Calaveras
County
Biographies
SAMUEL CHARTER PEEK
Vermont has given California many
good citizens, and one of the best known and most highly esteemed of these at
Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, is the prominent mine owner whose name is
above. Mr. Peek was born in Vermont, May
9, 1825, and is descended from good English ancestors who settled early in the
colonies. He accompanied his father’s
family to Illinois in 1838 and was there educated and reared on a farm.
When he attained his majority he
became a traveling salesman and collector for the Gradatour
Plow Company and later he served the Moline Company in the same capacity for
four years. After that, until 1859, he
farmed and sold goods in Ogle County.
Early in the year mentioned he started for California, and going by way
of the Isthmus of Panama arrived at San Francisco June 14, 1859. The next day but one he was at Mokelumne
Hill, where for the seven years which followed he was a successful liveryman,
notwithstanding he was three times burned out, and then he became a partner of Myher Davidson’s in the mercantile business and was
associated with him until 1892. During
his connection with Mr. Davidson, he was interested in the management of the
Quinn mine, attended to supplying it with everything necessary, paid the men
employed there and ran the boarding house in connection with it. He bought five hundred acres of land, partly
in the town of Mokelumne Hill and partly just outside its boundary line, and
sold two hundred and forty acres of the tract for ten thousand dollars and has
bonded eighty acres more of it to a mining company for three thousand dollars,
a part of which sum has been paid; and he has another mine on the same
property, covering two acres, which he has bonded for one thousand
dollars. As these mines are on the
Mather lode of California, which has yielded such vast treasure to
gold-seekers, they are considered very valuable.
Mr. Peek was the deputy sheriff of
Calaveras County during the administration of George C. Tryon. He was made a Master Mason at Mount Morris
many years ago and has been prominent as an Odd Fellow, having passed the
chairs in both branches of the order.
Mrs. Peek has passed all the chairs in the order of the Daughters of Rebekah. They have a pleasant home and are surrounded
with everything tending to their comfort and convenience. Their residence was built in 1897.
Mr. Peek was married March 3, 1867,
to Miss Emily Fitzgerald, who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1852, and was
brought to California by her mother in 1854, having been eight months en
route. Mr. and Mrs. Peek have three sons
and three daughters: Charles S.; Ella
K., who married Dr. F. J. Blaisdell, the latter
practicing medicine in San Francisco; Estella, who married Frank Bernardi,
and Addie C., who married William L. Daoust, and both
live at Mokelumne Hill; George F.; and Allen H. is a student at Cooper Medical
College. Charles S. and George F. have
recently returned from a visit to Cape Nome, Alaska, bringing with them five
thousand dollars each, as the fruits of their first summer’s labor, and
valuable presents for the family, one of which is a magnificent watch chain and
charm made from nuggets from their claim, and which was presented to their
father.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 373-374. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Calaveras County Biographies