Nathaniel Peck (1724 - 1807)

Born 1724 in Barrington, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 27 Nov 1807 at about age 83 in Amherst, Massachusetts

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Biography

Nathaniel Peck was a son of Nathaniel Peck, born in 1724 in Barrington, Massachusetts (now Barrington, Rhode Island). At first he settled on the lands there that he received from his father. ^[1]

Nathaniel Peck of Warren, Rhode Island, had military service in the "Old French & Indian War." He was Ensign of Capt. Richmond's Co. in 1755, 2nd Lieutenant of Capt. Richmond's Co. in 1.756, 1st Lieutenant of Capt. Wall's Co. in 1757, Captain in campaigns of 1758, 1759, 1760 and 1761, and Major of Col. Rose's Regiment. in 1762. ^[2]

Later he sold the Rhode Island property and removed to Amherst, Massachusetts, where he kept a public house for many years and apparently was a prominent citizen. In deeds for land transfers in Amherst and adjoining towns he is usually called "Major Nathaniel" or "gentleman."^[1]

His wife was Mary (Mitchel) Peck, daughter of James Mitchel and widow of Winchester Peck.^[3] Births of three children of Nathaniel Peck Jr. and Mary were recorded at Warren, Rhode Island: Sarah, born Feb. 2, 1754; Winchester, born Feb. 7, 1762; and Jerusha, born June 18, 1764.^[4]

He died at Amherst on 27 November 1807. ^[1]

The Peck Genealogy says that this Nathaniel Peck had Revolutionary War service. He may indeed have served the patriot cause, but the service record that is commonly assigned to him is that of another Nathaniel Peck. There is a history of crediting him with the Revolutionary War service of the Nathaniel Peck of Amherst who enlisted as a private in the Continental Army from Hampshire County, Massachusetts, in 1780.^[5] However, it is unlikely that a man who had been an officer in the French & Indian War would have enlisted as a private during the Revolutionary War, and in fact records show that the man who enlisted in 1780 was only 19 years old,^[6] which identifies him as Nathaniel Peck, son of Nathaniel's brother Simeon Peck.

Children

The following is from Peck, pages 250-251, except where otherwise noted:

1. Sarah, born Feb. 2, 1754.
2. Winchester, b. Feb. 7, 1762.
3. Jerusha, b. June 18, 1764.
4. Nathaniel, b. Nov. 17, 1765. Died in infancy.
5. Mary, b. Aug. 3, 1768.
6. Mehitable, b. April 27, 1772.

Research Notes

The following is from Peck, pages 250-251:

This record is in the family bible, in the handwriting of Maj. Nathaniel. The births of the three first children are also upon the records at Warren, R. I. This bible, printed in London in 1728, was formerly the property of James Mitchel, the father of Nathaniel's wife, and was in the possession of the granddaughter of Nathaniel, Mrs. Elizabeth Moore, of Leverett, Mass., in 1864, when I visited her for the purpose of examining this record.

Sarah, the eldest daughter of Nathaniel, married Elisha Warner in Montague, Massachusetts, on 13 October 1784. They settled in Amherst, Massachusetts. They had no children. Both died in Amherst, he on December 10, 1823, and she on September 13, 1825.^[7]

Mary married David Eaton, in 1787, and settled in Vermont. She died October 10, 1813; he August 20, 1823, leaving five children.

Jerusha married Samuel Miles, and settled in Williamsburg, Mass. He died at an early age; she October 8, 1848. Their children were: Elizabeth, born April 5, 1789; and James Michels, born February 13, 1791, and died in 1792. Elizabeth married Lewis Moore, May 3, 1810, and was residing, a widow, in Leverett, Mass., in 1864. He died January 4, 1843. Their children are: Luther H., born May 10, 1811; Jerusha P., born September 9, 1813. Quartus K., born March 26, 1816; George W., born March 5, 1818; James M., born February 4, 1820; William B., born November 11, 1821; Mary S., born January 1, 1827; Otis B., born September 5, 1830; and Sarah E., born February 21, 1832.

Mehitable married Luther Henry. Their children were: Clarissa., born December 20, 1794; Margaret, born March 14, 1796; Anna, born April 13, 1798; a son, born February 10, 1805; John, born September 10, 1806; and James, born September 30, 1808. The oldest daughter, Clarissa, married Gideon Stetson, March 26, 1816. They were residing in Shutesbury, Mass., in 1864. Margaret married Lewis L. Draper, and lived and died in Amherst, Mass. Mr. Draper was residing in Northampton in 1864. Anna married Alvah Haskins, and settled in Shutesbury. John married Ada Parks, and settled in Van Buren, Arkansas. James married Sarah Raymond, and died in Shutesbury, Massachusetts.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Peck, page 250
2. ↑ Flint, James, ed.. Rhode Island Colonial War Servicemen, 1740-62 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999. Original data: Chapin, Howard. Rhode Island in the Colonial Wars. Providence, RI, USA: The Society, 1920. Accessed on Ancestry.com at https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1948:4055.
3. ↑ Peck, page 250
4. ↑ James N. Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, Vol. 6, Part II, Warren - Births and Deaths, page 84.
5. ↑ As of 19 April 2024, Nathaniel Peck, born 1731, is listed in the DAR database as Patriot Ancestor A087634. The DAR records of several of his descendants, including Miss Clara M. Kellogg, #45601, and Mrs. Anna May Smith Dutcher, #45478, name Nathaniel Peck (1760-1807), husband of Mary Mitchel and father of Mehitable (Peck) Henry and Mary (Peck) Easton, as their Revolutionary War ancestor. See Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Book, vol. 46 (1903, published at Washington, DC in 1918), page 258; Miss Clara M. Kellogg, #45601 and pages 199-200, Mrs. Anna May Smith Dutcher, #45478.
6. ↑ Massachusetts soldiers and sailors of the Revolutionary War. A compilation from the archives, prepared and published by the Secretary of the Commonwealth in accordance with chapter 100, resolves of 1891. Boston, Wright and Potter Printing Co., State Printers, 1896-1908. Vol. 12, page 51.
7. ↑ Lynes, Marti. "Elisha Warner of Amherst," Western Massachusetts Families in 1790. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012. Accessed 31 January 2016. Citing: James Avery Smith, “Families of Amherst” (1984), page 575; James N. Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island 1636–1850, 21 vols. (Providence, R.I.: Narragansett Historical Publishing Co., 1891–1912), 6 (Warren):84 (birth); Lucien C. Warner, The Descendants of Andrew Warner (New Haven, Conn.: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1919), 142.

• Eldridge, William Henry Henry Genealogy: The Descendants of Samuel Henry of Hadley and Amherst, Mass., Boston, Massachusetts: T. R. Marvin and son, 1915.
• Lynes, Marti. "Elisha Warner of Amherst," Western Massachusetts Families in 1790. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012. Accessed 31 January 2016. Citing: James Avery Smith, “Families of Amherst” (1984), page 575; James N. Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island 1636–1850, 21 vols. (Providence, R.I.: Narragansett Historical Publishing Co., 1891–1912), 6 (Warren):84 (birth); Lucien C. Warner, The Descendants of Andrew Warner (New Haven, Conn.: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1919), 142.
• Olsson, Joan. A Genealogical History of the Descendants of Joseph Peck. rootsweb.com
• Peck, Ira Ballou. A Genealogical History of the Descendants of Joseph Peck, Boston: A. Mudge & Son, 1868.