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466:(Sung in slave dialect, "tibler moon" is thought to be the "traveling moon" – a full, bright moon whose light would aid escapees during their journey.) Frank Peck's daughter also recalled how freedom seekers were, "hid in barns around the homestead, then carried away the next day in a load of hay on their way to the Canadian border and freedom."
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Peck's signature decorative motif – the rabbit track – is already well established in this period. The three brushstrokes (one long stoke flanked by two shorter ones) resembles the footprint of a rabbit and reappears often in Peck's portraits, usually found in clothing or somewhere in the background.
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Peck's earliest works date to around 1820 and consist primarily of waist-length oil portraits on wood panels; many of his earliest pieces depicted members of his own family. Early on Peck established his characteristic simple approach to portraiture. During this period the figures in Peck's paintings
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Back in my boy hood days, my father, who was an abolitionist, helped the
Negroes escape from slavery in the South. Our home was used as a headquarters for all opponents of slavery in this part of the country, a station for the underground railway. I can remember one incident as clearly as if it was
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article at the time dubbed a "Convention of
Radical Abolitionists," meaning that the ideas expressed went beyond ending slavery but encompassed racial equality as well. In addition to working with abolitionist parties, Peck would often invite guest speakers to his home to lecture about the evils of
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Upon his arrival in New York in 1828, Peck continued to paint half-length portraits on wood panels as he had in
Vermont. He did, however, begin to use a somewhat brighter color palette and began embellishing his subjects with personal accessories such as jewelry, Bibles, fruit, decorated furniture,
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newspaper. Additionally, the Peck family would host "temperance picnics at the Grove," an opportunity for
Chicagoans to enjoy a day-long, liquor-free excursion to Peck's farm in Babcock's Grove. Like many people at the time, Peck believed that liquor led to a variety of social and health problems.
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The temperance movement was much discussed...I am sorry to say that many of my friends and acquaintances have filled untimely graves from the effect of strong drink with deliriums and often troubles caused from it and I have helped care for some of them and have only one conclusion, it is a good
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became law, because escaped slaves could still be returned to bondage even if they reached free states in the North.) Peck traveled frequently throughout north eastern
Illinois to paint his subjects and this travel provided a cover for his Underground Railroad work. His youngest son, Frank Peck,
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In 1836 Peck moved to
Chicago where he lived for only a few months before moving once again and settling in Babcock's Grove. Once in Illinois, Peck abandoned wood panels in favor of canvas. During his first years in the state, Peck continued to paint half-length portraits similar to those he had
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Upon his arrival in
Babcock's Grove in 1836, Peck established a school in his house. He personally paid the salary for the school's teacher, Amelda Powers Dodge, and invited all the children in the area to attend classes. He later erected another building on his property for use as a school and
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were gaining in popularity in the United States. To compete against photography and the advantages it offered, Peck introduced a brighter color palette to his work. He also employed a horizontal format, which featured multiple full length figures, their arrangement taking cues from photography.
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In addition, ongoing research attempts to link Peck's trademark "rabbit track" as a symbol of the anti-slavery movement, as the one known pro-slavery (or at least apathetic) subject among his paintings does not have the rabbit tracks. However, this remains speculation until further research is
398:– a political party whose main focus was the abolition of slavery. Peck was also a member of the DuPage County Anti-Slavery Society (part of the Illinois State Anti-Slavery Society). In 1856, Peck served as a DuPage County delegate to the Illinois State Abolitionism Convention, which a
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While this three brushstroke motif was popular during the period – particularly among ornamental painters working on furniture or tinware – it is so closely associated with Peck that it has become his de facto signature as he did not sign his paintings (a common practice at the time).
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Prior to the 1820s, free public education was not considered a responsibility of government. The reform movements of the 19th century, however, changed that view, and Peck in particular supported free public education as a means to protect democracy against ignorance.
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Peck died on March 19, 1869, survived by his wife and ten of his thirteen children. He is buried in the
Lombard Cemetery. His youngest son, Frank, kept a diary which historians find very useful in documenting negro spirituals as well as the Underground Railroad.
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262:-story timber-frame house (completed in 1839) that still stands today. He grew crops and raised Merino sheep, the latter being a way to produce raw material for clothes without supporting the Southern-based cotton industry and its use of
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have somber faces with hard, angular planes, and immobile expressions. The figures are painted against dark, undercoated backgrounds. By keeping the portraits to the waist, Peck avoided the challenges of painting full-figures.
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Peck was considered a "radical abolitionist" who advocated for the immediate end of slavery as well as equal rights for
African-Americans. While living in Illinois he was a volunteer agent for the abolitionist newspaper the
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The anti-slavery and temperance movements were closely linked in the 19th century, and Peck advocated for both causes. Peck held temperance meetings on his property, and they were often advertised in the abolitionist
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Frank Peck also recounts the slave spirituals that he sang with the freedom seekers at his family's home, in particular the songs sung by an
Underground Railroad conductor (and escaped slave) known as "Old Charley":
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and swags of drapery in the background. These were popular portrait conventions during the period and suggest that Peck was influenced by – or at the very least, observed – the work of other artists.
536:, a museum dedicated to Peck's work as an activist and artist. The house is listed on the register of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom as a confirmed Underground Railroad site.
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Peck primarily painted portraits (although he also dabbled in decorative furniture painting). Peck's portraiture can be divided into three distinctive periods, based on where he lived at the time.
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The value of Peck's art has risen considerably over the years, mirroring the rise in status of folk and primitive art. His paintings can be seen at museums around the United States including the
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slavery. Two prominent African-American speakers who came to the Peck house were Johnny Jones (a free-born mulatto who was active in the Chicago anti-slavery movement and was an associate of
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437:(many of whose residents hired Peck to paint their portraits) northward on foot or canoe along the Fox River to Wisconsin and thence Canada. (Escaping to Canada was necessary after the
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frame painted directly onto the canvas. This was likely done to reduce the overall cost of the painting by sparing the customer the expense of having the canvas framed.
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yesterday – when my father protected seven Negroes one night, when I was a small boy, helping them on their way to the Chicago district.
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recorded details about his father's work in journals and often shared how his family's home was part of the Underground Railroad:
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Peck married Harriet Corey (1806-1887) in 1825 and the couple eventually had thirteen children. The Peck family moved to
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Sheldon Peck's 1839 house was donated to the Lombard Historical Society by his granddaughter. It is now operated as the
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public meeting space. Peck later served as superintendent of a Sunday school organized by the local Methodist church.
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on his property and then move them via wagon to Chicago. This would enable the freedom seekers to travel to
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Sheldon Peck and his wife Harriet, ca. 1860. Harriet was also active in various social movements.
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It is in Illinois, however, that the most radical shift in Peck's work occurs. About 1845
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Peck, Frank, journal, copy at the Lombard Historical Society, Lombard, IL, p. 2-3.
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Peck, Frank, journal, copy at the Lombard Historical Society, Lombard, IL, p. 4-5.
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Wagner was a fellow abolitionist; the newspaper he's holding is the anti-slavery
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Hidden behind a $ 25 lithograph, this portrait sold for $ 79,000 at auction.
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The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts,
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Footsteps on the Tall Grass Prairie: A History of Lombard Illinois,
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in 1836. A year later Peck finally settled in Babcock's Grove (now
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Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Du Page County,
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From 1828 to 1836, Peck lived in an area of New York known as the
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Sheldon Peck: Portrait of an Ordinary Man in Extraordinary Times
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942:Glen Ellyn's Story and Her Neighbors in DuPage,
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1036:- 2018 Documentary on the life of Sheldon Peck
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305:Harriet Corey Peck, the wife of Sheldon Peck
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