Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/736

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
694
PECH
PECK

at Dartmouth in 1836, and at the medical depart- ment of Yale in 1840. While he was abroad, the next year, he was elected professor of anatomy and physiology in Dartmouth, which chair he occupied till 1871, and was then transferred to that of gyne- cology. He removed to New York city in 1858. became eminent in his profession, and established a wide reputation as a gynecologist. He performed the first successful ovariotomy in New England by the abdominal section, and made the first use of injections into the peritoneal cavity after ovarioto- my in 1855. During the civil war he was surgeon to the New England hospital. New York city, and to the New York state hospital. He was at differ- ent times president of the New Hampshire state medical society, of the New York city pathological society, of the New York obstetrical society, of the New York academy of medicine, of the " Medical Journal " association, and, at his death, of the American gynecological society. He was professor of anatomy in the New York medical college for many years, was subsequently transferred to the chair of general pathology and physiology, and still later to that of the diseases of women and of obstetrics. He lectured on this branch in Albany medical college in 1872-'4, and from 1874 till his death was professor of gynecology in Bellevue hos- pital medical college. He was one of the editors of the " American Medical Monthly," contributed largely to professional journals, and is the author of " Ovarian Tumors, their Pathology, Diagnosis, and Treatment " (New York, 1872).


PECH, James (peck), musician, b. in Koches- ter, England, 23 Dec, 1830. He is the son of a major in the British army. James was a chorister in Rochester cathedral, and subsequently assistant organist. At the age of fourteen he was admitted as a student in the Royal academy of music, Lon- don, and he afterward studied at Oxford, where he was given the degree of doctor of music. He subse- quently received the same degree by diploma from the archbishop of Canterbury. He then travelled and studied in France, Germany, and Austria, and on his return to London became a member of the Drury Lane theatre orchestra, under the leadership of Carl Anchutz. When the latter came to the United States, Pech succeeded him as musical di- rector. He afterward led the " People's Philhar- monic Concerts " at Exeter hall, and was also a conductor of the London orchestral association. In 1866 he arrived in New York city, where he was appointed an organist of Trinity parish. During his connection with that corporation he did much to encourage the study of church music. He sub- sequently established the Church music associa- tion, by which Mozart's " Requiem and Beetho- ven's " Mass in D," with an orchestra of ninety and a chorus of 400, were produced for the first time in this country. He also conducted the ora- torios that were given by the Santley concert troupe, and was one of the leaders at the Beethoven cen- tennial in New York city in 1871. Dr. Pech has since resided partly in Europe and partly in New York city. He has delivered a course of lectures on {esthetics at St. Francis Xavier and other colleges, and has received the degree of LL. D. from the University of the State of New York. Besides pro- ducing many musical compositions and writing on music and cognate subjects, he is the author of several volumes printed privately. Dr. Pech also wrote the analytical and critical programmes of the Church music association.


PECK, Ebenezer, jurist, b. in Portland, Me., 22 May, 1805 ; d. in Cliicago, 111., 25 May, 1881. He received an academical education, was admitted to the bar of Montreal. Canada, in 1827. twice elected to the general assembly of the province of Lower Canada, and made king's counsel in 1833. He removed to Illinois in 1835, settled in Chicago, and served several terms in both houses of the legislature. He was clerk of the supreme court of Illinois in 1841-'5, and its reporter in 1850-63. At the latter date he became judge of the court of claims in Washington, D. C, holding office several years. Judge Peck was the personal friend of Abraham Lincoln. He published " Reports of the Cases of the Supreme Court of Illinois (8 vols., Springfield, 1850-'64).


PECK, Edwin James, donor, b. near New Haven, Conn., 16 Oct., 1806; d. in Indianapolis, Ind., 6 Nov., 1876. He was a successful merchant in Indianapolis for many years, accumulated a large fortune, and occupied various offices of trust in that city, including the presidency of the Terre Haute railroad and that of the Union railway com- pany. Among his gifts to benevolent and religious institutions were .|25,000 to the board of home missions of the Presbyterian church, an equal sum to the support of Indiana orphans, and $115,000 to Wabash college, Ind.


PECK, Ferdinand Wythe, philanthropist, b. in Chicago, 111., 15 July," 1848. His father was one of the early settlers of Chicago, and died there in 1871, leaving a valuable estate. The son was educated in Chicago, studied law, and admitted to the bar in 1869. On coining into possession of his estate, he devoted himself largely to the improve- ment of the condition of the poor of his native city. In 1870 he was one of the foundei's of the Illinois humane society, having for its special pur- pose the prevention of cruelty to children and animals. Since that time he has been an active member of the board of government of the Chicago athenaeum, of which he was president in 1888. It was organized immediately after the great fire of 1871, and is similar to the Cooper Union of New York. Mr. Peck has been vice-president of the city board of education. He has contributed lib- erally to the cultivation of musical taste, and in 1886 organized and became president of a joint- stock company tor the erection of the " Chicago auditorium " and hotel, the largest building of its kind in the United States, which was begun in 1887. The edifice cost, with the ground, |3,000,- 000, and has sittings for about 5,000 people.


PECK, George, clergvman. b. in Middlefield, N. Y., 8 Aug., 1797; d. iii Scranton. Pa., 20 May, 1876. He began preaching in 1816, and rapidly rose to leadership in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was principal of Cazenovia seminary in 1835-9, editor of the " Methodist Quarterly Review " in 1840-8, and of the New Y'ork '"Christian Advocate" in 1848-52. He was a member of every general conference from 1824 till 1872, and was also a delegate to the first evan- gelical alliance in London in 1846, taking an active part in its deliberations. One of his contempora- ries says of him : " I view him as one of the most remarkable men of our times — one whose genius and piety are indellibly stamped on the ecclesiasti- cal polity and wonderful growth of the church — whose wise counsels and herculean labors are inter- woven in its development for the past fifty years." His published works are " Universalism Exam- ined " (New York, 1826) ; " History of the Apostles and Evangelists " (1836) : " Scripture Doctrine of Christian Perfection" (1841); "Rule of Faith" (1844) ; '• Reply to Dr. Bascom on Slavery " (1845) ; " Manly Character " (1852) : " History of ^yoining " (185S) ; '* Early Methodism within the Bounds of