Joseph Peck

Joseph PECK (1587 – 1663) was Alex’s 11th Great Grandfather, one of 4,096 in this generation of the Shaw line.

Joseph Peck was baptized 30 Apr 1587 in Hingham, Norfolk, England. His parents were Robert PECK and Helen BABBS. He married Rebecca CLARK 21 May 1617 in Hingham, Norfolk, England.  After Rebecca died, he remarried.   In 1638 Joseph Peck, together with his brother Rev. Robert PECK (also our ancestor) and other Puritans, fled from persecution in England and came to New England in the ship “Diligent,” of Ipswich. The entry on Hingham records, showing him to be a man of quality, is “Mr. Joseph Peck and his wife, with three sons and daughters and two men-servants, came from Old Hingham, and settled in New Hingham.”   Joseph died 23 Dec 1663 in Rehoboth, Britsol, Plymouth Colony.

Rebecca Clark was born 2 May 1585 in Guildford, Surrey, England. Her parents were John CLARK and Elizabeth HOBSON. Rebecca died 24 Oct 1637 in Hingham, Suffolk, Mass.

Children of Joseph and Rebecca

	Name	Born	Married	Departed
1.	Anne Peck	bapt. 12 Mar 1618 Hingham, Norfolk, England		27 Jul 1636 England
2.	Rebecca Peck	bapt. 25 MAY 1620 Hingham, England	Peter Hobart (son of Edmund HOBART) 3 Jul 1646 Hingham, Plymouth, Mass	9 Sep 1693 Hingham, Plymouth, Mass
3.	Joseph Peck	bapt. 23 AUG 1623 Hingham, England	Hannah Playford 1648 Seekonk Plain, Bristol, Mass . Sarah Hunt 21 Nov 1677 Rehoboth, Mass	6 Feb 1708 Rehoboth, Mass
4.	John PECK	bapt. Aug 1626 Hingham, England	Elizabeth HUNTING 30 Dec 1658 Rehoboth, Mass.	Dec 1667 Rehoboth, Mass.
5.	Capt. Nicholas Peck	bapt. 9 APR 1630 Hingham, England	Mary Winchester 1656 Rehoboth, Bristol, Mass . Rebecca Bosworth 15 Jul 1670 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Mass	27 MAY 1710 Seekonk, Mass
6.	Simon Peck	1635 Hingham, England	Hannah Farnsworth 1658 . Prudence Clapp 13 Feb 1660 Dorchester, Suffolk, Mass	27 Mar 1688 Mendon, Mass

Children of Joseph and Unknown Wife

	Name	Born	Married	Departed
7.	Samuel Peck	BEF 3 Feb 1639 in Hingham, Massachusetts Bay	Rebecca Paine 21 Nov 1677 Rehoboth, Bristol, Mass	6 Feb 1708 Hingham, Plymouth, Mass
8.	Nathaniel Peck	Bef. 31 Oct 1641 Hingham, Massachusetts Bay	Deliverance Bosworth 1669 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Mass	19 Aug 1718 Rehoboth, Mass
9.	Israel Peck	Bef. 4 Mar 1644 Hingham, Massachusetts Bay	Bethiah Bosworth 15 Jul 1670 Swansea, Bristol, Mass	2 Sep 1723 Providence, RI

Joseph remained at Hingham seven years and was deputy to the general court of Massachusetts for Hingham, 1639-40-41-42; selectman, justice of the peace, assessor, etc. He moved to Seekonk Plain near the junction of the present Pawtucket with the old Boston and Providence railroad in the old town of Rehoboth. He died 23 Nov 1663.

The Peck family was among the earliest purchasers of the land that is now Seekonk.  They came from nearby Hingham initially. Joseph Peck, the brother of Rev. Robert Peck the disaffected Puritan who had fled his Hingham, England, church after the crackdown by Archbishop Laud, had purchased sizeable tracts of lands from the Native Americans.

In 1641, the local Native Americans had granted a large part of modern-day Seekonk to purchasers from Hingham, including Edward Gilman Sr., Joseph PECK, John Leavitt and others.   In 1653 Ossamequin and his son Wamsetto, also known as Alexander to the English, signed a deed granting the land that is now Seekonk and the surrounding communities to Thomas Willitt, Myles Standish and Josiah Winslow.  The town of Seekonk was incorporated in 1812 from the western half of Rehoboth.

The Wampanoags were paid 35 pounds sterling by the English settlers, for instance, for the sale to Willitt, Standish and Winslow.

Three of the earliest English men to settle in the area now known as Seekonk and Providence were William Blackstone, Roger Williams and Samuel Newman. These men and their followers proved it was possible to provide a living away from the coastal areas. This allowed groups of individuals to separate themselves from Puritan control. In turn this led to a greater diversity of culture and religious and philosophical freedom. It was only by forming alliances with the Native Americans in both the Wampanoag and Narragansett tribes that these early settlements were able to flourish.

These tracts of land Peck willed to his son Samuel, who served as Deputy to the General Court at Plymouth, as well as the first representative from the town of Rehoboth after Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts were united. The family continued to live in the area through the twentieth century.  Wikipedia and other sites say that today’s Peck Corner in Rehoboth is named for this early Puritan family, but when I looked Peck Corner up on Google Maps, it appeared to be in Barrington, Rhode Island, 5 miles south of Seekonk. Further investigation showed the towns of Bristol, Barrington, and Warren were awarded to Rhode Island in 1746 as part of a long-running boundary dispute with Massachusetts forming Bristol County, Rhode Island.

1641 – Mr. Peck and others from Hingham bought Secunke (Seekonk);

1643 – Drew lots for woodland

1645 – Register of lands

1645 – Plain lots drawn

1646 – Lots in the New Meadow

1647 and 1648, Mr. Peck chosen townsman

1648 – Chosen assistant to Mr. Brown in suit at court

1650 – Mr. Peck chosen townsman or selectman

1651 – Townsman or selectman

1652 – Chosen rator or assessor

1653 – Grand juryman

1654 – Constable

1655 – Tax assessor

1655 – Townsman or selectman

1656 – To administer marriages

1656 – Judge of cases not, above £3

1660 – Examine town records

1661 – To settle damages to Indians’ corn on Kickemuit and Consumpsit Necks.

Children

2. Rebecca Peck

Rebecca’s husband Rev. Peter Hobart was baptized in Hingham, Norfolk England on 13 Oct 1604. His parents were Edmund HOBART and Margaret DEWEY. Peter died on 20 Jan 1679 in Hingham, MA. Education: Magdalen Coll, Cambridge, Eng: BA 1625, MA 1629.

Peter’s first wife Elizabeth Ibrook was baptized on 31 Aug 1608 in Southwold, Suffolk, England  Her parents were Richard Ibrook and Margaret Clark.  She immigrated with husand, children  Joshua, Jeremiah, Elizabeth and Josiah , parents and sisters, Margaret and Helen arriving 8 June 1635. Elizabeth died in childbirth in Dec 1645 in Hingham, Massachusetts Bay Colony, now Plymouth County.

Peter attended the heavily Puritan Cambridge University. He was the first minister of the Hingham congregation who built Old Ship Church.  Assisting Hobart in the foundation of the congregation was [our ancestor] Rev. Robert PECK, Hobart’s senior and formerly rector of St Andrew’s Church in Hingham, Norfolk. [See Robert's page for the story of their dissent in England.]  He was married in England. and came to New England with his wife and four children arriving at Charlestown in June, 1635. On the first page of a journal which he kept, giving a record of the baptisms, marriages, and deaths, which came under his notice during his ministry of nearly 44 years in out Hingham is the following.:

‘I with my wife and four children came safely to New Englane June ye 8: 1635: for ever praysed be the god of Heaven my god and king.’

Hobart, born in Hingham,Norfolk, in 1604 and, like Peck, a graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge, sought shelter from the prevailing discipline of the high church among his fellow Puritans.  The cost to those who emigrated was steep. They “sold their possessions for half their value”, noted a contemporary account, “and named the place of their settlement after their natal town.” (The cost to the place they left behind was also high: Hingham was forced to petition Parliament for aid, claiming that the departure of its most well-to-do citizens had left it hamstrung.)

In Sept. following he settled in Hingham, and on the 18th of that month received a grant of a house-lot on Town (North) St. He also had other grants of land for planting purposes. Rev. Peter Hobart also left a will, in which his fifteen children. then living are mentioned. The date of his death, and the years of his ministry are recorded on a memorial tablet standing near Central Ave., in the Hing. cemetery as foll.: –

In memory of Revd. Peter Hobart who died January 20th 1679 in the 75th year of his age and 53rd of his ministery 9 years of which he spent in Hingham Great Britain & 44 in Hingham, Massachusetts.

Check out Peter Hobart’s journal, published in NEHGR 121(1967):3-25, 102-127, 191-216, 269-294.

Peter was the minister of the Old Ship Church of Hingham.  History has Peter “as an independent and spirited clergyman … which occasionally brought him up before the general court [of the Massachusetts Bay Colony]  to answer for his outspoken opinions.

Before the Rev Peter Hobart arrived in New England, with his flock from his church in Hingham, England, the place he came to was settled, but known as Barecove.  By petition to the general court of the Massachusetts Bay Company, Hobart got the name of ” Barecove is changed and hereafter to be called Hingham.” After 44 years of service, minister Peter Hobart died on Jan. 20, 1679, on the eve of the building of the new house of worship.

Hobart’s diary of events in Hingham, begun in the year 1635, was continued on his death by his son David. By the time Old Ship was built, Harvard-educated Rev. John Norton, who had been ordained by Peter Hobart, had assumed Hobart’s ministry. (Rev. John Norton was the great-grandfather of Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams.

Old Ship Church deacon John Leavitt, whose son John married Rev. Hobart’s daughter Bathsheba, was deacon when Old Ship was constructed and he argued forcefully for the construction of a new meetinghouse. The matter of replacing the old thatched log meeting house stirred intense emotion in Hingham, and it took two heated town meetings to settle on a site for the new edifice, which was built on land donated by Capt. Joshua Hobart, twin brother of Rev. Peter Hobart. Ultimately, the town appropriated £430 for the new building, said to be the equal of any in the Massachusetts Bay Colo The modern frame edifice, devoid of ornamentation, was raised in 1681, and accommodated its first worship service the following year.

The Old Ship  in Hingham, Massachusetts, is the oldest surviving meetinghouse. It is the oldest church in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States. It is the only remaining 17th century Puritan meetinghouse in America. and the only surviving example in this country of the English Gothic style of the 17th century.   The most distinctive feature of the structure is its Hammerbeam roof, a Gothic open timber construction, the most well-known example that of Westminster Hall. Some of those working on the soaring structure were no doubt ship carpenters; others were East Anglians familiar with the method of constructing a hammerbeam roof.  The more familiar delicately spired white Colonial churches of New England would not be built for more than half a century.”

Within the church, “the ceiling, made of great oak beams, looks like the inverted frame of a ship,    Architecturally, the Old Ship is quite a bit different from the Meetinghouses that were built in the 1700s. Its layout is essentially square, with a hip roof. As with later meetinghouses, the main entrance faces south, and the interior layout consists of a high pulpit on the north wall, and galleries on the other three walls. Box pews occupy both the ground floor and the galleries. When it was originally built, there would probably have been entrances on the east and west walls for women and men, respectively. However, additions to the east and west sides of the building have removed these earlier entrances.

3. Joseph Peck

Joseph’s first wife Hannah Playford was born in 1628 Hingham, Norfolk, England. Her parents were Thomas Playford and Dorothy White. Hannah died in 1695 in Seekonk, Mass.

Joseph’s second wife Sarah Hunt

Joseph is believed to have married a Hannah Playford who was born in 1625. He had 8 children and lived to 74 years of age

Children of Joseph and Hannah:

i. Rebecca Peck b. 6 Nov 1650 in Rehoboth; d. 28 Sep 1682 Dedham, Norfolk, Mass; m. 25 Apr 1671 in Dedham, Norfolk, Mass. to Thomas Paine

ii. Hannah Peck b. 25 Mar 1653 in Rehoboth

iii. Elizabeth Peck Mason (1657 – _)  m.  Maj. Samuel Mason son of Maj. John MASON  held the office of major of the militia, and was an assistant of the colony, besides holding other positions of trust.

Samuel’s first wife Judith Smith was born about 1650.  Her parents were Capt. John Smith of Hingham, Mass.

Samuel’s second wife Elizabeth Peck was 30 years younger than Samuel, born 29 Dec 1673 Wallingford, New Haven, CT. Elizaabeth died 1709 ‎(Age 35) Wallingford, New Haven, CT.  She survived him, and m. Gershom Palmer of Stonington, son of our ancestor Walter PALMER.

iv.  Jathniel Peck (1660 – 1742)

v. Mary Peck b. 17 Nov 1662 in Rehoboth

vi. Ichabod Peck b. 13 Sep 1666 in Rehoboth

vii.  Samuel Peck (1672 – 1736)

4. John PECK (See his page)

5. Capt. Nicholas Peck

Nicholas’ first wife Mary Winchester was born 19 Nov 1637 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Mass. Her parents were Alexander Winchester and xx.  Mary died 6 Nov 1657 in Seekonk, Bristol, Mass.

Nicholas’ second wife Rebecah Bosworth was born Feb 1641 in Seakonk, Bristol, Mass.  Her parents were Jonathan Bosworth and Elizabeth [__?__].  Rebecah died 2 Nov 1704 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Mass

He had 7 children and his will is at Taunton, Mass.

6. Simon Peck

Simon’s first wife Hannah Farnsworth was born 14 Dec 1638 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Mass.  Her parents were Joseph Farnsworth and Elizabeth Mason.Hannah died 16 Apr 1659 in Hingham, Plymouth, Mass.

Simon’s second wife Prudence Clapp was born 28 Dec 1637 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Mass.  Her parents were Edward Clapp and Prudence [__?__].  Prudence died 24 Mar 1687 in Dorchester, Mass

7. Samuel Peck

Samuel’s first wife Sarah [__?__]

Samuel’s second wife Rebecca Paine was born 1655 in Rehoboth, Mass. Rebecca died 23 Feb 1718 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Mass.

He moved with his father to Seekonk, and remained upon the homestead after his father’s decease. He was one of the deacons of the church. He also held various town offices. He was a Deputy to the general court at Plymouth, in 1689 and 1692. He was the first representative from the town after the Colony of Plymouth and Massachusetts were united in 1692. He married twice and had 6 children 3 of whom died young. He first married Sarah, who was buried 27 Nov 1673. He then married Rebecca Paine Hunt 27 Nov 1677, widow of Peter Hunt and daughter of Stephen Paine. She died 12 Jun 1699.

8. Nathaniel Peck

Nathaniel’s wife Deliverance Bosworth was born was born 4 Aug 1650 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Mass.  Her parents were Jonathan Bosworth and Elizabeth [__?__]. Deliverance died 30 Apr 1675 in Swansea, Bristol, Mass.

Nathaniel was a major land owner around Barrington, RI. He and his wife died young at around 35 years. It appears he had 3 children but only one, Nathaniel, survived to have children.

9. Israel Peck

Israel’s wife Bethiah Bosworth was born Jan 1644 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Mass. Her parents were Jonathan Bosworth and Elizabeth [__?__].  Bethiah died 5 Apr 1718 in Swansea, Bristol, Mass

Israel died at 80 years of age. He was married July 15, 1670 to Bethiah Bosworth whose stone is nearby. She lived to be 75, dying April 4, 1718. Israel held various public offices and his will is recorded at Taunton, Mass.,

Sources:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jhmjr&id=I06433

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=12877881

New England Families Genealogical and Memorial: Third Series, Volume IV
Author: William Richard Cutter
Publication: New York, 1915, (reprinted Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, Maryland, 1967)
Repository:
Media: Book
Page: Page 1693