Person:Jeremiah Peck (8)

Darius Peck on Rev. Jeremiah Peck

"Jeremiah (Peck) (6) was born in the city of London, England, or its vicinity, in 1623, from whence, in 1637, he came with his father to this country. Little is known of his early history, except that he had a good education, acquired in part before he left England. He is said by Cotton Mather to have been bred at Harvard College, but, though probably a student, his name does not appear in the catalogue of the graduates of that institution. He married Johannah Kitchell, a daughter of Robert Kitchell,1 of Guilford, Conn., Nov. 12, 1656. He was then, and for some time previously had been, preaching or teaching school at Guilford, and he continued to be thus engaged until 1660, when he was invited to take charge of the Collegiate school at New Haven, Conn. This was a colony school, and had been instituted by the General Court, in 1659. It was open to students from other colonies, and in it were to be taught Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and young men fitted for college. He accepted the invitation, and removing from Guilford to New Haven, entered upon his duties as its instructor and continued to discharge the same until the summer of 1661, when the school was temporarily suspended for want of adequate support. It was revived, however, after a few years, and has continued and flourished until the present day under the name of the Hopkins Grammar School. In the autumn of 1661 he was invited to preach at Saybrook, Conn., where there is much reason to suppose that he was ordained, and where he settled as a minister, succeeding Rev. James Pitch; the agreement of settlement being dated September 25,1661. After a few years there was some dissatisfaction with his ministry, and a misunderstanding as to the provisions of his agreement of settlement, which being amicably arranged he left Saybrook removing to Guilford early in 1666. He was then, and for some time had been, together with numerous other ministers and churches in the New Haven and Connecticut Colonies, decidedly opposed to what was called the "Half-way Covenant," adopted by the General Synod of 1662, and with many of the leading ministers and the people of the New Haven Colony was especially and irreconcilably hostile to the Union of the New Haven and Connecticut Colonies under the charter of Charles II., which, however, after a protracted struggle, was finally effected in 1665, and he resolved to emigrate from the colony. Removing from Guilford in 1666, he "became one of the first settlers of Newark, N. J. His home lot and residence in Newark were on the northeasterly corner of Market and Mulberry streets. He does not appear to have officiated as a minister at Newark. He preached to the neighboring people of Elizabethtown soon after his removal to Newark, and finally settled there as their first minister in 1669 or 1670. In 1670, and again in 1675, he was invited by the people of Woodbridge, N. J., and in 1676 by the people of Greenwich, Conn., to settle with them in the ministry, but he declined these several invitations. In Sept., 1678, he was again invited to settle as a minister at Greenwich, and in Oct., 1678, he had a similar call from Newtown, Long Island, N. Y. He accepted the last call from Greenwich, and removing thither late in the autumn of 1678 from Elizabethtown, N. J., he became the first settled minister in Greenwich, Conn., where his pastorate was a very quiet and useful one, and only disturbed by his refusal in 1688 to baptize the children of non-communicants, allowed by the "Half-way Covenant," the introduction of which still agitated the churches in Connecticut. Though sustained by a majority of the members of his church, the dissatisfaction of the minority probably led to his resignation in 1689. He then commenced preaching in Waterbury, Conn., and having received and accepted the unanimous invitation of the residents of that town to settle with them in the ministry, he removed thither early in 1690, and became the first settled minister of the church in Waterbury in 1691. He was then nearly seventy years of age. In a few years his health gradually failed, but he continued the pastor of the church and discharged the most of his official duties until his decease at Waterbury, June 7, 1699. He seems to have possessed considerable energy and ability, and to have been a man of much usefulness, both as a teacher and minister in the frontier settlements, among the early colonists of this country. His wife survived him, and died in Waterbury in 1711. His Will, dated Jan. 14,1696-7, and that of his wife, dated Oct. 7,1696, (in the form of Deeds of Gift) are recorded, the former at page 6 and the latter at page 103 of Volume I. of the Waterbury Land Records."^[2]

Rev. Jeremiah Peck in Sibley's Harvard Graduates

"'Pecke.' [Steward's Book]. page 174, containing debits, is cut out; the credits extend from 9-53 to 22-2-56. "H. C." appears against his name in Mather's Hecatompolis. He was born in London, England, probably in 1623, and with his father, William Peck, arrived in Boston, 26 June, 1637. November 12, 1656, he married Joanna, or Hannah, daughter of Robert Kitchell, of Guilford, Connecticut, where he taught school from 1656 to 1660. June 28, 1660, "at a meeting of the Committee for the Schoole," as stated in the Colonial Records of New Haven, "It was agreed that M^r. Pecke, now at Guilford, should be schoolemaster, & that it should begin in October next, when his half yeare expires there; he is to keepe y^e schoole, to teach the schollers Lattine, Greek and Hebrew, & fitt them for the colledge; & for the salary, he knowes the alowancw frō the colony is 40^li a yeare; and for further treaties they must leave it to Newhaven, where the schoole is; and for farther orders concerning the schoole & well carrying it on, the elders will consider of some against the court of magistrates in October next, when things as there is cause may be further considered." He accepted the appointment, "a house and a plot of land being also allowed him."

May 29, 1661, fifteen conditions and rules were proposed by Peck, "the want of which … especially some of them, doth hold the master vnder discouragement and vnsettlement; yet these things being sutably considered & confirmed, if it please the honoured court further to improue him who at present is schoolemaster, although vnworthy of any such respect, and weake for such a worke, yet his reall intention is to giue vp himselfe to the worke of a gramer schoole, as it shall please God to giue opportunity & assistance." His propositions, with considerable modifications, were accepted, and he "seemed to be very well satisfied."

September 25, 1661, he made an agreement with the people of Saybrook to become their minister for five years. February 2, 1663-4, he writes: "Respected and loving ffriends the Inhabitants and planters of Seabroke I understand and that from divers that there is much Dissatisfaction with Reference to myselfe in respect to my proceeding in the Ministry at least to a settlement and that there are desires in many to provide themselves with a more able Help: I do freely leave myself to the providence of God and the Thots of his people: and so far as I am any wayes concerned herein I doe leave the Towne wholly to their own Liberty to provide for themselves as God shall direct: and with regard to laying aside the future Term of years expressed in the Covenant as also of laying me aside from an Employment of so great a concernment I do desire that these things may be duly considered and dealt tenderly in that I may not be rendered useless in future service for God: altho I am unworthy to be improved so I am yours in what I may as God shall please to direct and enable." He terminated his engagement 30 January, 1665-6, the town "giving him full possession of his accommodation," and purchasing it for his successor. Returning to Guilford, he, with his father-in-law, joined Pierson and the Branford and Guilford people who settled at Newark, New Jersey, in 1666-7, where he probably preached until the arrival of Pierson, 1 October, 1667. Removing soon afterward to Elizabethtown, to preach and teach, he is to be regarded as the first pastor of the church in that place. In March, 1675-6, he was invited to preach at Jamaica, Long Island. In 1678 he accepted a second invitation to settle at Greenwich, Connecticut, where he continued till 1690, when, having made himself obnoxious to the people by his opposition to the Half-Way Covenant, he accepted a unanimous call to Waterbury, where he continued pastor till his death, 7 June, 1699, having been assisted in the last years of his life, on account of feeble health, by John Jones, H. U. 1690, and John Read, H. U. 1697. - Connecticut Colony Records, iii. 245; iv. 96. E. F. Hatfield, History of Elizabeth, 201. D. M. Mead, History of Greenwich, 68, 72, 295, 300. New Haven Colony Records, ii. 377, 407."^[3]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9} Peck, in Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1974)
   6:1384.

   "Jeremiah (Peck), d 7 June 1699 (Waterbury Vital Records); Rev.; res G 1656-60, NH 1660, Saybrook 1661, Newark 1667, Elizabeth 1674, Greenwich 1679, Wat 1689; …"

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Peck, Darius. A Genealogical Account of the Descendants in the Male Line of William Peck: One of the Founders in 1638 of the Colony of New Haven, Conn. (Hudson, N. Y.: Bryan & Goeltz, 1877)
   9-11.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Sibley, John Langdon. Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Cambridge, Mass.: C.W. Sever, 1873- 1885)
   1:569-70.