 Peck ordained Pastor Meachum in 1825, when he founded the First African Baptist Church, the first Protestant congregation established for African-Americans west of the Mississippi River.Shortly after a brick church building was erected, Meachum and Peck opened a day school called the "Candle Tallow School" because classes were conducted in a secret room with no windows to avoid being discovered by the sheriff.Missouri law forbade teaching free or slave blacks to read and write.