pearl, born May 30,
1886, at home.  Robert Earl, born December 5, 1887, a farmer.  The children
are all members of the same church with their parents and the sons vote the
Republican ticket.  They have all received good educations and are well
equipped for life's battle.