USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Genealogical and personal history of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Volume II > Part 2
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Dr. Joseph Peaslee married for his second wife a widow, Mary (Tucker) Davis, daughter of Morris and Elizabeth (Gill) Tucker, the latter named having been a daughter of John Gill, and widow of Stephen Davis, son of Ephraim Davis, who in turn was a son of James Davis.
Dr. Joseph Peaslee died at Haverhill, Massachusetts, March 21, I734. His widow was living in 1741. From records of deeds, he evi-
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dently distributed his real estate by deeds to his heirs, with this saving clause, "Saving always and hereby reserving unto myself the free use and improvement of ye premises during my natural life." The in- dividual resting place of Dr. Joseph Peaslee is not known with certainty. It was against the principles of the Friends to place large stones at the graves of the departed, and, at the time of his death, when some had offended in this way, the monthly meeting at Amesbury appointed a committee of three men who were to visit the offenders and "discors" with them and report at the next meeting "yt so In Deavors may be used to hinder sutch things." For this reason the antiquarian must remain in ignorance of the individual resting places of the early Peaslees.
(III.) John Peaslee, the fourth child and third son of Dr. Joseph and Ruth (Barnard) Peaslee, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, February 25, 1679, and entered his intention of marriage with Mary Martin of Amesbury, March 22, 1704. They were married March I, 1705, at the house of Thomas Barnard, "where a meeting was held for the occasion," and forty-seven persons witnessed the ceremony.
About 1713 he removed from Haverhill to that part of Amesbury now known as Newton, New Hampshire. Newton was settled about 1700, and prior to that time it was called Amesbury "Newtown." He settled in the southern part of the town. It is said that Dr. Joseph Peaslee built for his son John a house a few miles beyond the mill at the head of East Meadow River, on the "Kings Highway," near its junction with the Plaistow Road. The first Friends' meeting in New- ton was held at John Peaslee's home. Later a meeting house was built, and a burying ground, near by, was located, which is on the southerly side of an old road, about one mile south of Newton Junction. John Peaslee and his numerous family were all members of the Society of Friends. He was a prominent man in town and church affairs. His
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descendants to this day have upheld the integrity of the name, and are prominent and honored citizens of New Hampshire and many other states.
John Peaslee married (first) March 1, 1705, Mary Martin, daugh- ter of John and Mary (Weed) Martin, the former named being a son of George and Susanna (North) Martin of Amesbury, Massachusetts; the latter named a daughter of John and Deborah (Winsby) Weed. Mary Martin Peaslee, wife of said John Peaslee, was therefore a grand- daughter of the said George and Susanna (North) Martin. After the death of her husband, George Martin, his widow, Susanna (North) Martin, was arrested for witch-craft, April 30, 1692, examined May 20. tried at Salem, June 29, and executed July 19, 1692. The story of the grief and sufferings of her daughter is told in the beautiful and touch- ing ballad, "The Witch's Daughter," by John Greenleaf Whittier. A full account of the trial is given in Merrill's "History of Amesbury." The children of John and Mary (Martin) Peaslee number eleven, as follows :
I. Joseph, born March 7, 1706; married Martha Hoag ; parents of twelve children.
2. John, born December 9, 1707; wife, Lydia; parents of ten children.
3. Sarah, born February 20, 1708 or 1709; became wife of Peter Morrill.
4. 1745.
Mary, born in 1710, and married Eliphalet Hoyt, August I,
5. Jacob, born May II, 1710, and married Huldah Brown. One child.
6. Nathan, born September 20, 1711; married Lydia Gove; par- ents of nine children.
t
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7. Ruth, born in 1712; married Nathan Chase.
8. David, born April 2, 1713; married Rachel Straw, February
9, 1742. Eleven children.
9. Moses, born in 1714; married Mary Gove, December 15, 1742. Ten children.
IO. James, born in 1715; married Abigail Johnson, January 13, 1742. Seven children.
II. Ebenezer, born in 1716 or 1717; married Lydia Weed, June 23, 1744, and mentioned in a following paragraph.
This large family of eleven children all lived, married and had children. Various records give the names and dates of birth of ninety- eight grand-children, and probably they were not all recorded. The sons of John Peaslee had two hundred and eighty-four grand-children, and the daughters had twenty-nine children, grand-children not known.
John Peaslee married (second) August 18, 1745, Mary Newbegin, a widow, of Hampton, New Hampshire. She was a minister of the Society of Friends. John Peaslee died in Newton, New Hampshire in 1752.
(IV.) EBENEZER PEASLEE, THE FOUNDER OF THE FAMILY IN NEW YORK STATE, one of the youngest children of John and Mary (Martin) Peaslee, was born in 1716 or 1717. The records do not dis- close the exact date of his birth. He settled first in Newton, New Hampshire, and then moved westward into the state of New York, settling near Quaker Hill (now Mizzentop), Dutchess county, New York, about four miles from the New Jersey and Harlem railroad, east of Pawling Station. Here was a large settlement and meeting-house of the Quakers. The meeting-house is still standing, and bard by is a large Quaker burying ground where rest Ebenezer Peaslee and his good wife Lydia.
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His removal certificate from Hampton (New Hampshire) Month- ly Meeting of Friends to Oblong Monthly Meeting of Friends at Quaker Hill (now Mizzentop), Dutchess county, New York, was dated January 16, 1749. He was a member of the Society of Friends or Quakers, and was a farmer by occupation. He married, June 23, 1744, Lydia Weed, born about 1716, a daughter of George and Margaret Weed, of Amesbury, Massachusetts, who were the parents of ten children. George Weed was a son of Lieutenant John Weed, who married Deborah Wins- ley, daughter of Samuel Winsley, November 14, 1650. Lieutenant John Weed was one of the wealthiest citizens of Amesbury; he died March 15, 1688.
The history of Ebenezer Peaslee and his wife Lydia is easily traced through the records of various monthly meetings of the Society of Friends at sundry locations in New York state. The records, docu- ments and papers belonging or relating to the meetings and their allied organizations, throughout the two New York yearly meetings (one held at Fifteenth street, New York, and sometimes called "Hicksite," and the other held at Twentieth street, New York, and elsewhere, and sometimes called "Orthodox"), were brought together in 1904 and placed in the care of the "Joint Committee on Records of the Religious Society of Friends," at the Fifteenth street meeting-house, entrance 226 East Six- teenth street, New York. Of this important committee, John Cox, Jr., of No. 156 Fifth avenue, New York, is chairman. Here the vol- umes are assembled and numbered and catalogued to facilitate examina- tion and a descriptive "Catalogue of the Records of, or relating to New York Yearly Meetings and their subordinate branches," by John Cox, Jr., begun in 1897, is nearing completion. It includes all known records from 1663. The old records disclose that "Purchase Monthly Meet- ing" was the first one established "on the mainland," in 1725, and all
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Friends in the province north of New York city were in its jurisdiction until 1744, when Oblong Monthly Meeting was established, which latter then had jurisdiction of the Friends in Dutchess county and to the northward. "Nine Partners Monthly Meeting" was established in 1769, being set off from Oblong, and other small meetings to the north were set off as monthly meetings at various later dates as they grew larger. Where the record of a marriage certificate is missing, or where the party "married out" and was "dealt with" therefor. the minutes of the monthly meeting give the next most valuable data. All such busi- ness came before the men's meeting, but the women's meeting dealt with only female offenders, and certificates of clearness for women which had to be ratified by the men's meeting.
In the first register of Oblong Monthly Meeting, page 175, are found the "Births & deaths of the children of Ebenezer and Lydia Peaslee.
Sarah, born ye 10 of ye 4 Mo. 1745.
Anne, born ye 9 of ye 2 Mo. 1747.
Deceased ye 9 Mo. 1748.
Ebenezer, born ye 9 of ye 6 Mo. 1749. Deceased I Mo. 1750, O. S.
Isaac, born ye 18 of ye 2 Mo. 1751, N. S.
John, born ye 25 of ye 12 Mo. 1753.
Mary, born ye 6 of ye 6 Mo. 1756.
Jephthah, born ye 3 of 1 Mo. 1760."
There was another child born to Ebenezer and Lydia (Weed) Peaslee, to-wit: Rivizilla, born in March, 1762, as shown by the family Bible (printed in 1734) belonging to Jephthah Peaslee, and now in possession of Reuben F. Peaslee, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
In Oblong Monthly Meeting, vol 2, page 2, 2nd mo. 14, 1781,
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Jephthah Peaslee, son of Ebenezer and Lydia Peaslee, having "married out" while "under dealings" for deviations from plainness, going to "frollicks," etc., was disowned.
In a "List of Heads of Families," of Oblong Monthly Meetings, 3rd mo., 1761, Ebenezer Peaslee and wife are given as members of "Oblong Preparative Meeting."
In the removal certificates of "Nine Partners Monthly Meeting," is a removal certificate for Ebenezer Peaslee from Oblong Monthly Meeting, dated 6th mo. 14, 1790, he having already removed to Nine Partners. No wife is mentioned, and of course no children, as they, being of age, would require individual certificates.
Ebenezer Peaslee was a man of high ideals and strict principles. He firmly adhered to the teachings of the Society of Friends, was in- tensely religious, successful as a farmer and business man, and reared a large family, who in their day and generation took a prominent and leading part in the stirring events of their times. His three sons, Isaac, John and Jephthah, were soldiers of the Revolution, being members of William Pearce's company of Colonel John Fields Third Regiment of the Dutchess county militia, regular volunteers, and were each given land bounty rights.
The old court records in Dutchess county, New York, disclose the fact that Ebenezer Peaslee was a land owner of prominence, as was also his son Isaac, mentioned in a following paragraph. Ebenezer Peaslee, yeoman, and Lydia, his wife, granted to James Peckham, Black- smith, of Pawlings Precinct, by deed dated March 10, 1785, a large tract of land, consisting of about 108 acres in the old patent in the eastern part of Dutchess county, New York, called "Oblong," which deed is recorded in Liber 9 of Deeds, page 466.
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Such was the beginning and founding of the Peaslee family in the state of New York.
(V.) REV. ISAAC PEASLEE, A SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION, fourth child of Ebenezer and Lydia (Weed) Peaslee, was born- Febru- ary 18, 1751, at Quaker Hill (now Mizzentop), Dutchess county. New York, and lived for the largest part of his life in the towns of Berne and Rensselaersville, Albany county, New York. He lies buried about four miles west of the Village of Rensselaersville, in an ancient but well kept cemetery, a plain slate slab marking his resting place. His farm is not far distant from the cemetery. His grandchild, Mrs. Harriet Peas- lee Bump, of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, daughter of Ira Peaslee. son of said Isaac Peaslee, is authority for the statement that he once owned a fine farm in "Patchin Hollow," Blenheim; Schoharie county, New York, but no record of this has been found. He died in 1814.
Rev. Isaac Peaslee was married three times. His first wife was Mrs. Elizabeth Prenderghast Wing, widow of Ichabod Wing, to whom she bore one son, Ichabod Wing, Jr. She was a daughter of Prince Prenderghast and Deborah Chase, of Cattaraugus county, New York. To Isaac and Elizabeth (Penderghast Wing) Peaslee were born five children, to-wit :
I. John Peaslee, born October 7, 1779, and died in November, 1863.
2. Ira Peaslee, born March 20, 1781, and died May 18, 1873, an exhorter and local preacher in the Methodist church.
3. Thomas Peaslee, born October 16, 1782, and died December 13, 1857, and mentioned in a following paragraph.
4. Ruth Peaslee, married John Ferguson, and thereby became the
grandmother of Judge Stephen Mayham, of Schoharie county, New
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York. The village and postoffice called "Ruth," in Schoharie county, New York, is named in her honor.
5. Lydia Peaslee, married Isaac Lamb in 1777.
Isaac Peaslee's second wife was Mrs. Hannah Randall Sage, widow of Benjamin Sage, a Revolutionary soldier. Benjamin Sage, with eighteen other members of the Sage family, enlisted in the Revolution- ary army, and Benjamin Sage served under Arnold at Quebec and Sara- toga in Colonel Stephen Van Rensselaer's regiment. At the close of the war he came to Rensselaersville, New York, and soon died from the effects of exposure and hardships in the Continental army. He left a widow and six small helpless children. Isaac Peaslee married the widow, Hannah Randall Sage, and became a father to her six little children. No children were born of this marriage, but the two sons of Isaac Peaslee by his first wife Elizabeth ( Prenderghast Wing) Peas- lee, to-wit, John and Ira Peaslee, married the widow Sage's two daugh- ters, Hannah and Lois respectively ; hence the Peaslee and Sage rela- tionship. All the Sages are descended from one. David Sage, a native of Wales. Of this stock are Henry and Russell Sage.
Isaac Peaslee married in 1800 or 1801 for his third wife, Mary Trowbridge Tubbs, a widow with eight small children, her former husband, Tubbs, having been also a Revolutionary soldier. To Isaac Peaslee and Mary Trowbridge Tubbs were born the following children :
I. Ephraim Peaslee, born October 1I, 1802, died March 31, 1880.
2. Orson Peaslee, born February 22, 1805 ; died July 25, 1886.
3. One child who died in infancy. Name and dates of birth and ‹leath unknown.
Orson and Ephraim Peaslee married sisters, Phoebe and Melissa Baker, daughters of Benjamin Baker and Bathial Crosby, his wife.
Mary (Trowbridge Tubbs) Peaslee, wife of said Isaac Peaslee,
.
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died in 1841, and is buried beside her husband at Rensselaersville, New York.
Isaac Peaslee was a unique and versatile character. Though he was a large land owner and interested in agriculture, yet his life was largely spent preaching and teaching. He was remarkable for his hospi- tality and the great affection with which he treated his family, uniformly addressing his wives and children by some pet and endearing name. In his public life Rev. Isaac Peaslee was a distinguished character in the stormy times in which he lived. In early life he left the faith of his forefathers, that of the Quakers, and cast his lot with the fervent and rapidly increasing forces of the Methodists. He became a Methodist minister of the early and heroic type. He is said to have been a preach- er of remarkable power, a man of great intellecutal vigor, a broad scholar, and a firm believer in education.
His niece, Grechel Peaslee, born in 1781, daughter of his brother Jephthal Peaslee and Lois (Adams) Peaslee, became the wife of John Jay, the American patriot and statesman and first chief-justice of the United States supreme court.
To Isaac Peaslee belongs the distinction of having been a soldier of the Revolution. In the work entitled, "New York in the Revolution, as Colony and State," compiled by James A. Roberts, Comptroller, 2nd edition, published in Albany 1898, page 242, are inscribed the names of Isaac Peaslee, Jephthah Peaslee and John Peaslee, three brothers, en- listed as privates in the Third Regiment of the Dutchess county, New York Militia Regular Volunteers. They were all members of William Pearce's company of Colonel John Field's regiment. To all three of the above mentioned brothers land bounty rights were granted. Mere striplings, they faced the hardships of the Continental army without com- plaint, for the zest of adventure and the love of national independence.
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In consequence of their enlistment, the names of their descendants were not continued on the records of the Society of Friends.
In "Manuscripts of the Colony and State of New York in the Revolutionary War," on file in the office of the comptroller of the state of New York, vol. 21, folio 98, is the record of a sale of land by Isaac Peaslee and others, as follows :
"We, the Subscribers, members of a Class in Capt. William Pearces Company and Colonel John Fields Regiment. Who provided a man to witt Liman Noble to Sarve in the Levies of this State untill the first Day of Jany. Next Who has been Delivered and a Certificate taken for such Delivery according to Law, Whareby said Class is Entitled to two hundred acres of unapropriated Lands we do therefore in consideration of the sum of one pound To us in hand paid by Nathaniel Platt the Receipt Whereof we Do acknowledge thereby grant and assign over unto the said Nathaniel Platt his heirs and assigns the whole Tract of two hundred acres of Land Which the said Class is Entitled to in per- suance of a law of this State Entitled an act for the Raising troops to Complet the Lines of this State in the Service of the United States in two Regements to be Raised on bounties of unapropriated Lands for the further Defence of the frontiers of this State passed the Twenty third Day of March in year of our Lord One thousand Seven Hundred and Eightytwo to have and to hold the said Two hundred Acres of land unto the said Nathaniel Platt his heirs and assigns to his and thare proper use benefit and behoff for Ever as Witness our hand and seals Signed Sealed and Delivered in the Presents of
Stephen Akins Paulings Precinct March the 25, 1783 Dutchess County State of New York."
The above unique document bears the signatures of Prince Briggs, John Peaslee, Jephthah Peaslee, John Toffey, Isaac Peaslee, Anthony Briggs, John Briggs, and Josiah Sherman.
The old records in Dutchess county contain the record of a deed
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from Isaac Peaslee and Elizabeth, his wife, to Amos Irish, dated March 6, 1786, and recorded in liber 10 of deeds, page 32, for a tract of land of sixty acres in the old patent called "Oblong."
The descendants of Isaac Peaslee and of Ebenezer Peaslee, his father, moved westward to the "wilds" of Central New York, where they bore well their part in the energetic and stirring events of those pioneer days.
(VI.) REV. THOMAS PEASLEE, THE ANTI-RENTER, son of Rev. Isaac Peaslee, was born on his father's farm near Pawlings pre- cinct, Dutchess county, New York, on October 16, 1782. He was a man of powerful physique, a pioneer in spirit and life, a preacher and exhorter of great fervor and zeal in the Methodist Episcopal church, and a man unusually interested in church and education. He is credited with being a natural orator, and a public speaker of great force and persuasion. In 1804 he married Eunice Babcock, born in Dutchess county, New York, April 2, 1782, a daughter of Joseph Babcock and Phoebe Burdick, of Little Hoosick, New York.
Soon after his marriage, Thomas Peaslee migrated westward from Dutchess county into the wilds of central New York, and about the year 1806 settled at Blenheim Hill, in Schoharie county. The country round about was a howling wilderness, infested with wolves and other wild animals. In these surroundings, Thomas Peaslee lived and wrought and reared a large family. He cleared the forest and tilled the soil; assisted in erecting a church, and became the preacher. Through their generous hospitality and uniform kindness he and his good wife became known far and wide as " Uncle Thomas and Aunt Eunice." His home was the holding place for the circuit rider and the early itinerant Methodist preacher. He was the moderator in church trials, the friend and counsellor of the community, and in the exciting struggle of the
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Anti-Renters he distinguished himself as a wise and fearless leader. John Bangs, a famous Methodist circuit rider, relates in his "Memoirs" that Thomas Peaslee, in the days of his poverty, paid fifty dollars of the two hundred and fifty dollars subscribed, to complete the church edifice at Blenheim Hill. The imprecations of Elder Bangs, calling for the lightning to strike and the fire to consume the incompleted structure. unless the people who had grown indifferent subscribed sufficient to finish the building, may have given the name to the church, which even to this day is called the "Brimstone Meeting House," and therein Thomas Peaslee often preached. His wife Eunice attended church in a tow dress, and Thomas himself was clothed in homespun. The story goes that in his early preaching days, Thomas would pound the bench and denounce all wearers of broadcloth as fit victims for future punish- ment, but the day came, however, when he waxed rich, as riches went on Blenheim Hill, and wore broadcloth to church himself, and his de- nunciations became less forceful.
The early history of Thomas and Eunice Peaslee is the record of pioneer life, filled with thrilling adventures and hardships. Tradition recites that Eunice Peaslee, returning homeward at night-fall through the forest with her child upon her back, eluded at first by nimble foot the wolves that closed about her, and was rescued just in the nick of time by her husband, when the pack was upon her a second time.
Between the years 1839 and 1847 a great commotion, known in history as the " Anti-rent War," arose in that part of New York state comprised in the counties of Albany, Columbia, Schoharie, Delaware, Green and Rensselaer. This memorable struggle lasted for years. The territory was placed under martial law. Riots and battles were frequent. The tenants, who were the real owners of the soil, when engaged in actual conflict, disguised themselves as "Indians." The
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controversy was carried into politics and was finally settled by legisla- tion, by the New York constitution of 1846 and the decisions of the courts of last resort.
Thomas Peaslee was an Anti-renter and the leader of the move- ment in Schoharie county. He was known among the Anti-renters of his section as "Big Thunder," and at his house the Anti-renters often met disguised as "Indians" and held their "powwows." Joseph Bab- cock Peaslee, son of Thomas Peaslee, together with his wife, Magda- lena Seeber Peaslee, mentioned in a following paragraph, were both present at Thomas Peaslee's house when the "Indians" came at night for an Anti-rent meeting, and they relate that the crowd was dense and the disguise as Indians so perfect that they did not recognize their own father Thomas, although he presided at the meeting.
Nathan Smith Peaslee, a son of Thomas Peaslee, was shot in the thigh in an Anti-rent battle as he was legging it for the woods with a basket of provisions for the laborers who were "drawing in" rye for another son, Thomas Sheldon Peaslee; but tradition says that a heavy woolen garment became wadded just at the place of contact, and pre- vented a serious wound. From Blenheim Hill, the home of Thomas Peaslee, the "runners" departed on their errands of awakening and "alarm, and the watch fires of the "Indians" blazed fiercely, signalling to those farther away, the approach of any hostile forces. A man named Curtis, intermarried with the Peaslees, was arrested as an Anti-renter and incarcerated in the jail at Delhi, New York. He climbed to the jail walls and sang his Anti-rent songs, and was finally discharged from custody. The war spirit ran high in Schoharie and the stock question of Thomas Peaslee put to all comers was, "Are you an Anti-renter"? In the heat of the conflict, crowds of men, under the leadership of Thomas Peaslee, went from farm to farm and harvested the crops and
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delivered them safely into the possession of the real owner. Thomas Peaslee and John Mayham were among the best speakers in behalf of the Anti-renters. It is related that John Mayham invariably advo- cated fighting, but Thomas Peaslee counselled moderation-not to yield, but to resort to legislation. Thomas Peaslee was one of the originators of the "Combination of Eighty" "to buy the soil." Their offer was rejected by J. A. King, the landlord and owner of the "leases." His action precipitated an open revolt. Great mass meetings were held in the "Old Brimstone Meeting-House," which John Bangs called "desecrating the House of God." It is related that at these meetings Thomas Peaslee would get in dead earnest and pound the desk with his fist and the floor with his cane, and exhort the crowd to be firm and commit no crime, but at the same time he kept them hot on the injustice of the system. The lands of Thomas Peaslee and his neighbors were all covered by the Blenheim patent, given by the Crown to John Weath- erhead and others, November 28, 1769, and comprised about forty thousand acres of land. Proper legislation and grants subsequently annulled the "leases," and put the title in fee simple in the owners. And thus the conflict ended in the victory of the Anti-renters.
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