Jesse Truesdell Peck (4 April 1811 – 17 May 1883) was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1872.
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Birth and Family
Jesse was born on 4 April 1811 in Middlefield Center, Otsego County, New York. His family was of English heritage, traceable back to the fifteenth century and known in heraldry. Henry Peck came to America in 1837. The Bishop's grandfather, also named Jesse, died in Washington's army. The Bishop's father, Luther, was a blacksmith and life-long class leader, whose five sons (of whom Jesse T. was the youngest) all became Methodist preachers.
Ordained Ministry
Bishop Peck was converted to the christian faith at the age of sixteen. He sensed a call to preach almost immediately. He entered the Traveling Ministry of the Oneida Annual Conference of the M.E. Church in 1832. He was ordained by Bishops Elijah Hedding and Beverly Waugh. Prior to his election to the Episcopacy, Peck served as a pastor and a presiding elder. As a Bishop he was a delegate to the First Ecumenical Conference, 1881.
Syracuse University
Though not a college graduate himself, Peck was prominent in the beginnings of Syracuse University, serving as the first Chairman of its Board of Trustees. He developed what became, in effect, the University's first master plan: a scheme for the construction of seven buildings on land donated by George F. Comstock, also a member of the Board. Each building was to be dedicated to a different academic discipline. Peck's vision for the new campus was one of stylistic eclecticism; on one occasion declaring that the new university should "demonstrate the perfect harmony and indissoluble oneness of all that is valuable in the old and the new." The first building completed under this plan was the Hall of Languages, built at the summit of University Avenue in Syracuse. Nationally renowned architect Horatio Nelson White was the designer of this French Second Empire structure. Peck died 17 May 1883 in Syracuse and is buried there in the Oakwood Cemetery.
Selected Writings
- Sermon: Talent, in Clark, D.W., The Methodist Pulpit, 1897.
- The Central Idea of Christianity, 1857. Also, revised, 1876 and later. Also Chapter V of this book a pamphlet with the same topic, 1902.
- The True Woman, 1857.
- What Must I Do to Be Saved?, 1858.
- Sermon: The Life Battle, in The New York Pulpit in the Revival of 1858, A Memorial Volume.
- Address: Centerary Conv., Boston, 1866, Proceedings.
- History of the Great Republic, 1868.
- Biography of Mary Brison, in Our Excellent Women, pub. by James Miller, 1872.
- Addresses State Convs, N.J., 1870, political; N.Y., 1870, Public Schools, N.Y., 1871, Political Reform.
- Sermon in Fraternal Camp-Meeting Sermons, Round Lake, 1875.
- Reader of the Address published by the First Ecumenical Methodist Conference, City Road, London, 1881. The preparation of the paper was largely in his hands.
Biographies
- Peck, Rev. J.K., Luther Peck and His Five Sons, 1897.
References
Leete, Frederick DeLand, Methodist Bishops. Nashville, The Methodist Publishing House, 1948.
