Porter Pascal Peck Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1242-1246 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				PORTER PASCAL PECK. 

	One of the most venerated citizens of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 
is Porter Pascal Peck, who has resided here for over thirty-two years 
and has been connected with many interests that have contributed toward 
the growth and advancement of the state. Mr. Peck now lives practically 
retired, looking after his extensive investments. Not only was he 
connected with commercial and financial interests of Sioux Falls but he 
served for two terms as its mayor and gave to the city a businesslike 
and effective administration. 

	Mr. Peck was born in Caledonla Springs, Canada, on the 16th of 
April, 1843. His parents were Hersa and Susannah (Southworth) Peck, the 
former born in Massachusetts and the latter in Middlebury, Vermont. The 
father was one of the early instructors in the Middlebury Academy and 
was a well known educator in the Green Mountain state. The parents 
removed to Canada in 1838 but in 1853 again crossed the border, 
settling in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where Mr. Peck was successfully engaged 
in the manufacture of brick through the remaining years of his life, 
passing to the Great Beyond in 1855. His widow survived him until 1897, 
in which year she died in Harvard, Illinois. 

	The educational opportunities of Porter P. Peck were not of the 
best, partly on account of the pioneer conditions prevailing in the 
districts in which the family resided and partly because of their 
various removals in his earlier youth. He began his education in the 
common schools of Canada and, removing with his parents to the state of 
Wisconsin when he was about ten years of age, continued to attend the 
common schools there until he had attained the age of about eighteen. 
His education was intermittent as during those years he assisted his 
father and was also employed in farm work. 

	On the first call for troops to defend the Union he loyally 
responded and enlisted in April, 1861, at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, 
becoming a private in the Geneva Light Guards, which were attached as a 
company to the Fourth Wisconsin Infantry. He served with that command 
for three months and, showing a preference for the mounted service, 
enlisted in November, 1861 , for three years in Company K, Second 
Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry, at the end of which he veteranized, 
continuing in active service until the close of the war. He received 
his honorable discharge in the fall of 1865. His regiment was one of 
the best known cavalry troops in the service and was at various times 
commanded by all of the celebrated cavalry leaders with the exception 
of General Pleasanton. At the close of the great conflict it was under 
General Custer. It was first known as the Walworth Cavalry and was 
assigned to Washburn's Cavalry but later became incorporated in the 
Twenty second Wisconsin Cavalry. In the spring of 1862 it was assigned 
to the Department of Missouri and soon thereafter attached to the Army 
of the Frontier, with which the First Battalion, of which Mr. Peck was 
a member, remained until the fall of 1864. It was then transferred to 
the Military Division of the Mississippi. During the nearly three years 
of active service on the frontier Mr. Peck participated in all of the 
engagements of his command, the most notable being the battles at 
Prairie Grove, Arkansas, and at Springfield, Missouri. He also took 
part in the engagements of the Mississippi Division after being 
transferred thereto under General B. H. Grierson. In the spring of 1865 
the regiment accepted the surrender of General N. B. Forrest, the noted 
Confederate cavalryman, at Grenada, Mississippi, and after paroling the 
prisoners the regiment returned to Memphis, Tennessee, from which point 
it embarked for Alexandria, where it joined the command of General 
George A. Custer for the march across the country to Texas. Just prior 
to this Mr. Peck was ordered with a detail to escort some prisoners to 
the Dry Tortugas and did not go to Texas with General Custer, on whose 
staff he had served for a short time. He was never seriously wounded 
nor taken prisoner and received his honorable discharge at New Orleans, 
August 12, 1865. His promotions were as follows: Sergeant, July 13, 
1863; reenlisted as a veteran, February 26, 1864; first sergeant, April 
4, 1864; second lieutenant, July 21, 1864; first lieutenant, February 
4, 1865. 

	Shortly after his discharge Mr. Peck made his way to Dakota 
county, Minnesota, where he farmed for a time, and in 1867 settled in 
West Union, Iowa, where for two years he was engaged in the livery 
business, also giving his attention to agricultural pursuits. In 1872 
he came to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and, being favorably impressed 
with its attractions and surroundings and wisely foreseeing its future 
growth although it was then but a small village, he decided to take up 
his residence here. He located definitely in the town early in the 
following year and established himself in the livery business, being 
one of the pioneers in that line. He continued active in that business 
until 1889 and met with a gratifying degree of success. He owned the 
first two-seated carriage in the state and also brought the first 
omnibus and the first landau to Sioux Falls. In 1878, in partnership 
with Colonel Melvin Grigsby, he erected a substantial building opposite 
the Cataract Hotel, on Phillips avenue, and in its construction were 
utilized the first pressed brick, metallic cornice work and plate glass 
in the city. Mr. Peck has done much building in Sioux Falls and by his 
activity along this line has materially contributed to its progress and 
attractiveness. 

	A former biographer says of him: "He has also done his share in 
farming, having broken fourteen hundred acres of prairie land 
contiguous to the city. He is a man of great energy and force and has 
been identified with nearly all the public enterprises of the city. 
While in Iowa he was deputy sheriff for several years. The Dakota 
National Bank was organized through the efforts of Mr. Peck and his 
long-time friend and associate, Mr. Grigsby, and the former was its 
first cashier. He was a director and vice president of the Minnehaha 
National Bank at the time of the death of its president, J. M. Bailey, 
Jr., and was subsequently elected president, holding this office until 
June, 1898." He held this position for seven years, being elected in 
1891. Mr. Peck's interests are wide and varied, not only covering the 
city but extending throughout the county and state. He now enjoys in 
retirement the fruits of a career rich in labor and also rich in 
gratifying results. 

	In Christiana, Minnesota, in March, 1866, Mr. Peck was united in 
marriage to Miss Alice G. Caskey, of Farmington, that state, who passed 
away on the 18th of November, 1875, being survived by three children: 
Ella M., who married B. F. Snook, of Mankato, Minnesota; Florence L., 
the wife of L. W. Wood; and Porter C. On the 2d of July, 1877, Mr. Peck 
married Miss Catherine W. Cornue, of Linn, Wisconsin, and they have two 
sons, Harold C. and Clifford H. The former is a resident of Moline, 
Illinois, and the latter received his college education in the famous 
Phillips-Exeter Academy of New Hampshire. 

	Mr. Peck is a stanch republican in politics, and he has always 
given his support to that party which upheld the Union during the dark 
days of civil warfare. He has interested himself in state, county and 
municipal politics and has been particularly prominent in the latter, 
serving as alderman and treasurer. In 1890 he was elected mayor and 
served by reelection for four years or two terms. Mr. Peck has always 
allied himself with interests that make for the public good and has on 
many occasions taken to the platform and expounded his views in 
convincing oratory. His administration as mayor was a path of obstacles 
to be overcome and a man of less self-reliance and determination would 
have easily given in to the deterring influences in his way. He never 
deviated, however, from the road which he considered right and always 
stood for progress and advancement. While he was mayor a number of 
important improvements were completed and a number of widely beneficial 
measures became laws. Under his administration the pros and cons fought 
for or against the prohibitory law and he had to contend with both 
factions in trying to guide to success measures which he considered of 
value. The position Mayor Peck took was never an equivocal one and it 
was always perceptible to all on which side of the question he stood. 
It cannot be said of him, as can be of so many politicians, that he was 
"straddling." After he came to the conclusion of what was right or 
wrong he stood by his convictions honestly and openly, and his sturdy 
spirit of independence nearly always won the day. In his first election 
for mayor Mr. Peck defeated Captain W. E. Willey and in his second Rev. 
E. B. Meredith, the prominence of his defeated rivals being alone proof 
of his popularity. He is still an important factor in public affairs. 

	Mr. Peck affiliates with the Congregational church. Fraternally 
he stands high in the Masonic order, having attained the thirty-second 
degree in the Scottish Rite and he is also a Knight Templar and a 
Shriner. He is a member of Oriental Consistory, No. 1, and is 
identified with the Minnesota Commandery of St. Paul, Order of the 
Loyal Legion, which he joined in 1889. He keeps in touch with his 
comrades of the battlefields of yore through his membership in Joe 
Hooker Post, No. 10, G. A. R., of which for three years he was 
commander. Mr. Peck comes of an old American ancestry, although born in 
Canada. His paternal forbears were early settlers of Massachusetts and 
the maternal of Vermont. Like his ancestors he has shown himself to be 
a patriot in times of war and peace. He implanted the spirit of loyalty 
in the far west, to which land of promise he has contributed so much by 
his activities, and his name is worthy of being inscribed upon the 
honor roll of the builders of this state.