Charles Horton Peck

Charles Horton Peck, born March 30, 1833 in Sand Lake, New York, died July 11, 1917 in Menands, New York, was an American mycologist of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the New York State Botanist from 1867 to 1915, a period in which he described over 2700 species of North American fungi.

Charles Horton Peck was born on March 30, 1833 in the northeastern part of the town Sand Lake, New York, now called Averill Park. After suffering a light stroke early in November 1912 and then a severe stroke in 1913, he died at his house in Menands, New York, on July 11, 1917.

In 1794, Eleazer Peck (his great grandfather) moved from Farmington, Conn. to Sand Lake, NY attracted by oak timber that was manufactured for the Albany market. Later on, Pamelia Horton Peck married Joel B., both from English descent, and became Charles Peck parents (Burnham 1919; Atkinson 1918). Even though his family was rich and locally prominent, his education was provincial (Haines 1986).

During his childhood, he used to enjoy fishing and hunting pigeons using a net with his grandfather and when he was old enough, the school days were limited to only winter season because he assisted in his father's sawmill. Dr. Peck went for the first time with his father to collect large cranberries when he was eight or ten years old. Picking up cranberries was a family matter since his grandmother went with the Indians, who knew the swamp very well, to perform this activity (Burnham 1919).

Dr. Peck went for the first time to Albany in 1841 and went back ten years later to attend the State Normal School. While studying there a young lady assisting a botany and natural history class in a city Jewish school changed and redirected his future career after the flowers she collected from the woods for her class fell by accident to Dr. Peck and that awakened his interest in that field. After that he volunteered to join Prof. J. H. Salisbury's botany class, as an extra study. In 1852 he graduated from the State Normal School and went back home to work in the hayfield but used his free time to collect and study plants, and during the winter of 1852 to 1853 he taught a large district school in Poestenkill and Rensselaer counties (Burnham 1919). Then, for three years he gave classes in Schram's Collegiate Institute of Sand Lake (Atkinson 1918).

Charles Peck took a preparatory course at Sand Lake College Institute and then started at Union College in the fall of 1855 to obtain his bachelor's degree of Arts in 1859, where he received an award of the Nott Prize Scholarship in honor for being one of the three students passing a special and extended examination. After graduating he went back to work at Sand Lake College Institute teaching classics, Mathematics, Botany, Greek, and Latin for three years. In 1862, Pecks continued his studies at Union where he received his master's degree of Arts (Burnham 1919; Atkinson 1918; Haines 1986).

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