History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore. [Vol. 3]

1652

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

On December 25, 1871, Captain Smith was married to Miss Nancy
M. Bagley, daughter of Samuel K. and Euretta (Hawks) Bagley, of
Antrim county, Michigan, Mr. Bagley being a first cousin of Governor
Bagley of Michigan. Three children have been born to Captain and Mrs.
Smith: Mrs. Ira A. Adams, of Bellaire, Michigan; Mrs. Hudson O.
Smith, whose husband is a railroad man of Toledo, Ohio; Albon Smith,
foreman in the Sentinel office; and Mrs. E. V. Madison, recently deceased.
WILLIAM PECK. Proprietor and manager of the Franklin House at
Montague, William Peck is one of the popular and well known hotel men
of Michigan. He has had a long and varied business experience, beginning during early manhood, when he served as a scout on the western
frontier during the period of the Civil war. As a merchant and citizen
he has been prominent in Muskegon county for upwards of half a century,
and has been the chief factor in placing the Franklin House in a rank
where its reputation as a summer hotel is second to none in.the entire
state. The Franklin House is located on the beautiful White Lake, in the
fruit belt of Michigan, and with the splendid facilities afforded by its
natural situation, and by the excellent management under Mr. Peck's
proprietorship, the Franklin House has deservedly advanced high in the
public favor.
William Peck was born in Oxford, Ontario, March 20, I843, the
younger of two sons of Lynus and Sarah (Ehle) Peck. Lynus Peck was
born in Pennsylvania in 1805, and was the oldest of the three sons of
Joseph Peck, who was born in Connecticut in I754. The great-grandfather, Abram Peck, was the son of Joseph Peck, an Englishman who
early in the eighteenth century emigrated to this country and settled in
New England, along with two brothers, one of whom was a preacher.
The paternal great-grandfather was a brave soldier in the war of the
Revolution, and it is said that his good wife also carried a gun and
fought with equal patriotism by his side. Grandfather Joseph Peck, while
still young, emigrated from Connecticut to Pennsylvania and became a
prosperous farmer in the Quaker state. He was a man of fine musical
ability and gained considerable fame during the war of 1812, in which he
served as fifer. On one occasion he came in close contact with a Tory,
from whose hands he wrenched a musket, which he proceeded to use with
good effect, playing his fife when it was necessary to inspire the soldiers,
and also loading and firing the gun. For this gallant conduct he was given
the name of the "fighting fifer." He lived to witness nearly a century of
the rapid progress and development of the United States, surviving until
ninety-seven years of age, when he died at Rochester, New York. Mr.
Peck, the father, was separated in childhood from other members of the
family, and but very little is known concerning his two brothers. In I83I
Lynus Peck located in Grandville, near Grand Rapids, Michigan, but soon
returned to Canada and lived there until the fifties, when he brought his
family to Michigan and settled in Van Buren County. That was his home
for many years. Finally the residence was moved to Newaygo county,
where the death of Lynus Peck occurred in I87I. He was a man of more
than ordinary ability and of strong character, and, although often urged
to accept nomination to office, positively refused to do so. Sarah Ehle,
the wife, was the daughter of Sturnburg Ehle, who was of Holland
descent. Sarah Ehle was born in Otsego, New York, and died in I907.
Of the children who clustered about the fireside of the parents, Abraham
is now a large and prominent lumber man and an extensive farmer in
Lewis county, Washington; Mahala married Joseph DeHaven, a successful
lumberman and farmer of Newaygo county; and Rosetta married Royal
Rummerfield, a prosperous lumberman of Wisconsin.