Deacon William Peck
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 1601-1604 - London, England
Christening: 29 Dec 1601 - London, England
Death: 14 Oct 1694 - New Haven, Connecticut
Burial:
Cause of Death:
AFN #:
Parents
Father:
Mother:
Spouses and Children
1. *Elizabeth (1608 - 5 Dec 1683)
Marriage: 1622 - London, England
Status:
Children:
1. John Peck (1638-1724)
2. Alice Peck (1625-1687)
3. Rev. Jeremiah Peck (Abt 1623-1699)
4. Joseph Peck (1640-1718)
5. Elizabeth Peck (1643-After 1704)
2. Sarah ( - )
Marriage: After Dec 1683 - New London, New London, Connecticut
Status:
Notes
General:
aa merchant from London who settled early at New Haven.
A number of other Peck families were also early settlers in New England, particularly a family in Hingham, MA (the most well known), a Paul Peck who settled in Connecticut, and a family that settled in Rhode Island. Some of these families have been linked to a prosperous family of Beccles, Suffolk, England. I've seen attributions in the Y DNA databases of a line from Hingham, England, and don't know if there is even such a place - may be Hingham, Massacusetts. Many of these families have been falsely linked at one time or another to a family of alleged aristocratic descent in Yorkshire whose genealogy contains the name "Aune".
From A Genealogical Account of the Descendants in the Male Line of William Peck, One of the Founders in 1638 of the Colony of New Haven, Conn. by Darius Peck, 1877, pp. 7-8:
William Peck was one of the founders of the New Haven Colony in the spring of 1638. With his wife, Elizabeth, and his son, Jeremiah, he emigrated from England to this country probably in the company of Gov. Eaton, Rev. John Davenport, and others, in the ship Hector, arrriving at Boston, from London, June 26, 1637. (There is some controversy about the exact date when that ship arrived.) This company was principally from the city of London, where Mr. Davenport had been a celebrated minister, and consisted of many wealthy merchnats, and others of great respectability from London, and of farmers from Yorkshire, Hertfordshire and Kent, and some from Surrey and Sussex. (No list of the names or English homes of this company has been found.) They had suffered much from the intolerance and persecution of Archbishop Laud during the reign of Charles I., and the object of their emigration was the unmolested enjoyment of civil and religious liberty.
His surname was often written by him, and by his oldest son, Rev. Jeremiah Peck, with a final "e", but it was dropped in the last part of their lives.
A persistent effort to trace the lines of his progenitors involving much time and a large expense, has proven unsuccessful. He was born in the city of London, or in its vicinity in 1601, and was there married about the year 1622. His son, Jeremiah, was his only child at the time of his emigration.
He was one of the original proprietors of New Haven, his autograph signature being affixed to the fundamental Agreement or Consitution dated June 4, 1639, for the government of the infant colony. He was admitted a freeman of the colony October 20, 1640; was a merchant by occupation, and a trustee, treasurer, and general business agent of the Colony Collegiate School, established on the basis of the Hopkins fund. He is usually named in the records with the title of "Mr.", then a prefix of respect and distinction; and from 1659 until his decease was a deacon in the church at New Haven.
His wife, Elizabeth, died December 6, 1683, and he subsequently married Sarah, the widow of William Holt, and died October 4, 1694, at the advanced age of 93 years. His children were all by his first wife, and were Jeremiah, John, Joseph, and Elizabeth, all of whom, together with his second wife, survived him, and are named in his last Will and testament.
His home lot of about an acre, and his dwelling house and shopr or store in New Haven, were, at the time of his decease, on the southeasterly side of, and fronting on, Church street; the lot extending from Centre street northerly in front of Church St. towards Chapel street aboaut one hundred feet, and extended easterly from Church Street a few feet beyond Orange Street.... His grave is in that part of the old burial ground now under the Center Church in New Haven. His gravestone, however, is in the new cemetery in the northern part of the town, having, with the monuments and tombstones of others whose graves are covered by the said church, been removed thither in 1821.
William Peck was a merchant and a "business agent" and in the records was
entitled "Mr" -- a prefex of respect. His friends called him "Deacon Peck"
He lived to be 93 and died in New Haven in 1694.
He and Henry Peck behaved as though they were closely related, but the exact relationship is not known. Some think they were brothers. Henry is linked to the Peck family of Beccles, Suffolk, England, as are Joseph and Rev. Robert Peck of Rhode Island. The family goes back for atleast several generations in Beccles, which rules out the possibility that William's father came from Yorkshire.
Baptisms in New Haven, CT, from NEHGR, list more children; Eleazar bapt Mar 12 1643, and Elizabeth bapt March 24, 1650. This Elizabeth certainly must have been listed as William's child by mistake. Even if the first Elizabeth had died, this Elizabeth would not have been old enough to marry when Elizabeth married.
Merchants were attracted to teh New Haven colony because they thought it would be a good place for trade, and they proved wrong. There are signs, however, that William Peck may have been specifically drawn to teh colony's relatively severe brand of Puritanism. First of all, he stayed on at New Haven. The author of the O'Donnell/Ross database at Worldconnect quotes somebody; "'In 1677, unwilling ot abide by the union of the New Haven Colony with hte 'lax and broder princpaled' Colony of Connecticut, he, with a few others, departed for Newark, New Jersey to form a colony more congenial to their views'". His son Jeremiah's entire career as a minister was driven by his absolute committment to a relatively harsh and exclusive brand of Puritanism.
It is not clear that William Peck was a well to do merchant from London. A merchant could be well to do or a mere grocer.
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A line that has been called into question goes way back, through Pecks in Ridlington, R county, and Wakefield, Yorkshire, a Peck married Joan Aune at beginning of 16th century, that line picks up Bosville,s knights, etc. Aune/ Anne was an aristocratic famiy from Normandy. from L'Arsine in Normandy. 1086, Hugh Asing De L'asne. Baron y under Henry I. 1316-9. John Michael Wm de Aune or Anne. Also picks up a Preston. This connection appears to be an invention, and several aspects of the story make no sense, including how William came to be born in London.
This looks highly speculative and suspiciously like one of those speculative aristocratic lineages. Peck families in Suffolk and Essex Counties much closer to London for William to have been from. Same line has been attributed to parts of the Beccles Peck family that goes back generations further in Beccles than when it would have come from Yorkshire.