Peter Wacek came to the United States from old Bohemia in 1870 and found work in a lumber yard in Chicago, Illinois. There he met and married a country woman, Miss Antonia Cizinsky, in 1873. In 1876, he and his family moved on a farm near where Marceline was to be settled. For forty years he was a farmer, and in 1916 he moved to the city of Marceline for retirement. In 1938, his wife died after 65 years of marriage. There were eight children born to this union and only two are still living. They are Mrs. Rosa Wiley and Mrs. C. C. Wyett, both of Marceline. There are also a great number of grandchildren still residing in Marceline.
Mr. Wacek is a part of the history of Marceline, as it was on his property that the Marceline City Reservoir was built.
He lived to celebrate his 100th birthday and when asked why he thought he had been able to attain that grand age, he replied saying only that, “maybe hard work out of doors did it; maybe not smoking or drinking helped.”