Note 2 — TO THE READER

John M. Peck, a Baptist minister, went as a missionary to St. Louis in 1817. After nine years of preaching in Missouri and Illinois, he founded (1826) the Rocky Spring Seminary for training teachers and ministers. It is said that he travelled more than six thousand miles collecting money for endowing this school. In 1828 Peck began publishing the Western Pioneer, the first official organ of the Baptist church in the West, and served as the corresponding secretary and financial agent of the American Baptist Publication Society from 1843 to 1845. He died at Rocky Springs, Illinois, in 1858. Peck made important contributions to the publications of the early historical societies in the Northwest. His chief independent works are: A Guide for Emigrants (Boston, 1831), republished as A New Guide for Emigrants (Boston, 1836); Gazetteer of Illinois (Jacksonville, 1834 and 1837); Father Clark or the Pioneer Preacher (New York, 1855); and "Life of Daniel Boone," in Jared Sparks, American Biography.

Judge James Hall was born in Philadelphia (1793), and died near Cincinnati in 1868. He was a member of the Washington Guards during the War of 1812-15, was promoted to the 2nd United States artillery, and accompanied Decatur on his expedition to Algiers (1815). Resigning in 1818, he practiced law at Shawneetown, Illinois (1820-27), and filled the office of public prosecutor and judge of the circuit court. He moved to Vandalia (1827) and began editing the Illinois Intelligencer and the Illinois Monthly Magazine. From 1836 to 1853 he was president of the commercial bank at Cincinnati, and acted as state treasurer. He published: Letters from the West (London, 1828); Legends of the West (1832); Memoirs of the Public Services of General William Henry Harrison (Philadelphia, 1836); Sketches of History, Life and Manners of the West (Philadelphia, 1835); Statistics of the West at the Close of 1836 (Cincinnati, 1836); Notes on the Western States (Philadelphia, 1838); History and Biography of the Indians of North America (3 volumes, 1838-44); The West, its Soil, Surface, etc. (Cincinnati, 1848); The West, its Commerce and Navigation (Cincinnati, 1848); besides a few historical novels. For a contemporary estimate of the value of Hall's writings see American Monthly Magazine (New York, 1835), v, pp. 9-15.

For Timothy Flint, see Pattie's Narrative, in our volume xviii, p. 25, note 1.

Major Alphonso Wetmore (1793-1849) was of much less importance as a writer on Western history than those above mentioned. He entered the 23rd infantry in 1812, and subsequently was transferred to the 6th. He served as paymaster for his regiment from 1815 to 1821, and was promoted to a captaincy (1819). In 1816 he moved with his family to Franklinton, Missouri, and later practiced law in St. Louis. His chief contribution to Western travel is a Gazetteer of Missouri (St. Louis, 1837).—Ed.