Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/265

 PEASLEE

PECK

PEASLEE, Charles Hazen, representative, was born at Gilmanton, N.H., Feb. 6, 1804; son of William and Hannah (Folsom) Peaslee; grand- son of Robert and Ann (Hazen) Peaslee, and a descendant of Joseph and Mary (Johnson) Peas- lee, who emigrated from Wales to New Eng- land about 1635, settled in Newbury, Mass., pre- vious to 1(542, and in Haverhill, Mass., about 1646. He was graduated at Dartmouth college, A.B., 1824, A.M., 1827, studied law under Stephen Moody, and was admitted to the bar. He settled in practice in Concord, N.H., in 1828; was a rep- resentative in the state legislature, 1833-37, adju- tant and inspector-general of New Hampshire, 1839-47, and Democratic representative from New Hampshire in the 30th, 31st and 32d con- gresses, 1847-53. He was appointed collector of the port of Boston, Mass., by President Pierce, April 1, 1853, and served until March 4, 1857, when he retired to Portsmouth, N.H. He was a trustee of the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane and a director of the Concord railroad. He was married, Dec. 9, 1846, to Mrs. Mary A. L. Dana, daughter of Robert Harris of Portsmouth, N.H. He died in St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 20, 1866.

PEASLEE, John Bradley, educator and author, was born at Plaistow, N.H., Sept. 3, 1842; son of Reuben and Harriet (Willetts) Peaslee; grandson of Joab and Elizabeth (Eaton) Peas- lee, and of John and Lavina (Smith) Willetts, and a descendant of Joseph Peaslee, the " come- outer, " who emigrated from England; settled in Newbury, Essex county, Mass., in 1635; with Thomas Whittier, an ancestor of the poet, laid out and surveyed Haverhill, Mass, in 1642, and removed to East Parish, Haverhill, in 1645. John B. Peaslee was educated at Atkinson and Gil- manton academies; was graduated from Dart- mouth, A. B., 1863, A.M., 1866, and from Cin- cinnati college, LL.B., in 1866. He was principal of the North grammar school, Columbus, Ohio, 1863-64; first assitant of district and principal of district and intermediate schools, Cincinnati, 1864-74, and superintendent of Cincinnati public schools, 1874-86. In 1879 he was awarded a di- ploma of life membersliip in the University of Turin for the exhibit of the Cincinnati schools at the Paris exposition of 1878. He inaugurated the celebration of "author day" and "arbor day," and in 1882 the school children planted and dedi- cated to American authors a grove of six acres, now known as " Authors' Grove." On Oct. 18, 1889, the American Forestry congress planted an oak tree near Agricultural hall, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, dedicating it to Dr. Peaslee in "recognition of his distinguished services in pro- moting the cavise of popular forestry, and espe- cially in introducing the celebration of Arbor Day by the public schools of Cincinnati and

thereafter of the country." He was a trustee of Miami university, 1871-79; clerk of the Hamilton county courts, 1888-95; president of the Ohio State Teachers' association, 1886; president of the Ohio Forestry bureau, 1889-95; candidate for lieutenant-governor of Ohio, 1895; a life member of the National Council of Education and of the National Educational association; director of the University of Cincinnati; president of the Ohio state board of examiners for teachers, and a director of the Ohio Humane society. His pub- lished works include: Reports of the Cincinnati Public Schools (1874-86); Graded Selections for Memorizing (1882); Trees and Tree-planting, with Exercises and Directions for the Celebration of Arbor Day (1884); Moral and Literary Train- ing in Public Schools, an address (1881); German Instruction in Public Schools, an address (1889); Thoughts and Experiences In and Out of School (1900), and many articles in educational journals.

PEATTIE, Elia Wilkinson, journalist and author, was born in Kalamazoo, Mich., Jan. 15, 1862; daughter of Frederick and Amanda ((^^ahill) Wilkinson. She removed with her parents to Chicago, where she received a good education. She was married in 1883 to Robert Burns Peattie, a Chicago journalist, and was engaged in news- paper work with him, 1883-95, being a reporter on Chicago dailies, 1883-88, and an editorial writer for the Omaha World Herald, 1888-96. She returned to Chicago in 1896, and engaged in literature. She is the author of: With Scrip and Staff (1891); A Mountain Woman (1896); Pip- pins and Cheese (1897); Love of Caliban (1897); Tlie Shape of Fear (1898); 'Ickery Ann (1899); Tlie Beleaguered Forest (1901); How Jaques came into the Forest of Arden (1901), and many con- tributions to periodicals.

PECK, Asahel, governor of Vermont, was born in Royalston, Mass., in September, 1803; son of Squire and Elizabeth (Goddard) Peck; grandson of John and Mary (Drown) Peck, and a descen- dant of Joseph and Rebecca (Clark) Peck. Joseph Peck, a native of Suffolk county, England, emigrated from Hingham, Norfolk county, to New England in the ship Diligent in 1638, settled in Hingham, Mass., and at Seekonk or Rehoboth, Mass., in 1645. Asahel Peck was taken to Moutpelier, Vt., by his parents in 1803, attended the public schools irregularly, 1808- 24, and the University of Vermont, 1824-26, but was not graduated. He studied French in the family of the president of a French college in Canada, and law under his brother, Nathan Peck, at Hiuesbmgh, and subsequently in the office of Bailey & Marsh, Burlington, Vt. He was ad-