Baptist History Homepage

History of the Baptists of Illinois
By Edward P. Brand

CHAPTER XVIII
John M. Peck

     As the first section of Illinois Baptist history gathers around the name of James Lemen of Virginia, so the second section gathers around the name of John M. Peck of Connecticut. He was born in Litchfield, Conn., October 31, 1789. His puritan ancestors had tilled the soil of Connecticut since 1634. May 8, 1809, he was married to Sarah Paine, and like the Lemens they set up a christian home, with family worship morning and evening. They were both members of the Congregational church. When their eldest child was a month old the question of his "dedication in baptism" came before them. They had doubts about the scripturalness of the practice, and a number of interviews with Dr. Lyman Beecher, father of Henry Ward Beecher, failed to give relief. In 1811 they removed to Greene county, N. Y., where they both united with the New Durham Baptist church. By this church Peck was licensed to preach, and was ordained by the Catskill Baptist church in 1813.

     In 1817, with James E. Welch, he was commissioned a missionary to the "far" west, with headquarters at St. Louis. With his wife and three little children in a one horse wagon, July 25, he left his father's house for his journey of 1200 miles into the wilderness. They arrived at Shawneetown October 6, and leaving his partner to bring his horse and wagon across the country, he embarked with his family on a keel-boat bound for St. Louis. He arrived there December 1, sick, and for two months was confined to his lodgings, a single room on the corner of Maria and Myrtle streets.

     On Saturday morning, June 20, 1818, with his horse he was ferried over the river for his first visit to Illinois. The occasion was the monthly meeting of the Ogle's Creek church, in the Badgley settlement. David Badgley was pastor of the church, and between the two there sprang up a hearty friendship. Mr. Peck preached for them on Saturday, and again on Sunday, ard made a very favorable impression.

     Two months after this visit, on a sultry August day, Mr. Peck had business at the Illinois capital, Kaskaskia, and again crossing on the great ferry, he turned his horse's head in the direction of New Design. He dined at the blockhouse and residence of our former friend the first


[p. 62]
clerk of the Illinois Association, William Whiteside. He died a year or so before, but his widow made the traveling missionary welcome. An hour before sunset arrived at the story-and-a-half brick and frame farmhouse and traveler's rest of James Lemen. It is still a serviceable dwelling. A few rods away is the old cemetery with its marble monument erected by the donations of the Baptists of Illinois. It was the first meeting of the two great men. Of Mr. Lemen's eight children all were married, and himself and two of his sons were ordained ministers of the gospel. Of these two sons one at this time was absent at Kaskaskia as a delegate to the constitutional convention. The two younger sons were not professors of religion; another had fallen away. For these, at family worship, the parents with tears requested the prayers of their guest. It was an affecting season. Less than a year afterwards the two unconverted sons were baptized, and in their turn became preachers.

     From New Design south to Prairie du Rocher, 16 miles, there was at this time, not a house, only a horse path through the brush and timber. At Kaskaskia Mr. Peck stayed one night, rooming at the tavern with a convention delegate from Gallatin county, from whom he says he learned much about the state and the process of state making. He was an omnivorous gatherer of knowledge on all subjects.

     October 9, 1818, the first meeting of the separate Illinois association was held with the Ogle's Creek church, St. Clair county, at the house of Job Badgley. Mr. Peck was on hand, armed with the constitution of his first missionary society. He called it the "United Society for the Spread of the Gospel." His purpose was to aid the work of himself and Mr. Welch, and Isaac McCoy's work among the Indians, incidentally also to encourage better schools and teachers. Practically it was a society for home evangelism. After the plan was explained to the Association it was cordially received, and they voted to recommend it for the consideration of the churches.

     An enterprise on which Mr. Peck had set his heart was a school for the elementary training of preachers and teachers. It was ten years before this wish was realized in Illinois. In the meantime he pressed his "United Society." He received for it in St. Louis a collection of $26, at one time. But he relied more on the small amounts. Auxiliary to the United Societies he organized Female Mite Societies.

     A friend in St. Louis who was interested in Upper Alton property obtained his promise that he would visit that point before deciding on the location of the school. Accordingly late one afternoon, February


[p. 63]
23, 1819, he crossed the river at a ferry three miles above Alton, reaching Upper Alton after dark. There were about forty families on the ground; half were in cabins and the other half in wagons and camps. The only boarding house in the place was so forbidding that he sought shelter in one of the cabins, leaving his horse munching corn in an uncovered hog-pen. The next morning he made a tour of observation through the town, and decided that the outlook at Upper Alton for ~n educational center was not encouraging. He thus humorously described the situation:
"I found a school of some 25 or 30 boys and girls, taught by a wandering backwoodsman, but the chance for a boarding school was small indeed. There was the old settlement about the forks of Wood river and Rattan Prairie that might furnish a few scholars. The Macoupin settlement, real frontier rowdies, was 30 miles north, or a dozen families; then three families had ventured over Apple creek. The emigrants to the Sangamon country went there the preceding winter. Peoria, on the Illinois river, was an old French village of 25 cabins. Morgan, Cass, Scott, and all those counties along the Illinois river, were the hunting grounds of the Indians, Major Wadsworth and half a dozen families, had made their pitch in Calhoun county. The country to the east and north was a vast wilderness. Where then could scholars be found to fill a seminary at Upper Alton? After deciding such questions I gave a man a quarter to clean the mud from my horse, and made my way by another path back to Smeltzer's Ferry."
     The school was finally located at St. Charles, Mo., and that became Elder Peck's home for the next three years.

     On Friday, March 10, 1819, a cold, raw day, Elder Peck was again at Elder Badgley's and the next day he organized the "Ogle's Creek Mite Society, auxiliary to the United Society for the spread of the Gospel," the first organization of the kind ever formed in Illinois. On Monday he started with Elder Badgley for a week's horseback tour. Their course was east to William Padon's, of Silver Creek church; then north to Eld. Robert Brazil's, of Looking Glass Prairie church, where he organized the Looking Glass Prairie Mite Society. Still north to Mr. Seybold's of the Cantine Creek church, north of Troy, where was formed the "Cantine Creek Mite Society." This was a second Cantine Creek church, eight miles northwest of the first. The tour was closed by preaching on Monday, March 29, in the cabin of the Collins brothers, the first Sermon preached on the present site of Collinsville.

     Elder Badgley was appointed by the United Society the first missionary for Illinois, and gave two month's service during the summer


[p. 64]
at $16 a month. The local societies paid their funds to him, and he reported to the treasurer at St. Louis. But while the roses were being planted in the garden, a pestilential breath was awaiting them. It was the custom of the churches to send to the association any questions they might choose, and the association answered them through a committee. That fall, October 8, tlle association met with the Looking Glass Prairie church, and Mr. Peck preached the introductory sermon. The pestilential breath referred to originated with Elder Daniel Parker, Crawford county, on the eastern side of the state. By much pressure he obtained the consent of his church that he might send a question to their Indiana association. The same question was sent to other associations. For the Illinois association it was in charge of William Jones, pastor qr the Wood River church. Brother Jones quietly passed it to the proper committee. "Wood River: Is there any use for the United Society for the Spread of the Gospel? If so, wherein does its usefulness consist?" Answer to question one: "Yes." Answer to question two: "Its use is to supply destitute places with preaching." Brother Wood goes home beaten. But with an evil energy he will continue to agitate until the association meets again.
===========

[Edward P. Brand, Illinois Baptists -- A History, 1930, pp. 61-64. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]



Next chapter
More Illinois Baptist History
Baptist History Homepage