Who In Heck Is Abijah Peck?

I took a different road home from Clifton Park a few weeks ago and stumbled on this historic house. I love old houses. This one is even more meaningful to me because the man who lived here was not only the founder of the Baptist Church in Clifton Park, but also the Baptist Church in Galway, where I attend.

I found the following about the house in the minutes of the Town of Clifton Park. “John Scherer, Town Historian, explained Abijah Peck was an early settler of the town who leased the house in 1807 which was later purchased by a grandson in the 1860's. Abijah Peck established the Clifton Park Center Baptist Church in 1794. Mr. Scherer said the house descended in the family to Heath Peck who sold most of the farmland that became Clifton Knolls to Robert Van Patten just before 1960.”



Historical marker in front of Abijah Peck’s house.



Oil painting of Peck that hangs in the Clifton Park Baptist Church. Abijah Peck (1758-1848 was a Revolutionary War veteran, a weaver by trade, and a dynamic lay preacher. He moved from Connecticut to Galway, New York around 1785 and set up his loom there. Around 1790 he established a Baptist society in Galway. He served as its first deacon and often preached as well.

In 1794 he moved his family and weaving shop to Clifton Park Center and founded a new Baptist society.


Baptist Church in Galway, New York. One of the two churches Abijah Peck founded in Saratoga County. Worship services have been held here for more than two centuries and are still held here every Sunday morning at 11:00a.m.