Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
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A. M. PECK, 
 
a thriving and prosperous tiller of the soil on farm lots Nos. 6 and 7, range 4, 
of the Temple and Gibson tract of the San Pedro Ranch, is in the corporate 
limits of the city of Compton. He came to the county in 1867, and hence is one 
of the very first settlers of this beautiful place. He is a native of the 
Buckeye State, born November 23, 1821, and is a son of Horace R. and Mary 
(Johnson) Peck, natives respectively of the States of New York and Virginia, and 
both of English origin. The father was a soldier in the war of 1812 for two 
years. He was a farmer by occupation all his life, and died there in April, 
1846. The mother died in December, 1854. They had a large family, in all 
fourteen children, eleven of whom lived to be grown and ten are still living. At 
the age of twenty-one years Mr. Peck bought a farm in Ohio, and for several 
years carried on the dairy business. His partner in the business left him with a 
debt of several thousand dollars on his shoulders. Going to Pennsylvania and 
engaging in mining for several years Mr. Peck made money enough to pay off the 
indebtedness in Ohio, which he did. He had been educated at the common schools 
of his native county and also attended the academy at Farmington, Ohio, and at 
Kintland. In 1852, with very little money but plenty of grit, he set out for 
California, coming from New York to San Francisco on steamer via South America. 
Mr. Peck has been very successful and is a man of great energy. He is an earnest 
Christian, and has been an exhorter and local preacher in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and has held all the different offices of the church. While in 
the mining regions he organized and superintended three different 
Sunday-schools. Socially, he is a member of the Masonic fraternity and also of 
the I. O. O. F.
After coming to California Mr. Peck was for fifteen years engaged in mining, and 
subsequently he became interested in sheep-raising and farming. He owns eighty 
acres of very fine land in and near the village of Compton, and twenty-five 
acres in Azusa, which yields him very handsome returns in the way of fruit and 
vegetables. Mr. Peck is now well along on the shady side of life, and has chosen 
to fight its battles alone, having never been married. He was in the service of 
his country during the "late unpleasantness." He entered the army early in the 
spring of 1864 and belonged to the Reserve Corps of the Pacific Defense, but 
they were organized in State militia companies ready for work before being 
accepted in the United States service.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 607
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler