William H. Peck

William Henry Peck was a successful Southern novelist and writer.

Biography

William Henry Peck was born December 30, 1830 in the Sand Hill section of Richmond County, Georgia near Augusta. He was the son of Samuel Hopkins Peck, a merchant in Augusta and his wife, the former Mrs. Sarah Holmes Pate. Samuel Hopkins Peck was later known as Colonel Peck due to his experience in the Mexican War and was descended from the Paul Peck Family, one of the early settlers of Hartford, Connecticut.

In 1842, Florida's Congress passed the Armed Occupation Act which encouraged citizens to move and settle the relatively untamed areas of central Florida. William Henry moved with his father and brothers in 1843 to the Indian River Colony in St. Lucie County in east Florida. He later wrote descriptively about this area and his meeting with early pioneers such as lighthouse keeper Miles Burnham of Cape Canaveral in the Florida Star Newspaper in 1887. In a piece for the New York Ledger, Peck also described the opening of the Indian River Inlet with the picks and shovels that were available at that time. The family is accredited with building the first frame house in the area and Peck's Lake is given to be named for them. Peck received an extensive education at a boarding school in Connecticut, a military school in Kentucky and finally Georgetown and Harvard where he received a degree in 1853. His writing career took off with submissions to Robert Bonner's "New York Ledger" where it was reported he was paid $5000 for stories for this publication. In 1873 the "Augusta Chronicle" reported:

"A DISTINGUISHED AUGUSTA AUTHOR" Our readers will be gratified to learn of the success in the literary world of our neighbor Professor William Henry Peck who is the author of some of the best and most popular romances of the day.. The professor is a citizen of Harlem...romance writer for the New York Ledger...ATTRACTION EXTRAORDINARY... it is with no little pride and gratification that we announce an exclusive engagement for a long term of years with that renowned and brilliant author William Henry Peck...particularly so as the author is Georgian. Professor William Henry Peck is, we believe, a native of Augusta and doubtless is known to many of our citizens.Fact|date=May 2008

William Peck earlier served as Professor of History at Tulane University of Louisiana and served as an educator for several institutions. In 1861, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he started "The Georgia Weekly" and divided his time between Atlanta and New York until he retired to the home of his youth in Jacksonville, Florida. He married Monica Kenny Blake in 1854 and was the father of seven children. William Henry Peck with his family later moved to Merritt Island, Florida where he owned many acresof citrus groves and he started a post office. He was post-master at the Courtenay Post Office which had a steamer called Courtenay. Peck's activities were often written about in the "Florida Star" newspaper. He later moved from Courtenay to close by Cocoa, Florida. His daughter Byrnnia Peck married Edward Postell Porcher in Charleston, South Carolina on December 15. Another daughter, Daisy Peck, wrote for the "Cocoa Tribune".

Peck died soon after his wife in 1892 in Jacksonville, Florida and is buried in Westview Cemetery, Fulton County in Atlanta, Georgia. A notable quote from one of his May Day ovation in Brevard County's "Florida Star" is "To the pure all things are pure".

Writings

Professor Peck published over seventy-five books (mostly novels), making him the most prolific American writer of his age. Some of these books include:

The M'Donalds; or, The ashes of southern homes. A tale of Sherman's march. This book was said to be loosely based on the experiences of his sister's family, the McDonalds from Augusta. (Written at the age of 37)

Published "The Confederate flag on the ocean. A tale of the cruises of the Sumter and Alabama."(38)

Wild Redburn, an Indian Tale

In May 1887 he wrote story in the Florida Star about Gilbert's Bar.A very descriptive account of his teen years about the early pioneers of the Indian River area.

Story in Florida Star dated July 17, 1889 records a social event atthe home of W.H. Peck in Cocoa Florida. "Watching the Night Cereus bloom".

Published The Fortune-teller of New Orleans.(59)

Published Siballa the sorceress; or, The Flower Girl of London. (60)

Published The Executioner of Venice, a novel.(62)

Brackets () in this article is the age of WH Peck.

External links

* [http://www.CapeHistory.Info/Pics_Peck.html Historic Pictures of WH Peck]

References

1)The amount of $5000 written in a 1970's story in the Atlantajournal is doubtful. After editor researched the New York Libraryarchives, receipts were found for $55 and other amountsfrom Robert Bonner of the New York Ledger.

2)Living Writers of the South408-412 by James Wood Davidson - American literature - 1869 - 619 pagesFull story available through Google Books

3)Reminiscences of Famous Georgians: Embracing episodes and Incidentsin thePage 507by Lucian Lamar Knight - Georgia - 1908"Professor William Henry Peck wrote many stories for the weeklypress but nothing better than "The Stone Cutter of Lisbon,"for which it is said that the New York Ledger paid himfive thousand dollars." Reference available through Google Books