{{short description|American politician}}
'''Rufus T. Peck''' (December 24, 1836 – July 24, 1900) was an American teacher, publisher, and politician from New York.
== Life == Peck was born on December 24, 1836, in Solon, New York, the son of farmer Lyman Peck and Almira Thompson.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Cutter|first=William Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5OwpAQAAMAAJ|title=Genealogical and Family History of Central New York|publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company|year=1912|volume=I|location=New York, N.Y.|pages=138–139|author-link=William Richard Cutter|via=Google Books}}</ref>
Peck attended the New York Central College. He worked as a teacher for fourteen years, and then as a merchant for three years in his native town. In 1874, he was elected school commissioner of the northern district of Cortland County. He served two terms in that office. He read law under R. Holland Duell, and was admitted to the bar in 1876, but he only practiced law in connection with his own private business affairs. In 1876, he joined the publishing house of Major L. H. Evarts of Philadelphia and established a publishing firm called Evarts & Peck. The firm published a number of city and county histories in the United States.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAmgCm6Is1YC|title=History of Cortland County|publisher=D. Mason & Co.|year=1885|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=H. P.|location=Syracuse, N.Y.|pages=148–149|via=Google Books}}</ref> He was postmaster of Solon from 1867 to 1875, vice-president of the State Teachers Association, and a director of the Elmira National Bank.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/eveningjournalal1890slsn/page/162/mode/1up|title=The Evening Journal Almanac, 1890|publisher=Weed, Parsons & Co.|year=1890|editor-last=McBride|editor-first=Alexander|location=Albany, N.Y.|pages=162|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
In 1888, Peck was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Republican, representing Cortland County. He served in the Assembly in 1889,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tpMVAAAAYAAJ|title=The Argus Almanac, 1889|year=1889|pages=158|via=Google Books}}</ref> 1890,<ref name=":1" /> and 1891. By that year, he moved to Cortland.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/eveningjournalal1891slsn/page/158/mode/1up|title=The Evening Journal Almanac, 1891|publisher=Weed, Parsons & Co.|year=1891|editor-last=McBride|editor-first=Alexander|location=Albany, N.Y.|pages=158|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> He was a delegate to the 1892 Republican National Convention.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Rose|first1=Theodore C.|url=https://archive.org/details/proceedingsoften00repu/page/104/mode/1up|title=Proceedings of the Tenth Republican National Convention|last2=Burke|first2=James F.|publisher=Harrison & Smith|year=1892|location=Minneapolis, M.N.|pages=104|author-link2=James F. Burke (politician)|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
Peck was a trustee of the First Baptist Church of Cortland. In 1859, he married Susan Wells of Kings Township, Ontario, Canada. Their children were Louise E., Arthur R., Frank John, and Fred Ross. Susan died in 1889, and in 1892 Peck married Jeanette Dutton of Perry, Iowa.<ref name=":0" />
Peck died in a private Auburn sanitarium, where he was staying for over a year, on July 24, 1900.<ref>{{Cite news|date=27 July 1900|title=Hon. Rufus T. Peck|page=1|work=Cortland Standard|location=Cortland, N.Y.|url=https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn91066329/1900-07-27/ed-1/seq-1/|via=NYS Historic Newspapers}}</ref> He was buried in the family plot in the Cortland Rural Cemetery.<ref>{{Cite news|date=31 July 1900|title=Funeral of Hon. R. T. Peck|page=1|work=Cortland Standard|location=Cortland, N.Y.|url=https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn91066329/1900-07-31/ed-1/seq-1/|via=NYS Historic Newspapers}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* ''[https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/peck.html#919.19.71 The Political Graveyard]'' * [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/75127204/rufus-thompson-peck Rufus T. Peck] at ''Find a Grave''
{{s-start}}{{s-par|us-ny-hs}} {{succession box | title = New York State Assembly <br>Cortland County | years = 1889–1891 | before = Wayland D. Tisdale | after = James H. Tripp }} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peck, Rufus T.}} Category:1836 births Category:1900 deaths Category:People from Cortland, New York Category:New York Central College alumni Category:Schoolteachers from New York (state) Category:19th-century American publishers (people) Category:American book publishers (people) Category:New York (state) postmasters Category:Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly Category:Baptists from New York (state) Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature