"An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties."  Interstate
Publishing Company, 1906.  p. 557.
 
HARRIS B. PECK

     one of the most popular and successful men of the Skagit valley, was born
in New Brunswick in 1846, the son of a farmer, Elias Peck, who in his early
years had followed the sea for a livelihood. He was a native of New Brunswick
and died there in 1875. The elder Mrs. Peck, whose maiden name was Rachel
Calhoun, came of a well known New Brunswick family. Her death occurred in 1865,
when Harris was nineteen years old. Receiving his education in the schools of
New Brunswick, Harris B. remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age;
then he began his independent career. He first went to Massachusetts in 1867,
remaining there a year and a half, after which he returned home to care for his
father in the declining days of his eventful life. In 1877 Mr. Peck left the
rugged shores of the Bay of Fundy for the balmier climate and superior
advantages of Puget sound. Soon after his arrival he took up forty acres of
railroad land to which he soon added a homestead. Then followed a period of
buying and selling land, during which he materially increased his holdings. In
1890 he disposed of a part of his land and invested in a furniture store in La
Conner, which he directed for two years, afterward returning to his farm, then
reduced to one hundred and twenty acres, sixty-five of which were cleared. He
later acquired forty acres adjoining, of which thirty-five were cleared, and in
1903 he added yet another forty acre tract. While Mr. Peck's land is adapted to
general farming, he is partial to growing grass for hay, and only seven-eighths
of his land is now under the plow.
     Before leaving New Brunswick Mr. Peck married Miss Susan West. After ten
years of wedded life Mrs. Peck died in Washington leaving five children. Mr.
Peck remained a widower seven years, in 1892 marrying Miss Hattie Crandall at La
Conner. She is a daughter of John Crandall, who was at one time numbered among
the prosperous farmers of New Brunswick, but is now deceased as is also his
worthy helpmeet. Mrs. Peck herself is a native of New Brunswick, and in that
province was reared and educated, receiving an unusually broad literary
training.  She taught there for a number of years, then removed to Boston, and
in 1893 came to this state. Mr. and Mrs. Peck have no children, but four of the
progeny of the first union are living, namely, Mrs. Edna Reay, residing near
Mount Vernon; George, of Bellingham; Floyd, who operates the home farm, and Mrs.
Susan Cole, also of Bellingham. Mr. Peck is recognized as one of the grand old
men of the Skagit country and one of its most prosperous and substantial
citizens, an exemplar of the sturdy qualities which make for the best in any
American community. He is a member of the Grange and of the Baptist church, and
in politics is a Republican, but not specially active.

     
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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in May 2008 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.