Albert Marion Peck (1821 - 1902)

Born 21 Nov 1821 in Ohio

Died 21 Dec 1902 at age 81 in Compton, Los Angeles, California,

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Biography

Albert Marion Peck was born in Ohio, 23 Nov 1821, and died in Compton, California, 21 Dec 1902 (aged 81) ^[1] His middle name is recorded in his voter registration in 1879 in Compton, California ^[2]

It seems that his father died before 1850, he was with his mother and three younger siblings in the 1850 census in Pennsylvania. ^[3]

In 1947, his great-nephew, Sedley Peck, wrote the following sketch:

Early in the Sixties Albert M. Peck came to Compton [California] as a surveyer. In this connection he helped chain and stake a great willow swamp, of which he chose the choicest eighty acres, buying it from the Spanish Grant owners for five dollars an acre. This land he cleared, broke sod, and farmed until his death in 1903. In the southwest corner of the land surveyed, on the highest part, he helped locate the Compton Cemetery [Woodlawn Memorial Park]; and here he is buried, surrounded by members of his family, beneath a fitting memorial monument.

Albert M. Peck made the name Peck synonymous with Pioneer. He came to California “Around the Horn” along with P.P. Bliss, who became the famous editor of the Rural Press of San Francisco. But “A. M.” soon left for the gold fields of Sierra County. He was the “Fighting Parson” of Downieville in the early Fifties: an outstanding and outspoken civic, religious, and fraternal leader of Compton for forty years; a colorful, unmated, lonely giant.

Albert was the eldest of the three boys and eight girls who reached maturity from the marriage of Horace R. Peck with Polly Johnson in Parkman, Ohio in 1816. Sedley was the second son and Edward the youngest son. Albert and Edward were bachelors, the latter a veteran of the Civil War, being buried in the United States National Cemetery at Sawtelle, California. Sedley lies beside Albert in the Compton Cemetery – . . . .. ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 19 April 2020), memorial page for Albert M. Peck (23 Nov 1821–21 Dec 1902), Find a Grave Memorial no. 11854370, citing Woodlawn Memorial Park, Compton, Los Angeles County, California, USA ; Maintained by Glenn and Tracy Morrow (contributor 46631129) .
2. ↑ "California Great Registers, 1866-1910," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VTD1-WBG : 25 July 2019), Albert Marion Peck, 31 Jul 1879; citing Voter Registration, Compton, Los Angeles, California, United States, county clerk offices, California; FHL microfilm 976,928.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4HS-JYH : 4 April 2020), Albert N Peck, Washington, Clarion, Pennsylvania, United States; citing family 800, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
4. ↑ In a letter dated March 20, 1947, Sedley Peck, grandson of Albert's brother, Sedley, wrote, To the members and Associates of the Horace R. Peck Family The sketch which follows has been prepared for The Golden Book of the Compton Cemetery. It is being sent to each family group who attended the Fifty-Third Annual Peck Reunion, with the request that any corrections, or pertinent additions be sent at once to Sedley Peck, 917 Azusa Ave., AZUZA, California, for inclusion in the final draft.