Paul Peck Sr (abt. 1608 - 1695)

Born about 1608 in England

Husband of Martha (Hale) Peck — married about 1639 in England

Descendants

Died 23 Dec 1695 at about age 87 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut

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Paul Peck Sr migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 258) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Do NOT add parents without New Evidence

Biography

Name

Paul Peck referred to himself as "Paul Peck, Sr." in his hand written will.^[1]

Origins

Robert Charles Anderson, F.A.S.G., in his 2015 Directory, a collection of all immigrant families for the entirety of the Great Migration, 1620 - 1640, states that the origins of Paul Peck are "Unknown".^[2] In cases of disputed facts, Anderson's works are preferred by the Puritan Great Migration for profiles under its management. (See Research Notes on this page at the end of the biography, for unsourced and/or disproved data.)

Immigration

Paul Peck's name has not been found in any ship records, journals or other evidence regarding his ship or date of arrival, before the 1639 land records. ^[2] Although he is said by some to have been on the ship Defense, his name is not on those ship lists (see Research Notes).

Land

Paul became one of the founders of Hartford, and his name is on the Founder's Monument in Hartford, listing all settlers by 1640. A map of Hartford created in 1640 shows Paul Peck on Lot #139, both on the map and on the index printed next to it. His lot was in the northwest quarter of the town, on the "road from George Steele's to the Great Swamp". His was the second house west from the corner at the little "road to Thomas Richards". Paul Peck's lot sits among eight lots that are clearly half or less the size of other lots, evidently part of the land parceled out to later settlers "by courtesy of the town" in 1639 and 1640. The Colonial History of Hartford states that in addition to the 95 original lots on December 23, 1639, and on January 3, 1640, Paul Peck and 14 other men were added as proprietors.

Paul Peck's name on list of the proprietors of Hartford in 1639, "by courtesie of the town".^[3] Surveyor of highways 1658, 1665; townsman 1661, 1668; chimney-viewer 1667; Deacon in the First Church 1681, until his death. ^[3]

In January of 1640, when Paul was added as a Hartford proprietor, he was granted 8 acres. Only 5 of the original number were alive when the Colony made its grants of land for service in the Pequot War. Thomas Bunce and Paul being the only residents of Hartford.^{[citation needed]} Lent his name to Peck's Island.

Paul Peck's name is found in numerous court records as juror. His name is also found on many land records, as he bought and sold property. His home lot, "on the road from George Steel's to the Great Swamp"; is said to have been upon what is now Washington Street, not far from Trinity College, the site of which was still known in the late 1800's by many persons as the "Peck lot".

Peck Family in Gov Winthrop's Medical Journal

Under date of 23 Mar 1666, the 2nd Gov. John Winthrop, a practicing physician, made the following entry in his medical journal. Peck, Martha: 45 y. wife of Paul of H worms & pain in back & other sickness which thinks is wind 2 dos 5 g N. J. & ig to take after. She is sister of Sam: Hale of Wethersfield, & hath a brother Thomas: Hale at Charlestown, Sent word it wrought well but very sick before it wrought. Again Mar: 28th 9 gr: $: wrought only down. In November 1667. Winthrop treated some of the Peck children who were then recovering from measles. He entered them as "Paul Pecks Children at Hartford" & named them as "Martha 9 years ole." "Also his son of 16 years: & also Hanna Peck his daughter 2 years."^[4]

Deacon

In April of 1681 Paul Peck became a Deacon in the 1st Congregationalist Church of Hartford & was thereafter known by that title. He held the position of Deacon until his demise in 1695.

Will

Paul Peck's will may be viewed at Ancestry.com as digital images of the handwritten original.^[1]

The will of Deacon Paul Peck is in the Probate Records of Connecticut, B. 5, pp 217-218-219, dated 25 Jun 1695, & proved 15 Jan 1696. It is quite lengthy & is of interest in its detail & descriptions of his property. His inventory amounted to £536 & 5s. He named his eldest son Paul & the latter's son Paul, grandson Samuel Peck, "who now liveth with me," mentioning "my wife his grandmother", Samuel to make payments to "my son-in law John Shepard". Wife Martha Peck to have £7.10.o paid to her annually by "my sons, Paul Peck & Joseph Peck, & son-in-law" Joseph Shepard to executors.^[1]

Paul Peck, Sr. bequeathed in his will the house he lived in and barn, gardens, orchards and land with it, to his grandson Samuel Peck, and wrote that Samuel had helped "keep my housing and fences in repair".^[1] Possibly the large bequest confused later genealogists who assumed Samuel Peck was the son of Paul Peck Sr. The will also states that his two sons, Paul Jr., and Joseph Peck, were to have certain bequests. Perhaps Savage and other genealogists who named Samuel Peck a son of Paul Peck Sr. didn't see the will.

Death

Deacon Paul Peck, Sr., died 23 Dec 1695 at Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut,^[5] and he was buried 24 Dec 1695 in what was called the New Hartford Cemetery at that time & is now know as the Peck plot at Windsor, Hartford, CT. William Goodwin, the gravedigger, entered on 24 Dec 1695 the "death of Deacon PECK aged 87". From this information we calculate that Deacon Paul Peck must have been born sometime in 1608. [Many biographies of Paul Peck, Sr., show him as born in 1622, based on calculations from his age - "sixty" - which he gave in a deposition in 1683, on the will of Widow Barding.] Some biographers attribute his place of birth as Essex County, England but we haven't found any documentation to support this as yet.

Widow Martha Hale

On 7 Mar 1699/1700, "Widow Martha Peck" of Hartford brought several suits: one against Paul Peck of Hartford, & another against Samuel Peck of Hartford for refusing to pay rent of land due her by the will of her deceased husband.^[6] "Deacon Joseph Easton" in behalf of the plaintiff withdrew these actions, presumably because the matter had been settled out of Court.^[6] She brought a 3rd action against John Hoskins of Windsor who married the relic of Joseph PECK late of Hartford.^[6]

Martha Hale died after 7 March 1699, at Hartford.^[6] Her body was interred in what was called the New Hartford Cemetery at that time.

Children of Martha and Paul Peck

Confusion over the children of Martha and Paul Peck was resolved in 1932 by Donald Lines Jacobus, writing in TAG Vol 9. Jacobus lists the children on pages 85-86, after first documenting with wills, marriage dates, etc., why they were included and some others listed by previous authors were excluded. It was the custom to list children in a will in their birth order, eldest to youngest, and Jacobus derived some of the approximate birth dates from the order of Paul's children in Paul's will.

All of Paul and Martha's living children are mentioned in Paul Peck Sr.,'s will.^[5] The three children who predeceased their father and left children are included through bequests to their surviving spouse or child. The only deceased child not represented in Paul's will was John, who died young.^[5] All children were born at Hartford, Connecticut:^[5]

• Paul, b. 1643, m. Elizabeth Baysey in 1666 in Hartford
• John, born 22 Dec 1645, died young ^[5]
• Martha, b. 1647, m. John Cornwall 8 June 1665 in Middletown^[5]
• Mary, b. 1650, m. Daniel Andrews. not mentioned in will^[5]
• Elizabeth, b. 1653, m. Jeremiah Howe, 29 Oct 1674 in Wallingford, d. 4 Oct 1704 ^[5]
• Hannah, b. 1656, m. John Shepard, Jr., 12 May 1680 in Hartford^[5]
• Sarah, b. 1659, m. Ebenezer Clark, 6 May 1678 in Wallingford, d. 20 May 1696 ^[5]
• Ruth, b. 1661, m. Thomas Beach, 13 May 1680 in Hartford, d. 5 Dec 1686 ^[5]
• Joseph, bapt. 22 Dec 1650, m. Ruth (Unknown) Hoskins in Windsor^[5]
• daughter Peck, b. about 1665, died before 1695, m. Joseph Benton of Tolland who was named as son-in-law in Paul Peck, Sr.' will^[5]

Research Notes

Few families have been so mutilated by genealogists of the past as that of Deacon Paul Peck of Hartford, Conn. (Donald Lines Jacobus, TAG 9:82)

It is easier to write on a blank slate than to correct errors from historical publications which have been multiplied by the exponential magic of the computer age. I will attempt it regardless. Dellinger-332 04:47, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

"English Peck Records"

From The American Genealogist, Vol. 50 (1950), page 236:

"Four years ago Mr. Brainerd T. Peck, whose address is Lakeside, Conn. 06758, submitted a long manuscript with the title given above. The bulk was far too long to print in TAG, and the search did not locate any unmistakable trace of the Hartford settler, Paul Peck...

"The hunt was initiated in 1966 by a clue found in the Manuscripts of the late Dr. Charles E. Banks, who noted the name of Paul Peck of Eltisley, Cambridgeshire on the 1629 Subsidy roll, and another Paul Peck who was church warden at Renhold, Bedfordshire, about 1630.

"The result was that Mr. Peck engaged the services of an English researcher, Mr. Clifford A. Thurley of Cambridge, and he produced considerable information though inconclusive.

Disputed Parents

Error:

Paul Peck has been listed in WikiTree with the parents Edward Peck and Grace (Green) Peck. No evidence has been located to support this set of parents for him. His birth location is given by Ira Peck as Essex County, England, in 1608.^[7]

Error:

Another author, Sir Isaac Taylor, indicates that his birth place is Eltisley, England in Cambridgeshire, approximately 50 miles north of London.^[8]

Solution:

Due to the uncertainty in his parents' identity, they have been disconnected from his profile. Although some have said he's from Essex,^[9] there is no evidence of that, and it is also removed from the profile.

Disputed son Samuel Peck

Error:

Many genealogical works have listed a son "Samuel Peck (1647-1672) who supposedly married one Elizabeth Galpin" as the 4th son or 5th child of Deacon Paul & Martha (Hale) Peck. Information copied from the Savage Genealogy Dictionary.

Solution:

No vital records were found for a Samuel Peck, son of Paul. Donald Lines Jacobus, the author of an article titled The Family of Paul Peck of Hartford, CT, published in The American Genealogist Vol. 9, (1932), pp 82-88 of October 1932 definitely disproves Savage, showing that Paul Peck Sr., had no such son Samuel. (Jacobus also shows Paul Peck, Jr. did have a son named Samuel Peck, whose wife's name was Abigail Collier.)

Speculation on the origins of Paul Peck

Error:

Paul Peck came from England in the ship "Defense" to Boston Colony in 1635. He remained in Boston, MA, or this vicinity until 1636 when he moved to what is now Hartford, Hartford, CT. One Richard Peck & wife Margery & family came to New England also on the ship "Defense" of London {suppose to be a brother of Paul's, information not verified as yet}.

Error:

Deacon Paul Peck embarked from England with a Richard Peck of London, Saturday, 11 July 1635 (per Savage, Vol. III). (No other proofs found to this fact).

Solutions:

See Ship lists for Defense - Great Migration Ship Lists - Defense - 1635 and The Ship Defense - 1635

See The Great Migration Directory, page 258, there is no Richard Peck in the Great Migration Directory. It was Richard PARK, not PECK, who was on the ship Defense in 1635, (see page 252).

Speculation on Paul Peck's Immigration

Errors:

Deacon Paul arrived in Boston in 1635. On Tuesday, May 25, 1636, he along with 35 men and twice as many wives, children and servants migrated to Hartford, Connecticut. Rev. Thomas Hooker and his wife (who was taken in a horse litter) was leader of the party. They drove 160 cattle. He made this move with the Thomas Hooker, Rev. & his friends.

The home referred to on the 1640 map was occupied, however, by Paul who was the original owner of this lot in 1637 or 1638 when this row of house-lots was built upon.[unsourced]

Solution:

The earliest record of Paul Peck in New England is in 1639, when he became a proprietor, and was given a lot in the town "by courtesie of the town". Lot 139, set among a few other similar lots, was smaller by half or more than the regular town lots. By the lot number and size and location, it doesn't appear to have been one of the lots distributed to earlier settlers.^[2]

Speculation on Paul Peck's Wife

Errors:

Deacon Paul Peck married Martha Hannah HALE in 1631 at Hartford, Hartford, CT. Martha (most often called by her middle name of Hannah)^{[citation needed]} was an early member of the 1st Church of Hartford. Martha Hannah was the daughter of Thomas & Joan (Kirby) Hale was born in 1617 & was baptized on 16 Dec 1618 at Watton-At-Stone, Hertfordshire, England.

Solutions:

Hartford was not inhabited by Englishmen in 1631, the purported date of his marriage there. The Dutch had occupied the land at Hartford since 1623, ^[10] and various tribes of the great Algonquian federation were indigenous there.^[11] Rev Hooker's followers colonized Hartford in successive stages from autumn of 1635 to June of 1636.^[12]

Solutions:

There is no evidence that Martha was also called Hannah; no sources. Her baptism record of 16 Dec 1618 at Watton-At-Stone, Hertfordshire, England, shows her parents and siblings. Her mother was Joan Unknown, married to John Hale. Kirby is a name associated with Thomas Hale of Newberry, Connecticut - a different family. The discovery of Martha's records in England was published in Have We Found the Parents of Thomas, Samuel and Martha Hale of Connecticut?, by S. Allen Peck, B.A., M.S., TAG vol 38, page 237-239.

Was Paul Peck, Sr. a Soldier in the Pequot War of 1637?

Although Paul's brothers-in-law Thomas Hale and Samuel Hale both are listed with specific dates, as receiving land grants from being soldiers in the Pequot War (1637), I have not been able to find Paul Peck on the lists so far.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999, at Ancestry.com. Connecticut County, District and Probate Courts. Will of Paul Peck, 1695/96, #4143
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} The Great Migration Directory, by Robert Charles Anderson, F.A.S.G., (2015), page 258
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut, at Ancestry.com (1982), by Lucius Barnes Barbour, page 447
4. ↑ S. Allyn Peck, "Have we Found the Parents of Thomas, Samuel and Martha Hale of Connecticut?" in The American Genealogist, volume 38, p 237
5. ↑ ^{5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12} The Family of Paul Peck in Hartford, Connecticut, by Donald Lines Jacobus, TAG Vol 9 (1932), page 85
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3} excerpts from Volume 6, Hartford County Court Records, TAG Vol 23 (1946), page 114, show that Martha Hale, widow, was alive 7 March 1699
7. ↑ A genealogical history of the descendants of Joseph Peck, (published 1868), page 367
8. ↑ Names and Places, by Sir Isaac Taylor, published 1997
9. ↑ Descendants of Deacon Paul - Peck Genealogy, by Ira Peck (1868), page 367
10. ↑ Johnson, Charles F., The Dutch in Hartford database online, link via Wayback Machine, capture date 09 Mar 2022.
11. ↑ The Nipmuc Indian Association of Connecticut's Quarterly Newsletter , online database, accessed 13 June 2018
12. ↑ Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford

• Hartford First Church Record Index, Connecticut State Library, Hartford, vol. 1, pp. 6, 22.

• Hartford First Church Record Index, Connecticut State Library, Hartford, vol. 1, pp. 6, 22.

• Connecticut State Library (Hartford, Connecticut); Probate Place: Hartford, Connecticut. Source Information: Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999, [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Connecticut County, District and Probate Courts; Will of Paul Peck, 1695/96, #4143. Images of original handwritten will of Paul Peck, Sr., dated 25 June 1695.

• Donald Lines Jacobus, The Family of Paul Peck in Hartford, Connecticut, The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Vol. 9 (1932), pp 82. Does not address his ancestry, but clears up many mistakes made about his offspring.

• Anderson, Robert Charles, F.A.S.G., The Great Migration Directory, (Boston, Massachusetts, NEHGS, 2015), "Concise entries for all immigrant families for the entirety of the Great Migration, from 1620 to 1640." Includes all entries from The Great Migration Series, the Study Project, The Pilgrim Migration 1620-1633 and the The Winthrop Fleet 1629-1630. page 258

• Flagg, Ernest, Ancestry.com. Genealogical Notes On the Founding of New England, 1629-1640, [database on-line. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data: Ernest Flagg. Genealogical Notes On the Founding of New England. My Ancestors Part in that Undertaking. Baltimore, Maryland: Reprinted for Clearfield Company, Inc. by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1990, 1996.

• New England Marriages Prior to 1700, by Clarence Almon Torrey (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011) Vol. II, p. 1159. PECT, Paul (-1695) & Martha [HALE]/[H--L]; by 1639(?); Hartford . NOTE: Jacobus later demonstrated errors made by Savage about Peck's children.

• Donald Lines Jacobus & Edgar Francis Waterman, Hale, House and Related Families Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley, at HathiTrust.org. Original: (Hartford, Connecticut Historical Society, 1952.). pp 256

• Barbour, Lucius Barnes, 1982, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut, (copyright 1977 by Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., Baltimore, Maryland and Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc., Glastonbury, Connecticut). Mr. Barbour (1878-1934), was the first Public Records Examiner at the Connecticut State Library 1911), where he created 28 cubic feet of records. Currently stored offsite, available by special permission, many are republished at Ancestry.com. pp.447

• Hartford County, Connecticut, The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) excerpts from Volume 6, Hartford County Court Records, TAG Vol 23 (1946), page 114

• The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Have We Found the Parents of Thomas, Samuel and Martha Hale of Connecticut?, by S. Allen Peck, B.A., M.S., TAG vol 38, page 237-239 [Martha Hale, bapt. Watton-at-Stone, County Hertford, England, 16 Dec 1618]

• Martha Hale, bapt. Watton-at-Stone, County Hertford, England, 16 Dec 1618, d. Hartford, Conn., after 7 Mar. 1699/1700. She was dau. of John and Martha (Unknown) Hale, and sister of the emigrant, Samuel Hale. (The American Genealogist, 38:237-39)

• Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford, database online, accessed 16 June 2018, Describes plaques and monuments commemorating the history and events surrounding the founding Hartford, Connecticut.

• "Genealogy of Conn.", 1911, Vol. II

• Martin Pool Book

• Find A Grave Memorial# 20944037

• A catalogue of the names of the first Puritan settlers of the colony of Connecticut Record

• Descendants of Deacon Paul - Peck Genealogy, by Ira Peck (1868). Ira Peck indicates that his place of birth is "Essex, England", but no direct proof is given. Taylor (5/26/1997) indicates that Deacon Paul's birth place is Eltisley, England in Cambridgeshire, approximately 50 miles north of London.

• American Ancestry, Giving the Name and Descent, in the Male Line, of Americans Whose Ancestors Settled in the United States Previous to the Declaration of Independence, A.D. 1776, by Thomas P. Hughes. Albany, New York: Joel Munsell's Sons, 1887-1890 [not found: Paul Peck of Hartford]

• Brown, Herrick Crosby, Herrick Genealogy by Herrick Crosby Brown, at Ancestry.com. Original: (Oakland, Calif.: Pacific Rotaprinting Co., 1950), pages 76, 80. Repeats text from collection of Lucius Barnes Barbour (1878-1934) stored in the Connecticut Archives