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among Native
Americans. Instead, he continued his itinerant ministry and church-planting efforts around St. Louis independently. Two years later, the Massachusetts Baptist Mission Society employed Peck at $ 5.00 a week while conducting missions. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Baptists built a building with
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Peck became active in establishing Bible societies and Sunday School associations. Distributing Bibles "silently undermine the opposition to missions" of geographically stable preachers such as Daniel Parker, as well as spread literacy and
Christian principles (including temperance and opposition to
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defeat efforts to revise
Illinois' constitution to permit slavery. Four years later, black Baptists in St. Louis sought to establish their own church, and with Peck's help they established the African Church of St. Louis (later renamed the First Baptist Church of St. Louis). Of the original 220
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Peck also helped establish the
Illinois State Baptist Convention in 1834, and became its first president. He wrote prolifically, including on agriculture, frontier history and Native American matters. In 1843 he founded the American Baptist Publication Society. Peck also established a weekly
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During his 40-year ministry, Peck contributed to the establishment of 900 Baptist churches, saw 600 pastors ordained and 32,000 were added to the
Baptist faith. He died in Rock Springs, Illinois, where he was first buried. His body was reinterred at
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was organized in 1832, under Peck's influence, with
Jonathan Going (sent from Massachusetts at his request the previous year) as the first secretary. This society, like Peck, directed its efforts toward the people of the frontier: Settlers,
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slavery) among the dispersed rural population. Peck moved to Rock
Springs, Illinois in 1822 to farm, and arranged a circuit to visit the various societies which he continued to establish, as well as isolated farms. On one trip, Peck visited
78:, in a mission from the New Durham, New Hampshire church. Peck taught school and soon also served as pastor at the Baptist churches in Catskill and Amenia, New York. He became interested in missionary work after meeting
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awarded Peck an honorary degree in 1852. Two years later, Illinois' legislature commissioned him to write the first history of the state. Peck also founded the
Western Baptist Historical Society, and briefly served in
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the
Western Baptist Society on the first floor, and a meeting hall above (which they shared with Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and other Protestant denominations).
142:, but his first attempt to secure a charter failed because of opposition by an anti-mission preacher/legislature. Undeterred, Peck moved his new school to Upper
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Having secured funding as "missionaries to the
Missouri Territory," the Peck and Welch families traveled westward, arriving in
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Convinced that Baptists could not rise without educated preachers, Peck founded a seminary at his Rock Springs farm near
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system in 1957. Peck then established the Illinois Baptist Education Society, serving as its first secretary.
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society in the West: The United Society for the Spread of the Gospel. In 1820, the
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state, whom he met in Litchfield. In 1811 the couple moved from Connecticut to
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in December, 1817. Peck and Welch organized the First Baptist Church of
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342:, Southern Baptist Historic Library and Archives, accessed 21 Aug 2010
263:, Southern Baptist Historic Library and Archives, accessed 6 Sept 2013
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in February, 1818. By year's end, they also soon founded the first
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Figures from U.S. Baptist history in the stained glass windows of
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373:: The Story of a Private Library Fire at Rock Spring, Illinois,"
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John Mason Peck, the Pioneer Missionary: a Biographical Sketch,
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to the western frontier of the United States, especially in
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Vanguard of the Caravans: A Life Story of John Mason Peck,
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members, 200 were slaves. Peck ordained a young freeman,
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On May 8, 1809, Peck married Sally Paine, a native of
327:Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives
126:In 1824 Peck's preaching helped Illinois Governor
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422:—includes a discussion of Peck and his books
181:, Washington, D.C. Clockwise from top left:
479:Baptist missionaries from the United States
58:at a revival at his Congregational Church.
430:, and downloadable pdf files of the books.
484:Baptist missionaries in the United States
369:Ross, Ryan A. "John Mason Peck Loses His
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420:John Cushman Abbott Exhibit Supplement
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159:American Baptist Home Mission Society
494:People from Litchfield, Connecticut
489:People from Greene County, New York
388:Southern Baptist Historical Library
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27:(1789–1858) was an American
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402:Works by or about John Mason Peck
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179:National Baptist Memorial Church
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340:"Biographies: John Mason Peck"
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261:"Biographies: John Mason Peck"
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152:Southern Illinois University
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377:15:2 (Summer 2012), 89-106.
375:Journal of Illinois History
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393:Works by John Mason Peck
428:A Gazetteer of Illinois
279:"Second Baptist Church"
248:www.newdurhamchurch.com
201:religious journal, the
72:Greene County, New York
52:Litchfield, Connecticut
459:American abolitionists
224:Bellefontaine Cemetery
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469:Baptist abolitionists
464:American evangelicals
454:19th-century Baptists
424:A Guide for Emigrants
244:"newdurhamchurch.com"
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108:Triennial Convention
362:Lawrence, Matthew.
301:"Shurtleff College"
211:Covington, Kentucky
189:, John Mason Peck,
62:Marriage and family
206:Harvard University
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140:O'Fallon, Illinois
133:John Berry Meachum
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499:Southern Baptists
397:Project Gutenberg
323:"John Mason Peck"
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100:Mississippi River
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444:1789 births
195:Luther Rice
187:John Leland
168:Confederate
112:Isaac McCoy
80:Luther Rice
438:Categories
230:References
104:missionary
32:missionary
283:2ndbc.org
96:St. Louis
92:St. Louis
46:Biography
170:slaves.
68:New York
50:Born in
40:Illinois
36:Missouri
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