Biography of William Wheelock Peet

From The Hartwells of America
by Lyman Willard Densmore, Hartwell & Lorenzen, Saginaw MI, 1956

Page 106

WILLIAM WHEELOCK PEET. He studied at Williston Seminary in Easthampton; took optional courses in Iowa (now Grinnell) College in 1874; taught school in Iowa; with Burlington & Missouri R.R. (C.B.&Q. system) as tax agent, assistant land commissioner, assistant to legal dept., chief clerk in charge of general manager's office at Omaha; accepted in 1881 a call from A.B.C.F.M. to be business manager of its missions in Turkey, and diplomatic agent of same missions; was in charge of property and adjuster of titles of those properties; treasurer and manager of American Red Cross in Turkey; was awarded the Red Cross Medal of Merit by Pres. Wilson; was in charge of relief work for the American missions in Turkey, and distributed many millions of dollars through that agency; he was chairman of the committee co-operating with the American Embassy in Constantinople in the winter of 1901 and 1902 for the rescue of the missionary, Ellen M. Stone from brigands; he represented the American mission in Turkey on various commissions; was appointed chairman of the Overseas Administration Committee of the Near East Relief in 1919-1925; was decorated by King George II of Greece "for humanitarian work in the NearEast Contries;" received the Near East Relief Medal of Merit for work "involving courage and ability;" received M.A. degree from Grinnell college in 1898; doctor of laws from Univ. of Vermont in 1917, and from Grinnell College the same year; retired form active mission work in 1925. After his retirement he was appointed by the Federal Council of Churches in Christ in America to be their representative to the Ancient Apostolic Churches in the Near East. in 1940 he was living with his sister in Chattanooga, Tenn. His citation from the Dean of the Univ. of Vermont in 1917 was as follows: For Doctor of Laws, William Wheelock Peet, treasurer and business manager of missions in Turkey. His life a brave ballad of the East and West, dedicating to the troubled lands about the Golden Horn the wisdom, loyalty, love and zeal of the American idealist. Spiritual thinker and practica worker, serving his country by service to the world."