The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV, Part 98

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 978

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attainments, being, in the words of his eulogist, "th embodiment of what the occupant of the chair of his tory in our leading colleges should be." Possessing a enlarged and comprehensive conception of the phi osophy of history and of the relation of divine t human affairs, and being withal "apt to teach," h magnified his office until his department became with out question the best and most effective of any char of history in all the institutions in the land.

Professor Diman's work was not confined to th class room. For many years he was a contributor t the Providence "Journal," the New York "Nation, the "North American Review," the monthly "Religiou Magazine" and other periodicals. He was elected corresponding member of the Massachusetts Histor cal Society in 1873. Among his published sermon. addresses, etc., may be mentioned a sermon delivere October 16, 1867, in the chapel of Brown University at the request of the faculty, in commemoration of Rey Robinson Potter Dunn, D. D., for many years Pro fessor of Rhetoric in the University; "The Method ( Academic Culture," an address delivered before th Phi Beta Kappa Society of Amherst College, July 1869, and afterward published in "The New Eng lander;" "Historical Basis of Belief," one of the Bo: ton lectures delivered in 1870; "The Alienation of th Educated Class from Politics," an oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, Mass., deliv ered June 29, 1876, and afterward published by Sidne S. Rider; an address delivered at Portsmouth, R. I July 10, 1877, at the Centennial Celebration of the caf ture of General Prescott by Lieutenant-Colonel Bartol which was afterward published, with notes, formin No. I of Rider's Rhode Island Historical Tracts an address delivered October 16, 1877, at the reque! of the municipal authorities of Providence, upon th occasion of the dedication of the monument in con niemoration of the life and services of the venerate founder of the State, in Roger Williams Park; a address at the dedication of the Rogers Free Librar. at Bristol, delivered January 12, 1878. He delivere, before a great gathering the historical address at th two hundredth anniversary of his native town, in 188 which address has since been published with the pro ceedings. He was frequently called upon to supply pu pits in both his own and the Unitarian denomination For some years before his death he was an attendal at St. Stephen's Protestant Episcopal Church, Prov dence, though he never left the Congregational denon ination. In 1879 he delivered a course of lecture before Johns Hopkins University upon the subject ( the "Thirty Years War," and the following year course before the Lowell Institute of Boston on "TH Theistic Argument as Affected by Recent Theories The latter lectures were edited after his death by Pro fessor George P. Fisher, of Yale, and were publishe in 1881. In 1882 appeared his "Orations and Essay with Selected Parish Sermons," with the commemor: tion address by Professor James O. Murray, of Prince ton, and in 1887 his "Memoirs, Compiled from his Le ters, Journals and the Recollections of his Friends by Caroline Hazard, now president of Wellesley Co lege, including a complete list of his publications.

Professor Diman died after less than a week's il

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BIOGRAPHICAL

ess, February 3, 1881. A memorial service in honor him, under the auspices of the University, was held the First Baptist Meeting House on May 17, 1881, hen an impressive commemorative discourse was de- vered by his intimate friend and associate in college, ev. James O. Murray, D. D., Professor in the Col- ge of New Jersey at Princton. Mrs. Jeremiah Lewis iman died March 21, 1901.

Professor Jeremiah Lewis and Emily Gardner Stimson) Diman were the parents of the following tildren: 1. Maria Stimson, born Feb. 12, 1862, died iddenly April 29, 1881. 2. Rev. John Byron, born .ay 24, 1863; a well known educator, founder and ead master of St. George's School in Newport until s resignation in 1917. 3. Louise, born Dec. 23, $69; Miss Diman makes her home in Providence. 4. mily, born April 8, 1873.

JOHN DAVIS PECK-The surname Peck is local dirivation and signifies literally "at the peck," i. e.,

the hilltop. The form of the word in medieval nglish is pek, "the hul of the pek" meaning in the erbyshire dialect "the hill of the peak." Another triant of the name which preserves completely the iginal form is Peak. The first mention of the name 1 authentic records occurs as early as the thirteenth ntury, when we find the name of John del Pek, Lon- on, in the Hundred Rolls, 1273. The Pecks boast ancient and honorable lineage, and from the pedi- ee of the English family, to be found in the British useum in London, it has been established definitely at Joseph Peck, the immigrant ancestor of the Amer- an family herein under consideration, was of the "enty-first generation in direct descent from John eck, Esquire, of Belton, Yorkshire, was baptized in ngland on April 30, 1587, and emigrated to America at e age of fifty years.

The following certificate of the Heralds accompanies le pedigree and arms of the Peck family in the Brit- Museum in London:

Nov. 1620.

Visum agnitum et in munimenta Collegii Heraldoru latum die et anno suprascriptis. Testamur hoc. HENRY ST. GEORGE, Richmond, HENRY CHITTING, Chester, JOHN PHILPOTT, Rouge Dragon.

This letter testifies in Latin, in which all official cuments of the time were written, that the under- ned men have seen, examined and acknowledged to true the given pedigree and arms.

The American branches of this ancient English fam- form one of the largest, most influential and note- orthy of New England families of early Colonial te. Descendants of the original Peck immigrants ve figured notably in the history of practically every ew England city of importance since the middle of e seventeenth century. The late John Davis Peck, inder and head of the John D. Peck Hay & Grain ompany, and one of the best known and ablest busi- Iss men of Providence, R. I., for many decades prior t his death in 1919 was a member of the old Reho- th branch of the Massachusetts Pecks, and a de- endant in the eighth generation of Joseph Peck, the lunder.

(I) John Peck, of Belton, Yorkshire, England, mar- ried a daughter of - Melgrave.

(II) Thomas Peck, married a daughter of Middleton, of Middleton.

(III) Robert Peck, of Belton, married Tunstall.

(IV) Robert (2) Peck, of Belton, married Musgrave.

(V) John (2) Peck, of Belton, married Wat- ford.

(VI) Thomas (2) Peck, of Belton, married

Blazton, of Blazton. Children: Thomas, mentioned below; Joseph, settled in Northamptonshire.

(VII) Thomas (3) Peck, of Belton, married

Littleton.

(VIII) John (3) Peck, of Belton, married Carre.

(IX) John (4) Peck, of Belton, married Flemming.

(X) John (5) Peck, married Wembourne. Their children were: John, whose daughter, his sole heir, married John Ratcliffe, thus taking the estate of Belton out of the direct line; Richard, mentioned below.

(XI) Richard Peck, married Brunning. (XII) Richard (2) Peck, of Hesden, married Savill.

(XIII) Thomas (4) Peck, of Hesden, married Bradley.

(XIV) Richard (3) Peck, of Hesden and Wake- field, Yorkshire, married a Hesselden. Children: John, mentioned below; Richard, died young; Thomas.

(XV) John (6) Peck, married Isabel Lacie, of Brombleton, and was a lawyer. Children: Richard, mentioned below; Thomas, Catherine, Robert, John, Margaret.

(XVI) Richard (4) Peck was of Wakefield. He married Joan, daughter of John Harrington, of Wake- field. Children: Richard, mentioned below; Mar- garet, Isabel, Joan, Judith, Elizabeth.

(XVII) Richard (5) Peck, married Alice, daughter of Sir Peter Middleton. Children: John, mentioned below; Margaret, Ann, Elizabeth, Isabel.

(XVIII) John (7) Peck, of Wakefield, married Joan, daughter of John Aune, of Trickley. Children: Richard, married Anne Holtham; John, Thomas, Ralph, Nicholas, Francis, Robert, mentioned below.

(XIX) Robert (3) Peck was of Beccles, County Suffolk, England. He married (first) - Norton; (second) Waters. Children: John, Robert, mentioned below; Thomas, Joan, Olivia, Margaret, Anne.

(XX) Robert (4) Peck was born and resided all his life in Beccles, County Suffolk, England, where he died in 1593, at the age of forty-seven years. He married Helen, daughter of Nicholas Babbs, of Guilford, Eng- land. Their children were: I. Richard, died in 1615, aged forty-one, without issue. 2. Nicholas, born in 1576, married Rachel Yonge, 1610. 3. Robert, born in 1580; took degrees at Magdalen College, Cambridge, A. B., 1599, A. M., 1603; inducted over the parish of Hingham, England, January 8, 1605. 4. Joseph, men-

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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND

tioned below. 5. Margaret. 6. Martha. 7. Samuel,

died in 1619.

(I) Joseph Peck, the American ancestor, was bap- tized in Beccles, County Suffolk, England. In 1638 he and other Puritans, with his brother, Rev. Robert Peck, their pastor, fled from the persecutions of their church to America. They came in the ship "Diligent," of Ipswich, John Martin, master. The records of

Hingham, Mass., state: "Mr. Joseph Peck and his wife, with three sons and a daughter and two men servants and three maid servants, came from Old Hingham and settled at New Hingham." He was granted a house lot of seven acres adjoining that of his brother, and he remained at Hingham seven years, and then removed to Seekonk. At Hingham he was deputy to the General Court in 1639. He took an active part in town affairs: was selectman, justice of the peace, assessor, etc. In 1641 he became one of the principal purchasers of the Indians of that tract of land called Seekonk, afterwards the town of Rehoboth, including the present towns of Rehoboth, Mass., and Seekonk and Pawtucket, R. I. He removed, 1645, to his new home. An incident of the trip is found in the town records of Rehoboth. "Mr. Joseph Peck and three others at Hingham, being about to remove to Seaconk, riding thither they sheltered themselves and their horses in an Indian wigwam, which by some occa- sion took fire, and, although there were four in it and labored to their utmost, burnt three of their horses to death, and all their goods, to the value of fifty pounds." He was appointed to assist in matters of controversy at court, and in 1650 was authorized to perform mar- riages. He was second on the tax list. In some in- stances land granted to him is still owned by his descendants. His house was upon the plain in the northerly part of the "Ring of the Town," near the junction of the present Pawtucket with the old Boston and Bristol road, not far from the Boston and Provi- dence railroad station. He died December 23, 1663. His sons united in the amplification of the written will which was made on his death bed, and the court ac- cepted it as a part of the will. He married (first) Rebecca Clark, of Hingham, England, May 21, 1617. She died and was buried there, October 24, 1637. The name of his second wife is unknown.

(II) Nicholas Peck, third son of Joseph and Re- becca ( Clark) Peck, was baptized April 9, 1630, in Eng- land, and was about eight years of age when he came with his parents to this country. He settled at See- konk, now a part of Rhode Island, in the district known as Seekonk Plain, in 1645. His home was in the south- eastern part of the town, and he was active in public affairs, serving as rater (assessor) and selectman, and elected deputy in 1669. With the exception of the years 1687-88, when the town did not elect any deputies, he continued to serve in that capacity from 1677 to 1690. He was an officer of militia, serving as ensign from 1677 to 1684, was subsequently lieutenant, and later captain, and died May 27, 1710. He married (first) Mary Winchester, eldest daughter of Alexander Win- chester, of Plymouth colony, died November 6, 1657. His second wife, Rebecca, died November 2, 1704.

(III) Jonathan Peck, fourth son of Nicholas Peck, and child of his second wife, Rebecca Peck, was born

November 5, 1666, in Seekonk, and settled at what w: then known as Peck's Hill, two miles from the city ( Bristol, on Warren road. His landed possessions he! were very extensive, including what was afterwar several fine farms, and remained in the name unt 1838. He died about 1717, as his inventory was pri sented to the Probate Court, July 3, of that year. H married, March 31, 1695, Elizabeth Throope.

(IV) Deacon Thomas Peck, son of Jonathan an Elizabeth (Throope) Peck, was born in 1711, nez Bristol, R. I. He settled in Swansea, where he was prosperous farmer and land owner, and a leadin church member until his death on February 9, 177 He married Mary Kinsley, only daughter of Jonatha Kinsley, of Rehoboth, who was a widely known an celebrated midwife, to which profession she devote the greater part of her life. She died in Swansea, an her tombstone bears the following inscription: "Her lies the remains of that religeous and most faithfi midwife Mary wife of Dean Thos Peck died May 2 1804 aged 91 years."

(V) Jonathan (2) Peck, son of Deacon Thomas an Mary (Kinsley) Peck, was born January 17, 173. and made his home in the southern part of Rehoboth where he conducted a public house for many years. O February 22, 1759, he married Ruth Wheeler, an among their children was Sylvanus, mentioned below

(VI) Sylvanus Peck, son of Jonathan (2) and Rut (Wheeler ) Peck, was born April 21, 1784, in Rehobot Mass., and resided there during his entire lifetime, i the vicinity of the Orleans Factory, so called. He ma- ried Charlotte Wright, daughter of Joseph Wright.

(VII) Albert G. Peck, son of Sylvanus and Cha. lotte (Wright) Peck, was born in Rehoboth, Octobr 29, 1805. He was educated in the Rehoboth school and at an early age learned the trade of ship caulk which he followed during the early part of his life is the ship yards of Mason Barney, at Barneyville, and : Nantucket. In later life he was connected with sh building firms in Providence, R. I. He maintained h home in Rehoboth, however, near the Elisha Davis ar Sylvanus Peck farms, but never engaged actively farming. In early life he was deeply interested in mi itary and naval affairs, and was a member of the con panies in Rehoboth, whose training ground was si uated on the west side of the road from the Sylvan Peck farm. He held a commission as ensign from tl governor of Massachusetts.

Albert G. Peck married, on October 12, 1857, Patien Davis, daughter of John and Nancy (Davis) Davi who was born in Rehoboth, June 30, 1827. She was sister of the Hon. John W. Davis, twice governor ( the State of Rhode Island, and founder of the bus ness to which his nephew, the late John Davis Pec succeeded, and incorporated under the name of th John D. Peck Hay & Grain Company. Albert G. ar Patience (Davis) Peck were the parents of two chi dren: 1. John Davis, mentioned below. 2. Mary Cha lotte, who was born Sept. 25, 1866, and died i Providence, March 13, 1893. The mother of the! children died in Rehoboth, March 8, 1879. Albert ( Peck died November 26, 1886.

(VIII) John Davis Peck, son of Albert G. an Patience (Davis) Peck, was born in Rehoboth, Mas!

PROBITATEM QUAM DIVITIAS

PECK

VIRTUTE

FORTUNA

DUCE

COMIT

avi

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BIOGRAPHICAL

October 13, 1862. He was educated in the schools of Rehoboth. At the age of sixteen years he came to Providence to enter business life, and here became a nember of the family of his uncle, ex-Governor John V. Davis. During the two years following he was em- Joyed as a clerk in the hay and grain business of his incle at the corner of South Water and Crawford treets. He then entered the Bryant & Stratton Busi- less College, where he studied for a year. On grad- lating from there he spent another two year period vith his uncle, and at the age of about twenty years vent to Madison, Ill., with his cousin, E. T. Davis, or the purpose of buying eggs for his uncle, Daniel N. Davis, of Providence. A year later his return was nade necessary by the ill health of his father and the leath of his mother, and once again he resumed his onnection with ex-Governor Davis, for a time work- ng with his uncle, Daniel N. Davis. In 1888, John W. Davis retired from active business life, turning the nanagement of his hay and grain establishment over o his nephew. Mr. Peck succeeded to the business ind shortly afterward admitted to partnership Mr. William A. Black, the firm name becoming Peck & Black. Under the sagacious management of these two ble business men, the new firm flourished from the outset, increased its business largely, and in July, 1903, eased the Reliance Elevator in Warren, R. I. This enture proved a great success, and increasing the cope of the firm's activities, made Peck & Black one of the largest and most flourishing enterprises of its :ind in Providence; Mr. Black died in 1911. In 1918, he business was incorporated under the name of the ohn D. Peck Hay & Grain Company, with Mr. Peck s president, and he continued as its executive head and ontrolling spirit until his death. He was widely known nd eminently respected in business circles in the city f Providence.

Mr. Peck was an enthusiastic yachtsman, and was vell known in the yachting circles of Narragansett Bay nd in fact of New England. In the nineties he raced he catboat, "Marguerite," and later the "Bother." and ther yachts with great success, and was the winner f numerous trophies in the Narragansett Bay races. He was a member of the Rhode Island, Edgewood and Corinthian Yacht clubs. These constituted his club ffiliations, for all of his leisure time was given to his avorite sport. He was prominent in business organ- zation, however, and was a member of the Providence Chamber of Commerce, and the Boston Chamber of Commerce. His summer home was at River View, R. ., and he was president of the River View Improvement Society. For several years he was active in Demo- ratic politics, and on three elections was the candidate of his party for the office of city councilman.

On April 8, 1891, Mr. Peck married (first) Louise Ginand, of Providence. Their children were: I. Mar- ruerite Davis, born March 22, 1892. 2. Marion C., born Oct. 9, 1899, died in July, 1901. 3. Charlotte L., born March 16, 1903. On October 23, 1907, Mr. Peck mar- ied (second) Mary C. McCann, and they were the par- nts of a daughter, Ruth M. Peck. John Davis Peck lied at his home in Providence, January 6, 1919.

JOHN W. DAVIS-Opinion concerning the origin of the surname Davis is varied. While at one time it was thought to be exclusively Welsh, antiquarians are now agreed that the name sprang simultaneously into use in England, Scotland and Ireland in the early part of the surname era. Families of the name have figured prominently in the history of Great Britain for several centuries.

The American Davises spring from several unrelated progenitors, and were found in all the New England colonies from Virginia to Maine before the end of the seventeenth century. Massachusetts and Rhode Island have been the homes of several prominent branches of the family since the earliest period of New England history. The family herein under consideration, which in the eighth American generation produced the late Hon. John W. Davis, twice governor of Rhode Island, and one of the foremost figures in the public and busi- ness life of the State in the last half of the nineteenth century, comprises the descendants of James Davis, of Haverhill, an Englishman of birth and breeding, whom both tradition and history assert to have been a man of parts, eminently fitted for the position of leadership which he occupied in the early affairs of Haverhill.

(I) James Davis, immigrant ancestor and founder, was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, in 1585- 1586. With his wife and children he came to the Massa- chusetts Bay Colony about 1630, settling first at New- berry, where he was admitted a freeman, November 14, 1634. In 1640, James Davis, Sr., with several others from Newberry and four from Ipswich, desiring more land and timber, went up and across the Merrimac river at a point called Pentucket, and there located. Later, with the consent of the General Court, they settled the town of Haverhill. In 1641 he brought his family to his new home and was joined by his brother, Thomas Davis, and subsequently was appointed by the commission to take a deed of the township lands from Passaquo and Saggahew, agents of Passacona- way, chief of the aboriginal owners of the county. Upon the political organization of the town in 1643, both James Davis, Sr., and Thomas Davis were of the five chosen to constitute the first Board of Selectmen, and in the same year they were both assessed upon estates valued at two hundred pounds. They, with James Davis, Jr., who was assessed upon one hundred and fifty pounds, were the three largest individual tax payers in the town. They were extensively engaged in farming and lumbering, and were the principal contrib- utors to the property of the settlement. They are called in contemporary records planters and sawyers. James Davis, Sr., died in Haverhill, January 29, 1679.

(II) James (2) Davis, son of James (1) and Sissilla Davis, was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, in 1608-09, and accompanied his parents to America in 1630. He removed to Newberry, where he was made a freeman, May 13, 1640. He was among the pioneer settlers of Haverhill, and subsequently became one of the leading men of the town. He was a prosperous planter and business man, and an exemplar of the set- tlement which both he and his father had helped to build, and to which he and his wife Elizabeth, being

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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND

emigrants of Puritan predilections, were principal con- tributors and partakers in its accomplishments and dis- appointments. The abundant fruits of their toil, and the loss of sons in the terrible Indian wars, testify to this, and in this connection it is to be remembered that the family has never failed to perpetuate from genera- tion to generation the names and deeds of John and Daniel Davis, who were slain in battle.

James Davis, Jr., married (first) December 1, 1638, Elizabeth Eaton, who was born in England in 1620- 1621, and died in Haverhill, Mass., January 21, 1683. After her death he married a second wife, to whom in his will he made bequests "to my beloved wife Mary." but of whom we have no memoranda. He died in Haverhill, July 18, 1694.

(III) Elisha Davis, son of James (2) and Elizabeth (Eaton) Davis, was born in Haverhill, Mass., August 30, 1670, and died there January 18, 1739. He was honored among his townsmen for gallantry displayed in defense of Haverhill, and was mentioned in chron- icles as the intrepid Davis. Numerous well authentic- ated anecdotes are told, and the local histories of Hav- erhill corroborate them, of his bravery in the border warfare with the French and Indians. Elisha Davis married, intentions published in Rehoboth, June 19, 1694, Grace Shaw, daughter of Thomas Shaw, of Reho- both. Among their children was Daniel, mentioned below.

(IV) Daniel Davis, son of Elisha and Grace (Shaw) Davis, was born in Haverhill, December 2, 1697, and died in Swansea, Mass., November II, 1773. He mar- ried his cousin, Esther Barney, daughter of Joseph Barney, of Rehoboth, and Constance (Davis) Barney, daughter of James Davis, Jr., of Haverhill. They settled first in Haverhill, but subsequently removed to Rehoboth, where they occupied part of the Joseph Barney farm until 1749. In the latter year they bought the place east and south of Myles bridge, and there brought up their children and grandchildren.

(V) Daniel (2) Davis, son of Daniel (1) and Esther (Barney) Davis, was born in Haverhill, September 20, 1736, and died in Rehoboth. June 23, 1817. He was a lifelong resident of Swansea, and in 1773 received from his father a deed to the homestead near the Myles bridge, in Swansea, which a few years later he sold to his cousin, Daniel Barney. Daniel Davis, Jr., married his cousin Patience Barney, daughter of Joseph, Jr., and Joanna (Martin) Barney.

(VI) Daniel (3) Davis, son of Daniel (2) and Patience ( Barney ) Davis, was born in Swansea, May 31, 1763, and died in Rehoboth, November 2, 1803. He married, April 18, 1794. Anna Bullock, daughter of Stephen and Mary ( Horton) Bullock. Like all his ancestors, he took a lively interest in military affairs, and was captain of a militia company in Rehoboth. In 1778, while yet a lad of fifteen years, he assisted his uncle, Captain Joseph Barney, who was aide in the quartermaster's department of General Sullivan's army in the campaign against the British in Rhode Island, in the care and transportation of horses and forage. He was later the captain of a military company in Reho- both, as both his father and grandfather had been before him in Swansea. He and his family resided in

the house with his parents in Rehoboth, as did hi: brothers, Moses and Elisha, and in the fall of 1803 al three died of a contagious fever contracted in unload ing a West Indian vessel at Bristol, R. I. Anna, widow of Daniel Davis, married again in later life, after hen children had grown to maturity, Jonathan Barney, and died at Barrington, June 12, 1850.

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The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV, Part 98

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn Publication date: 1920 Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society Number of Pages: 978

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 978