Washburn County WIGenWeb Project

People Histories

Richard Frederick Peck
(19 Jun 1853 - 1930¹)

-As transcribed from the "COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF THE UPPER LAKES REGION"

by J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, IL, 1905

page 435

Richard Frederick Peck, a highly esteemed citizen of Washburn county, was born in London, England, June 19, 1853. His parents were William Henry and Mary Ann (Stewart) Peck, the former also a native of London.

William Peck, his grandfather, sprang of a family of Norfolk farmers, and became an architect. William Henry Peck, son of William, a civil engineer by profession, brought his family to the United States in 1857, and settled at Taylor's Falls, Minn. Eight years later he moved to St. Croix Falls, Wis., where for many years he carried on a store. In 1892 he came to Veazie, Washburn county, dying there the same year at the age of eighty-three. He also lived for a time in Burnett county, where he filled the office of county treasurer and kept a general store at Grantsburg. He was a Republican in politics, and a member of the Episcopal Church. Mrs. Mary Ann (Stewart) Peck died in Grantsburg, Wis., in 1882, when seventy-four years of age. She was a native of Scotland and came of the royal Stuart family. Her father, Thomas Stewart, a breeder and dealer in fine horses, met his death in Germany, from a kick of a horse which he was about to deliver to a German nobleman who had purchased the animal.

Richard Frederick Peck attended school in Taylor's Falls, and learned the trade of house decorator. This occupation he followed fourteen years in St. Paul, Minn. In 1886 he came to Washburn county, taking up a homestead claim in the town of Veazie, where he lived until 1894, when he bought his present farm of eighty acres, in section 21, Town 39, Range 12. He now has fifty acres under cultivation, and comfortable farm buildings, is giving considerable attention to horticulture, and has an apiary, with over twenty swarms of bees.

Mr. Peck was married, in 1878, to Anna A. Castner, daughter of William W. and Elizabeth (Hyght) Castner, of Geneva, Ill. Mr. Peck belongs to the M. W. A., being a charter member of the Camp at Spooner. A life-long Republican, he has served four years as chairman of the town board of Spooner, as assessor and as incumbent of other public offices. Since 1892 he has been a government surveyor, much of his time being devoted to that work. His surveys have taken him over northwestern Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota, and he has earned an enviable reputation as an efficient engineer.

1 - Editorial Note - The exact death date of Mr. Peck is unknown, although a transcription of his tombstone, located in the Spooner Cemetery states that he died in 1930.