From the book History of Walworth County Wisconsin, by Albert Clayton 
Beckwith, publ. 1912 - Pages 614 - 616
 
CHARLES I. PECK.  This well known citizen is an excellent example of the alert 
twentieth-century business man of the United States, coming from an ancestry 
that distinguished itself in pioneer days.  When the country was covered with 
almost an interminable forest of native trees, filled with wild animals, his 
people came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, and began to carve homes from the 
primeval forests, build schools and churches and introduce the customs of 
civilization in the wilderness.  They were willing to endure the hardships 
that they might acquire the soil and the home that was sure to rise and they 
did a noble work in the several relations with their fellow men.  By a life 
consistent in motive and action and because of his many fine personal 
qualities, Charles I. PECK, for many years one of the leading agriculturists 
and stock men of Lafayette township, has earned the sincere regard of all who 
know him, and is deserving of conspicuous mention in his county's history 
along with other representative citizens who have the interests of the nature-
favored locality at heart.
 
Mr. PECK  was born in Lafayette township, this county, at Spring Prairie, on 
August 14, 1847.  He is the son of J. W. and Adaline E. (RANDALL) PECK, both 
natives of the state of New York, the father's birth having occurred in 1818 
and the mother's in 1823.   They spent their earlier years in their native 
state, and in 1836 came to Ohio, thence coming to Lafayette township, Walworth 
county, Wisconsin, in 1836, buying one hundred and thirty-six acres at Spring 
Prairie where he built a hotel, known as PECK's Corners.  He then went north 
about two miles and established his home.  In 1806 he moved to the farm now 
owned by his son, Charles I., of this sketch, becoming the owner of eight 
hundred and sixty-six acres of valuable land in Lafayette township, and other 
parts of Wisconsin and an aggregate of eighteen hundred acres here and in Iowa 
and Nebraska, being one of the largest land owners and one of the most 
substantial and influential citizens in this section of the state.  He was 
very active in the affairs of the early times and was a leader in his 
community, winning the admiration and esteem of all who knew him as a result 
of his industry, public spirit and exemplary character.  Politically, he was a 
Democrat and took an active part in political affairs. He was an extensive 
sheep dealer.  He was chairman of the board of supervisors, though he was 
never a seeker after public office.  His wife was a consistent member of the 
Baptist church.
 
Five sons and one daughter were born to Mr. and Mrs. J. W. PECK, all living 
but one.  The death of the father occurred in 1876, his widow surviving over 
thirty years, dying in 1907.
 
Charles I. PECK, the immediate subject of this sketch, was reared on the home 
farm, where he assisted with the general work during crop seasons, attending 
the public schools in the winter time, later the Elkhorn high school.  Early 
in life he took up general farming and stock raising for a vocation and this 
he has continued with almost uninterrupted success, now owning one of the 
finely improved and fertile farms of the county, consisting of four hundred 
and eighty acres in Lafayette township.  He is also interested in land in 
California, he being one of five men who are interested as a company in the 
development of thirty-six hundred acres, and he is also one of a company of 
twelve men who are operating twenty-seven hundred acres of land, being 
extensive lemon raisers, in which they are very successful.  He is a director 
in the Santa Paula Land Company, owns stock in a building and loan company, is 
a director and vice-president of the Sulphur Mountain Springs Company, owns a 
hotel at Ventura, California, and stock in one at Santa Paula.
 
Political, Mr. PECK is a Democrat, but he has never been an aspirant for 
public honors, preferring to devote his attention exclusively to his large 
agricultural and horticultural operations.  He has been a close observer and a 
deep student of these sciences and is thoroughly up-to-date in these lines.  
He and his wife are members of the Lafayette Congregational church.
 
Mr. PECK was married in 1873 to Fannie E. SEWELL, a lady of many estimable 
characteristics and the representative of an excellent old Walworth county 
family, her birth having occurred in Lafayette township, the daughter of Jirah 
SEWELL and wife, early settlers in this county, who became well established 
here through their industry and thrift.
 
The union of Charles I. PECK and wife has been blessed by the birth of four 
children, three sons and one daughter, the latter dying in infancy; the sons 
are Jeddiah, now deceased; Hiel Manley, who lives on the homestead here; and 
Clyde Edward, who makes his home in California.
 
Mr. PECK owns a beautiful home at Santa Paula, California, where he now 
resides, leaving the management of his property in Lafayette township to his 
son.  He is interested in five banks (director in three and inspector) in 
California, also in lands in South Dakota and California.
 
Mr. PECK's extensive business interests are the legitimate fruitage of 
consecutive effort, directed and controlled by good judgment and correct 
principles.  He has forged his way to the front over obstacles that would have 
discouraged men of less courageous mettle, gradually extending the limits of 
his mental horizon until he is today fully abreast of the times, a 
progressive, board-minded, capable man of affairs.  Taken as a whole, his 
career presents a series of continued successes rarely equaled by men from 
Walworth county.  Strong mental powers, invincible courage and a determined 
purpose that hesitates at no opposition have so entered into his composition 
as to render him a dominant factor in the business world and a leader of men 
in important enterprises.  He is essentially a man of affairs, sound of 
judgment, of rare business acumen, far-seeing in what he undertakes, and every 
enterprise to which he addresses himself has resulted in liberal financial 
returns.

Submitted By:  Carol
(carolann612@charter.net)