Clara Elsene Peck - Marriage and Later Life

Marriage and Later Life

In 1906, Peck married British-born illustrator John Scott Williams (1877–1976), and they produced two children together, Ayvard and Conway. Peck and Williams shared similar styles, leading the two to occasionally collaborate on illustrations together. These works were signed with the first initials of their last names, "P W". Some of Peck's works are also credited as Clara Elsene Williams and the press sometimes referred to her as "Mrs. John Scott Williams."

After illustrator Harvey Dunn founded the Leonia School of Illustration in Leonia, New Jersey in 1915, Peck and Williams moved to an artist colony in Leonia, joining a group of about 90 professional artists.

They lived in a house originally built by artist Charles Harry Eaton (American, 1850–1901) on Crescent Avenue and were neighbors with artist-couple John Rutherford Boyd (1884–1951) and Harriet Boyd. The Boyd's house became a community center of artistic gatherings where many of Leonia's artists exhibited their works. The marriage between Peck and Williams came to an end, and J. Scott Williams remarried in 1930.

Peck later resided in Brooklyn, New York and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Towards the end of her life, art historian Helen Teri Caro located Peck and acquired over 100 pieces of her artwork on behalf of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta. Peck died in Gettysburg in February 1968.