John Adams Peck, son of Charles H. and Rebecca (Adams) Peck, was born in St. Louis, February 13, 1859, and married Elizabeth P. Dewar. He is a lineal descendant of John Adams and Philip Pieterse Schuyler, who emigrated from Holland in 1645 and married Margaretta Van Slitchenhorst, and Robert Walter, from Plymouth, England, who was mayor of New York city from 1720 until 1725 and a member of the king’s council from 1698 until 1730 (Vice Philipse) and other old representative families of New York and New England. He is also a descendant of Robert Sandy’s through Jerusha Sands of Rattenby Castle, St. Bees, Cumberland, in 1399. The ancestral line is traced back to Captain James Sands of Sands Point, Long Island, or Captain James Sands, who was born at Reading, England, in 1622 and came to America in 1638. He settled first at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, while in 1660 he became a resident of Block Island, Rhode Island. His father was Henry Sandy’s of England, a younger son of Dr. Edwin Sandes, archbishop of York in the time of Queen Elizabeth. While occupying the bishopric Dr. Edwin Sandes leased Scrooby Manor to the father of Brewster, who was one of the band of Pilgrims that landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. At his death his eldest son, Sir Samuel Sandy’s, leased Scrooby Manor to Brewster and there the first Separatists church was formed. All of the sons of Archbishop Sandes were interested in the London Virginia Company, his second son, Sir Edwin Sandes, being governor of the colony in 1620. He also assisted the Mayflower company in the settlement of New England. Mr. Peck is a lineal descendant from William Peck, who was born in the city of London, England, in 1601. He was one of the founders of the New Haven colony in the spring of 1638. He emigrated to this country in the company of Governor Eaton and Rev. John Davenport in the ship Hector, arriving at Boston June 26, 1637. The object of this emigration was the unmolested enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. He was one of the original proprietors of New Haven, his signature being affixed to the fundamental agreement and constitution dated June 4, 1639, for the government of the infant colony. This is said to have been “the first example in history of a written constitution organizing a government and defining its powers.” He was admitted a freeman of the colony October 20, 1640, was a merchant by occupation and a trustee, treasurer and the general business manager of the Colony Collegiate School, while from 1659 until his demise he was a deacon of the church in New Haven. His home lot was on Church street and is now covered by the Connecticut Savings Bank building. His grave is in the part of the old burial ground now under the Center church. His gravestone, however, is in the new cemetery, in the northern part of the town, having been removed there in 1821. Edward Peck, father of the emigrant ancestor, William Peck, was an eminent lawyer in London, sergeant at law, to His Majesty Charles 11. The name is of ancient origin and of great antiquity. They are found seated in England in Belton and Yorkshire at a very early date. A certificate of the heralds accompanies the pedigree and arms in the British Museum, November 20, 1620.
John Adams Peck is the only surviving son of the family, a trustee and manager of his father’s estate, and he is a brother of Mrs. Rebecca P. Dusenbery and Mrs. Max M. Bryant of Vandeventer Place, St. Louis. He was educated in the public school and Washington University. In young manhood he was in the employ of the Frisco Railroad and afterwards was in the real estate business, which qualified him to assume the management of the Peck estate after his father’s death, and in its control he has displayed marked business ability and discernment. Mr. Peck is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and The Order of the Founders and Patriots of America. He is keenly interested in all matters of citizenship and stands for those activities which promote the general welfare. His life has been passed in St. Louis, where he has contributed to the welfare and happiness of others, enjoying the warm regard of all by reason of his sterling personal characteristics and Christian life and by reason of his progressiveness and enterprise in the management of his business affairs.