William Peacock Sr. (abt. 1640 - bef. 1722)

Born about 1640 in Colony of Virginia [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 15 Jul 1722 before about age 82 in Surry County, Colony of Virginia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: US Southern Colonies Project WikiTree [send private message] and Chad Olivent [send private message]

William Peacock Sr. resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776. Join: US Southern Colonies Project Discuss: southern_colonies

Biography

William Peacock first appears in Lawne's Creek Parish in the mid 1670's. His origins are not known. His date of birth is approximated around 1635-1640, based on the age of a wife. There is no conclusive documentation of his arrival in Virginia, so it is an open question if he was born in the colony or in England.

It bears mentioning that one of the few boys that arrived in 1607 was one Nathanial Peacock. He survived the worst years and reached adulthood. However, the burning of Jamestown in 1676 destroyed most of the records so nothing exists that shows what happened to Nathaniel. Yet he was there in the beginning.

What is now known is that William was not the same William Peacock born in 1642, son of William and Agnes Peacock,^[1], as the Dry Drayton, Cambridgeshire, parish register shows their young William died within a year or two of his christening. ^[2]

Lawne's Creek Tithable's Lists 1674-1675

Space:Lawne's_Creek_Parish_Surry_County,_Virginia

William Peacock appears on the Lawne's Creek Parish Tithable's returns dated June 10, 1674. He is grouped together with seven other men with the first named Mr. Arthur Allen. This suggests that William Peacock was working and living on Mr. Allen's plantation at the time.

The same day, the next sheet of returns by another enumerator lists among others, these Tithables: Mr. Oust: Honicutt and next listed is Jno. Kindred

The total number of Tithables for the entire parish is tallied next at 182. This would be all head of households male or female, males above sixteen, and all slaves and free persons of color. From this you can see it is all a very small population.

The next year,on June 10, 1675 we find these individuals on the Lawne's Creek Parish returns:

At Austin Honicutts His Sonn Austin Honicutt, Chas Denisen ; four households down from them is this household: Rich: Harris Law: Mogett , Henry Lewis, James Stringfellow. A few more households down is one led by Walter Taylor.

These families would intermarry each other and with the Peacocks.

Two more references found regarding William Peacock: p. 50 4 May 1686...William Peacock gives Richard Stringfellow one black cow & calfe and a brown Heyfer.William (X) Peacock."^[3] There is a record in Surry Co. dated 1686 indicating that at the May 4 court, "Wm Peacock appeareing in Cort & acknowledging a Deede of Guift to Rich Stringfellow and his Sister it is admitted to Record"^[4] Now we have a closer connection between William Peacock and the Stringfellow family. Here is an unknown female Stringfellow who may actually have turned out to be William's future daughter-in-law. We may never know for sure, but we know more than we did.

There is no source document showing William Peacock having children, but he is most likely the father of Samuel Peacock, though this has been a question for decades. Samuel Peacock married one Mary Stringfellow, who is the sister of Richard Stringfellow mentioned in the court records listed above. This circumstantial evidence supports William and Samuel having some connection.

William would have been married at an early age, His presumed first wife is not known. William's marriage to Katherine Hunnicutt took place in 1704. This was a late in life marriage for both of them. William was deceased by 1722. His will abstract shows Katherine Peacock inherited William's whole estate. Peacock , William: Leg- To wife , whole estate and makes her exerx. Thos. Walter, Edward Rowell. Presented by Katherine Peacock 9 Oct.1722. Prop July 15 , 1722^[5]

Research Notes

Katherine Hunnicutt was the widow of John Kindred. William Peacock was the last husband of Katherine Hunnicutt. The source listed below confuses the two women. The will portion of the source refers to Katherine Andrews the wife of William Peacock Jr.. Katherine Hunnicutt married William Peacock about 1704 .

married BET 1664 & 1670 Surry, VA/ Raleigh County, Virginia ^[6] (The marriage will be sourced again shortly, but we will go with this date for now- DCO)

There has been a persistent position among early (pre-internet) Peacock researchers that there were three Samuel Peacock generations. William would be a better fit as progenitor with his date of birth at 1640ish, if in fact he was the first Samuel's father. -DCO 2022

Sources

1. ↑ Cambridgeshire : Dry Drayton : St Peter and St Paul : Parish Register : "Parish Register" database, FreeREG (https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/5b4093c0f493fd3939eb8bef : viewed 24 May 2022)
2. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N82S-77Z : accessed 1 December 2015), Dry-Drayton, Cambridge, England, reference items 2-5; FHL microfilm 1,040,465.
3. ↑ Surry County, Virginia Court RecordsOrder Book 1671-1691 1682-1691 Book IV by Willette Haun, 1990
4. ↑ http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/stringfellow/664/
5. ↑ Wills and Administrations of Surry County, Virginia. 1671-1750 by Eliza Timmberlake Davis. p. 101
6. ↑ http://www.genealogywise.com/group/peacock

• Surry County Virginia Tithables, 1668-1703-by MacDonald http://tinyurl.com/Surry-Co-Tithables
• Will of William Pecock, system number 000528315, the Library of Virginia, 1724 Indexed as 1722. Part of index to wills not listed in Virginia Wills and Administrations. p. 546.

• Wills and Administrations of Surry County, Virginia, 1671-1750

By Eliza Timberlake Davis, page 101

• Hunnicutt-HeirsandRoots.com. marriage of William Peacock Sr. To Katherine Hunnicutt , Cornwell , Kindred , Peacock.

• Ancestors of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter by Jeff Carter Google Books , marriage of Katherine Hunnicutt , Cornwell , Kindred , Peacock.