Colonel Elisha Franklin Peck
Col. Elisha Franklin Peck, the fifth child of Elisha Peck and Milicent Byington, was born at Old Stockbridge, Mass., May 25, 1806. Elisha Peck, a descendant of Deacon Paul Peck, of Hartford, Conn., was born at Berlin, Conn., March 7, 1773.
In the year 1817, Elisha Peck came to this country and made a selection of lands, and erected a log cabin in the town of Brownhelm, Lorain Co., Ohio, which at that time was an unbroken wilderness, after which he returned for his family, consisting of a wife and ten children; and the year following made a permanent settlement, arriving Nov. 12, 1818. No furniture was in possession of the family, and a bedstead was improvised for the older members of the family the first night of their stay in the then far West, the children sleeping on the floor. Mr. Peck's purchase amounted to four hundred and fifty acres.
Col. E. F. Peck remained with his father until he was twenty-one years of age, and in the month of August following started out, in life for himself, with forty acres of land as a gift from his father; and the same year started for Old Stockbridge, Mass., the old home; to attend school, but was taken sick at Buffalo, N. Y., while working on the harbor. He went to an uncle's in Orleans Co., N. Y., and remained four months. He then returned to Brownhelm, having abandoned the idea of attending school in Massachusetts, and purchased the interests of several members of the family in the estate of his father, and has since added materially to his possessions.
He was married, July 3, 1833, to Sally Ann, daughter of Abishai Morse. This union resulted in the birth of four children, whose names are as follows: Ann Milicent, Lydia Marianne, Henry Franklin, and William Elisha, all of whom are living except Henry F., who died Feb. 4, 1864, at his father's house.
Col. Peck, now seventy-three years of age, is still vigorous and active, and only last fall (1878) plowed and prepared the soil for ten acres of wheat. He has cleared over two hundred acres of heavy timbered land. His physique even now proves the advantage of a life of sobriety, industry, and uprightness. His only education was obtained by giving one day of labor for one day of instruction in the elementary branches. Its practical benefits to himself and family are evinced by his success in life, financially and morally.
In politics, Col. Peck has always been a Democrat, with which party he is prominently identified, and a working member. He is earnest, even zealous in the advocacy of his convictions, and no matter what others may think as to the facts at issue, HE IS SINCERE.
From 1857 until 1861 he was postmaster at Brownhelm, the proceeds of the office going to his poor neighbors.
Prior to the late civil war, and during the old militia days, Mr. Peck joined an Ohio regiment, in which he became popular, both as a genial comrade and an able military commander, and passed through the several grades, from private in the ranks to that of colonel, being regimental commander when mustered out of service.
Ann M. Peck, eldest daughter of Col. E. F. Peck, married H. O. Allen, Jan. 1, 1865. He died Nov. 17, 1869. Lydia M., second daughter, married Geo. P. Deyo, Sept. 13, 1871. William E. married Lena S. Smith, Dec. 28, 1871.
(Source: History of Lorain County, Ohio, Williams Brothers, Philadelphia, 1879, p. 220a.)