Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-12-17

1912. He was but q short distance from
Plattsburgh when the British forces cap
tured that place, and heard the guns O
the battle; and upon an appeal for vol
unteers the evening after the battle, h,
volunteered at the age of fifteen to q
and fight the British invaders. But a
the enemy soon retired, his services as
soldier volunteer were never called int
action.
After the close of the war, exploring
parties returning from the Territory Of
the Ohio, the then "far west" brought
the most fabulous accounts Of the beauty
and fertility Of that country. Mr.. Peck's
father concluded to make q second vent
ture into the wilderness, and about the
year 1916, he started with his family OF
four sons, wife and one daughter, with a
two horse wagon and team, and all their
woEldly goods, for the promised land OF
Ohio, and as we may conjecture, that
district Of country now embraced in Har-
rison and Belmont counties. In those
days there were no facilities for travelr
ing, 10 stage coaches, no canals, the rail-
road had not been dreamed OF, and for
much of the way there was no public
road. nothing but trails and openings
through interminable forests. The trip
was long and wearisome, and the Peck
family got no further than the then little
hamlet of Washington, Pa. where they
were Overtaken by the winter storms,
and where they stopped.
Soon after settling at Washington, Mr..
Peck's father was stricken down with
paralysis, and the whole duty of support
ing the family fell upon the subject of
our sketch. This duty he met, as every
other duty in life, most manfully. The
father remained helpless invalid for
two years and then died. One of the
brothers was apprenticed to a printer,
and soon ran away. But young Daniel
grappled with all obstacles, as if mas
ter and determined to conquer. He
chopped cord wood for 81 a cents cord /;
he threshed rye with a fail for the dis
tillers for every tenth bushel; he drove
team; he worked for painter at paint
ing houses; but all his earnings were
absorbed for the bare subsistence of life
Mr.. Peck never attended school more
than about one year in all, in broken in
tervals during his life.
Here at Washington, he made his first
attempt at teaching, taking charge of
class of negroes in Sunday School. And
while working for the painter at Wash
ington, he painted house for Parker
Campbell, great lawyer in his day, and
here for the first time had opportunity to
look into library of law books. Mr..
Campbell, noticing his interest in the
books, told him to take and read any one
he liked; and after awhile offered to
send him to college, but on account of
the necessity of supporting the family,
Mr.. Peck declined this generous offer.
But this was the crisis of the mans life
These books opened a new world to him,
and showed him the possibilities of honor
and success which he resolved to conquer
and secure. Here he studied the science
of music with a shoemaker named Beat
ty; and also studied mathematics with
a college student; studying at nights
and intervals in his daily labor. Here
he attended occasionally the courts, and
heard such men as Phillip Doddridge
argue causes. and resolved to become a
lawyer some day.
When Mr.. Peck was about twenty-five
years of age. he decided to remove from
Washington to Wheeling, Va; and,
tying up his scanty wardrobe in bum
die, he slung it over his shoulder on a
stick and walked down to Wheeling with
a letter of introduction from prominent
lawyer named Thomas McGiffin to Sam
Sprigg, at that time the leading man in
Wheeling. A year before this, Mr.. Peck
had been attacked with smallpox, which
bad badly marred his face, and on seeing
him, Mr.. Sprigg took his letter, but re-
fused to let him enter his house. Whee-
ling was then small, dirty village of
about twelve hundred, and Mr.. Peck met
with very cold reception. His poverty
and his smallpox scars shut him out of
society. The principal people of the
town were slave holders, and did not re-
spect poor white man who had to labor
for living, as much as negro who had
an owner. This was bitter trial. Cut
off from society, he cultivated the friend.
ship of little children. Here he made
the acquaintance of young man named
Redick Mckee, who had but recently
moved down from Pittsburgh, and they
two opened and taught the 6rst Sunday
School ever organized in Wheeling. Their
school greatly prospered, for they not
only held simple religious services, but
also taught the children how to read, and
Iuc p0Opl0 Sidoiy oChI 1hOlA SulAOACu, 81
that for want Of room to accommodate
the tbrongs of little ones, they we're
forced to move from place to place to get
larger rooms. The laws of Virginia then
forbid teaching any person with negro
blood in their veins, so no negroes at
tended that first Sunday School, which
was first opened at a house on Main
street, where William GosEorn now lives
There was at that time no church or re,
ligous society in Wheeling.
Some time after that, the celebrated
Episcopal Bishop Chase stopped and held
services in Wheeling, and Mr.. Peck heard
of the existence of the Episcopal church
for the first time in his life, He had =
perfect knowledge of the growth and
history of Wheeling, and especially its