California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


 CHARLES S. PECK was born in Buffalo, N. V., in 1834, a son of Jesse Peck, a native of Connecticut, and 
almost the first builder in the city of Buffalo, N. Y. The son naturally followed in his father's footsteps, 
learned to be a practical builder, and evidenced in early life the ambitious tendencies which found 
vent in the west. In 1849 the family peace was disturbed by the journeying to the coast of two sons of 
the family, James and John, and the reports sent back by these early Argonauts fired the enthusiasm 
of Giarles S., who followed in their wake in 1852, making the journey by way of the Isthmus of 
Panama. Frank Peck was an addition to the family gathering in California in 1853, and he has survived 
the vicissitudes of the times and still lives on his farm in Merced county. 

Soon after settling in Snelling Charles S. Peck built the first stone building there, and afterward went to 
the mines in Mariposa county, where he achieved ordinary success as a miner. After six years in the 
rude camps of different parts of the state he returned to New York, and in 1859, in Erie county, 
married Adaline, daughter of Peter Cook, the latter a native of Genesee county, N. Y., and later a 
farmer and stock-raiser of Erie county. Mr. Cook married Lydia White, of Vermont. With his wife Mr. 
Peck went to housekeeping in Buffalo, in January, i860, his household being enlarged by the advent of 
his first son, James F., whose cradle was rocked between the performance of many tasks, all relating 
to the proposed journey overland to the coast. As soon as the snow was off the ground, and thoughts 
of spring sent hope bounding through the human heart, the father and mother started on their way 
with horse-teams, consuming twenty-one days more than two months on the way. Locating at 
Snelling Mr. Peck contracted and built for a short time, moving then to Princeton, Mariposa county, 
where he erected a large store for Fremont, the Pathfinder, going thence to Mariposa, where he 
erected the Masonic hall and other buildings, finally returning to Snelling. He arrived in Merced before 
the town had been platted or a lot sold, and it was he who erected the first brick building in town. For 
many years he was the foremost builder in this locality, and the majority of the old buildings and 
residences were erected by him, either wholly or in part. During the last eight years of his life he lived 
retired from any kind of work, and died in October, 1902, at the age of sixty-eight years. He is survived 
by his wife, who lives in Merced, and who is the mother of four children, James F.; Lydia, the wife of 
W. B. Bunker, of Las Vegas, N. M. ; Addie M., the wife of H. E. Stemler, of Portland, Ore.; and Jessie A., 
a resident of Merced.