Rev. Jeremiah Peck
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: Abt 1623 - London, England
Christening:
Death: 7 Jun 1699 - Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut
Burial:
Cause of Death:
AFN #:
Parents
Father: Deacon William Peck (1601-1694)
Mother: Elizabeth (1608-1683)
Spouses and Children
1. *Joanna Kitchell (25 Oct 1631 - 1711)
Marriage: 12 Nov 1656 - Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut
Status:
Notes
General:
From GEnealogical Account of the Descendants in the Male Line of William Peck.
Jeremiah was borin in.. London, or its vicinity, in 1623. He came with his father to this country in 1637. LIttle is known of his early history except that he had a good education. Cotton Mather said he attended Harvard Coolege but though probably he was a student his name does not appear on the catalogue of graduates from that institution.
He married on Nov 12 1656 Johannan Kitchell, a daughter of Robert Kitchell of Guilford, CT, who came to New Haven in the company of EAton, Davenport and others in 1638, settled in Giulford in 1639, and was a prominent man and one of the first planters of that town, and aomg those who migrated from New Hven to Newark NJ in 1666. His only son Samuel went there as well.
He was then, and for some time previously had been, preaching or teaching school at Guilford, and he contnued to be thus until 1660, when he was invited to take charge of the Collegiate school at New Haven. This was a colony school, and had been instituted by the General Court in 1659. It was open to students from other colonies, and in it were to be taught Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and young men fitted for college. He accepted the invitation and removing from Guilford to New Haven, entered upon his duties as its instructor and continued to discharge the same until the summer of 1661, when the school was temporarily suspended for want of adequate support. It was revived a few years later, and has continued to the present day as Hopkins Grammar School.
In the autumn of 1661, he was invited to preach at Saybrook, Connecticut, where there is much reason to suppose that he was ordained, and where he settled as a minister, succeeding Rev. James Fitch; the agreement of settlement being dated Sept 26 1661. After a few years there was some dissatisfaction with his ministery, and a conflict about the provisions of his agreement of settlement, which being amicably arranged he left Saybrook, removing to Guilford early in 1666.
He was then, and for some time had been, together with numerous other ministers and churches of the New Haven and Connecticut colonies, decidedly opposed to what was called the "Halfway Covenant", adopted by the General Synod of 1662, and with many o fthe leading ministers and the people of the New Haven Colony was especially and irreconcilably hostile to teh Union of the New Haven and Connecticut Colonies under the charter of Charles II, of which, however, after a protracted struggle, was finally effected in 1665, and he resolved to emigrate from the colony.
Removing from Gilford in 1666, he became one of the first settlers of Newark, NJ. ... He does not appear to have officiated as a minster at Newark. He preached to teh neighboring people of Elizabethtown soon after his removal to Newark, and finally settled there as their first minister in 1669 or 1670. In 1670, and again in 1675, he was invited by the people of Woodbridge, NJ, and in 1676 by the people of Greenwich, Connecticut, to settle with them in the ministery, but he declined these several invitations. In Sept 1678, he was agian invited to settle as a minister at Greenwich, and in Oct., 1678, he had a similar call from Newtown, Long Island, NY. He accepted the last call from Greenwhich, and removing there late in autumn of 1678 from Elizabethtown, he became the first settled minister in Greenwich, where his pastorate was a very quiet and useful one, and only disturbed by his refusal in 1668 to baptize the children of non-communicatnts, allowed by the "Halfway Covenant", the introduction of which still agitated the churches in Connecticut. Though sustained yb a majoritiy of the members of his church, the dissatisfaction of the minority proably led to his resignation in 1689. He then commenced preaching in Waterbury, Conn. ... early in 1690.
He was tehn nearly seventy years of age. In a few years his health gradually failed, but he continued as the pastor of the church and discharged the most of his official duties until his decease at WAterbury June 7, 1699. He seems to have possessed considerable energy and abilty. His wife suvived him, and died in Waterbury in 1711. His Will, dated Jan 14, 1696-7, and that of his wife, dated Oct 7, 1696 (in the form of Deeds of Gift) are recorded, teh former at page 6 and the latter at page 103 of Volume I, of the Waterbury Land REcords.
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The following post to one of the Anglican lists by an Episcopal priest descended from William Peck. - first part, appears garbled. Jeremiah was not even old enough in 1637 to have been persecuted by Archbishop Laud! The Hungarian princess bit is quixotic family mythology, but probably accurately reflects the emotional quality of this family group.
On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 12:10:19 -0500 "Ken Peck" <[email protected]>
writes:
> My father, obviously was a Peck. The Peck's immigrated to the
> colonies. The
> Rev. Jeremiah Peck fled to the Massachusetts Bay colony because he
> believed
> he was being persecuted by Archbishop Laud. Considering where
> Jeremiah went,
> he probably was being persecuted by the Archbishop -- and probably
> deserved
> to be persecuted by the Archbishop. However, those who have traced
> the
> linage backfurther beyond England claim that the Peck's are
> descended from
> French nobility who, in turn, trace their ancestry back to a Roman
> noble and
> a Hungarian princess.