John Mason Peck in Boone-Duden Country

by Bob Brail

John Mason Peck (1789-1858) was an early Baptist missionary Missouri and Illinois Territories. Born in Connecticut, Peck lived in New Yyork and New Hampshire before coming to the Missouri Territory, arriving in St. Louis in December, 1817. With his missionary partner James Welch, Peck founded the First Baptist Church of St. Louis in February, 1818, which was the first Protestant church in the city. In 1824 Peck helped establish the first protestant church in St. Louis for blacks. Noted for his emphases on literacy and temperance, and his opposition to slavery, Peck traveled throughout the territory's rural areas, preaching and teaching. During his 40-year ministry, Peck helped establish 900 Baptist churches and ordained hundreds of pastors.  Peck helped found the "United Society for the Spread of the Gospel," which was organized at the session of the Missouri Baptist Association, held in the settlement of Femme Osage in October, 1818.

A prolific writer, Peck published one of his memoirs, Forty Years of Pioneer Life, in 1864. In it he describes a visit he made to southern St. Charles County in December, 1818:

Having made provision for my family to reside in St. Louis during the winter, on the 12th of December I started on a tour on the north side of the Missouri River for two months. I left my family sick, but appointments had been sent forward; and I knew of no other way for an itinerant missionary, but to go forward, meet his engagements, and trust his family and all things else to the disposal of that Providence who watches over the birds of heaven, numbers the hairs of each one's head, and has given assurance of being with his ministers always, even to the end of the world. Nor have I ever been disappointed in this exercise of confidence in the Divine government.

From St. Charles, where I crossed the river amidst running ice, my route lay through the scattering settlements near the river, where I had appointments day and night. The "old Boone's Lick trace" through the prairies was no route then for a missionary. After passing the tavern-stand of Nicholas Kuntz, a rough, wicked, and yet hospitable old German, the next pitch was "Camp-branch," fifty miles above St. Charles, and the next Van-Bibber's at Loutre Lick. I followed a bridle-path through the hills and bluffs near the river. At old Brother Darst's house in Femme Osage settlement, I preached and formed a Mite society to aid [by raising funds for] the "United Society for the spread of the gospel." Here I was met by Flanders Callaway, a leading member of the Baptist church near the mouth of Charette, called Friendship. His wife, an excellent woman, was Rebecca, the eldest daughter of Colonel Daniel Boone. After dinner we rode together a few miles to the cabin of Squire Boone, a nephew of Daniel. There has been a Squire and a Daniel in all the old Boone families I have been able to trace out. Daniel had a brother by the name of Squire. He had an uncle in Pennsylvania, who raised a large family of children, and amongst them were Daniel, Squire, and George. This coincidence of names in the Boone connection has made sad work in the " biographies" and "histories" of the veritable Daniel Boone. The Squire Boone and his wife where we lodged were Baptists from Kentucky.. They were true-hearted people, and possessed and retained the true missionary spirit. A few years later I found them above the Loutre, and to the left of the Boone's Lick trace.

The morning of December 16th was clear, cold, and frosty. We started at the rising of the sun, and rode to Brother Callaway's cluster of cabins on the bank of the Missouri — the distance being twenty miles — where, in expectation, an excellent breakfast was in rapid preparation. Here, for the first time, I saw and conversed with the veritable Daniel Boone, the pioneer and hunter of Kentucky. Instead of writing a new article of the impressions made on my mind, as recorded in the life of Boone, found in Dr. Spark's edition of the "Library of American biography," written in 1846, vol. xxiii., two paragraphs are here inserted from that volume :

"On his introduction to Colonel Boone, the impressions were those of surprise, admiration, and delight. In boyhood, the writer had read of Daniel Boone, the pioneer of Kentucky, the celebrated Indian fighter; and imagination had portrayed a rough, fierce- looking, uncouth specimen of humanity, and of course at this periodof hfe a fretful and unattractive old man. But in every respect the reverse appeared. His high, bold forehead was slightly bald, and his silvered locks were combed smooth: his countenance was ruddy and fair, and exhibited the simplicity of a child. A smile frequently played over his countenance in conversation. His voice was soft and melodious. At repeated interviews, an irritable expression was never heard. His clothing was the coarse, plain manufacture of the family; but every thing denoted that kind of comfort that was congenial to his habits and feelings, and evinced a happy old age. His room was part of a range of log-cabins kept in order by his affectionate daughter and grand-daughters.

''Every member of the household appeared to take delight in administering to his comforts. He was sociable, communicative in replying to questions, but not in introducing incidents of his own history. He was intelligent; for he had treasured up the experience and observations of more than fourscore years. In this and other interviews, every incident of his eventful life might have been drawn from his lips; but veneration being the predominant feeling which his presence excited, no more than a few brief notes were taken. He spoke feelingly, and with solemnity, of being a creature of Providence, ordained by heaven as a pioneer in the wilderness, to advance the civilization and extension of his country."

He was not moody and unsocial, as if desirous of shunning society and civilization.
A thousand-and-one tales told of Colonel Daniel Boone are as purely fictitious as the Arabian Nights' Entertainment.

I preached in the day and evening at the house of Mr. Callaway, with Colonel Boone for a hearer. On Thursday morning, the 17th of December, I rode along a blind trail, or bridle-path, and over hills and through ravines, fifteen miles to the cabin of Mr. James Stevenson.

Sources: Forty Years of Pioneer Life by J.M. Peck (archive.org); “John Mason Peck” (en.wikipedia.org); Southern Baptist Histsorical Library and Archive (sbhla.org).