Zenia the Vestal, by Margaret B. Peeke

Margaret Bloodgood Peeke was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Garry Peck. She was born in Mechanicsville, New York on April 8, 1908. In 1860, Margaret married Rev. George H. Peeke, a Protestant minister. Rev. and Mrs. Peeke settled in Sandusky in 1883, where George served as the minister of the Congregational Church. Rev. Peeke later served a congregation in Cleveland as well. Rev. and Mrs. Peeke had six children, one of whom was well known Sandusky lawyer and local history author, Hewson L. Peeke. Hewson L. Peeke wrote in his book, A Standard History of Erie County, about his mother, “She had a remarkably bright mind and wonderful conversational ability.”

Robert H. Stockman wrote in his book The Baha'i Faith in America, that while Margaret B. Peeke had been raised as a strong Protestant church member, her interests changed, and she became a Martinist. Martinism is a form of mystical Christianity. Margaret was the author of Born of Flame, Numbers and Letters: or The Thirty-Two Paths of Wisdom, and Zenia the Vestal.

A book reviewer stated that Zenia the Vestal was a book which embodied “the occult laws of spiritual development, as given by the wise men of other lands…”

An advertisement for two of Mrs. Peeke’s books appeared in The Metaphysical Magazine in 1901.

According to Ohio Authors and Their Books, Margaret Bloodgood Peeke traveled widely, teaching Hermetic philosophy, with her largest following in the northern Ohio area. Margaret Bloodgood Peeke died on November 2, 1908. She is buried in Pomona, Tennessee near her daughter Grace Peeke. Grace Carew Sheldon wrote in an article in the Columbus Medical Journal shortly after Margaret’s death, that “The loss to her myriads of friends in every part of the world testifies to her international value, for she was beloved both at home and abroad.”

A copy of Zenia the Vestal is located in the local authors collection of the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library. The book contains an inscription from Rev. George H. Peeke to Miss Hazel Maud Morgan, the daughter of local Sandusky businessman, T. T. Morgan. The inscription reads:

Wisdom is the principal thing

Therefore get wisdom. –Proverb