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           MRS. ELLEN M. H. PECK
         Author-Mrs. Marcia B. Ferguson
                    Milwaukee
................................... I.......................................................
    Mrs. Ellen M. H. Peck was born about 1838 in
Windsor, Vermont. When three years of age her father
moved to Palmyra, Wisconsin. There she spent her
girlhood and at seventeen went to Milwaukee to attend
the Female Seminary (now Milwaukee Downer College)
under Miss Mary Mortimer, who was then the President.
Her marriage to James Sidney Peck June 29, 1870 of
Milwaukee followed her graduation. The wedding being
performed in Palmyra. Mrs. Peck always took a promi-
nent part in religious, educational and social work in the
city. For many years a communicant of St. Pauls Epis-
copal church, she was active in church and benevolent
work and did a great deal for young men coming to Mil-
waukee as strangers.
    She, with the help of Julia Ward Howe and others,
started the first woman's club in Milwaukee, October 9,
1876. Later the same club was formed into the first
Woman's Stock Companies in the country, building the
Athenaeum in which the Woman's Club have always
held their meetings. Mrs. Peck held the Presidency in
both organizations. In 1892 Mrs. Peck was appointed
State Regent for Wisconsin by the National Board
D. A. R.
   Though she entered the field with great enthusiasm,
the work lagged at first, it being almost impossible to
induce people to take the trouble to look up their claims,
but she worked heroically-wrote hundreds of letters,
and though defeat stared her in the face-the word "fail"
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