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464 HISTORY-OF ERIE'COUNTY
George II. Peeke was born in Rotterdam, Schenectady County,
-March 18, IH'.V.i, of Holland Dutch stock with an ancestry noted for
longevity, having a maternal grandmother who lived to he nearly a
century. His father's name was Christopher H. Peeke.
Early in lite Rev. Mr. Peeke became ambitious for an education
and fitted for college under an old Holland-Dutch preacher named
Jukes, whose frequent quotation was that be had never feared the. face
of clay.
Mr. Peeke graduated from Rutgers College in 1857 and from the
theological seminary in I860. His first church was at South Bend,
[ndiaiiM, where Vice President Colfax, then just beginning bis political
career, was one of bis deacons, aud the first wife of .Mr. Colfax was an
intimate friends-of -MY. and Mm. Peeke.
On bis mother's side be was related to the Mabics, of whom I he
author, Hamilton \V. Mahie, was a member.
The old Maine homestead, built in l(if)7, is still standing near bis
birthplace.
His active ministry covered fifty-five years with prominent churches
in Mrooklyn, New York, .Jersey City, Xew Jersey, Chicago, Illinois,
Davenport, Town,-Cleveland, Ohio, and Sandusky. He bad greal pulpit
ability and more than average success as a pastor with a record covering
n long pastorate, which few ministers have obtained. The book, "Who's
Who" for 1!M5, contains a biographical sketch of Mr. Peeke.
He was the first clergyman in Sandusky to advocate the prohibition
of the liquor Iraf'fic.
Grace A. Peeke, the daughter of George II. Peeke ami 'largaret B.
Peeke, was undoubtedly possessed of life brightest mind of their six
children. At the age of sixteen for over a year she conducted a column
in-the Cincinnati Enquirer in Hie woman's department. She died at
the age of twenty-two in consequence of the mistaken notion that it was
her duty to make the world better, and she therefore sacrificed her life
;is a trained mrrse in the Post Graduate Hospital in New York City,
where she contracted diseases from which she died September 25, 1801.
A poem of hers is here copied, which was written at the age of sixteen :
THE MODKRX GIRL,
By Grace A. Peeke
From her cloudy, fluffy bang,
To her tiny boots thai clang
'Neath the stylish skirts, that bang
With a swirl.
She s a creature far too good
For our daily, common food,
The antithesis of the dude—
The modern girl.