Family background
John William Peck was born about 1847. During the 1860s, he was in the Gulf country at Queensland and at various stations there and at Cape York. After contracting fever, he was at Gympie and elsewhere. After going gold digging with little result, he moved to Melbourne before coming to NSW in about 1872. In 1877, he married Elizabeth Faux at Parramatta. She died at their home in Wigram Street, Harris Park on 18 February 1884. She was buried at St John’s cemetery, Parramatta. On 2 April 1885, Peck married Bertha Barber at St John’s Anglican Church, Parramatta. He lived at 6 Sydney Street, Erskineville, where he died on 12 November 1912, leaving a widow and nine living children. He was buried in the Anglican cemetery, Rookwood.
Occupation & interests
Peck was a timber merchant at Cowper Street, Parramatta but was insolvent in March 1887. He was also a commercial traveller for the Parramatta timber firms of Coates and Harper and for its successor firm, Hart, Hitchcock and Co.
Community activity
John William Peck was treasurer of the Alexandria Labour League.
Local government service
John William Peck was an alderman on Erskineville Council in 1911-12, representing North Ward.
References
‘Marriages’, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 April 1885, p 1, http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13579406
‘Alderman J W Peck’, Truth, 26 March 1911, p 9, http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168736897
‘Advertising’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 January 1911, p 4
‘Personal’, Cumberland Argus, 16 November 1912, p 6, http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/86139732
‘Funerals’, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 November 1912, p 7