Person:Hans Peck (1)

Jacob Peck was one of the Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia

Contents 1 Birth 2 Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA 3 Will of Jacob Peck 4 Records in Augusta County, VA		Welcome to Old Augusta Early Settlers Beverley Manor Borden's Grant Register Data Maps Places Library History Index
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Birth

Much of what we know about the lives of Jacob Peck and Lydia Borden is driven by two information sources: The 1740 passenger list of the Lydia, which gives Jacob’s full name as “Johann Jacob Beck”, his age as 16, and that he arrived in Philadelphia in September of 1740, The Ebingen Letter which tells us He was born in Ebingen, Wuerrtemberg These data lead us to the baptismal records of Ebingen, from which previous researchers have concluded that he was baptized on the 7th of July, 1723, and that his parents names were Hannes Jacob Beck and Anna Maria Hummel. With out the clues contained in the Ebingen Letter, we would have no basis for searching the Ebingen records for his baptismal date or for the identity of his parents. Without the ship’s list, we would have no reason to focus on the period 1723-1724 for his birth and baptism. The following provides a discussion of these sources, and the conclusions that can be reached based on the information they contain. Sources used in this discussion include: Peck, 1958 Kelly, 1995 (posthumous work) Valentine, 1998

The “Ebingen Letter” is a central document in identifying the POB of Jacob Peck, husband of Lydia Borden. The letter, now lost, is supposed to have come from a cousin in Ebingen Germany, in 1769, and was addressed to Jacob Beck in Sharpsburg Maryland. An extract of a portion of the letter is given by Valentine, 1998 reads:

The late Mrs. May Inman Gray, of Atlanta, Ga., a descendent of Adam Peck of Tennessee, wrote Nov. 27, 1918:

I have a copy of a letter written April 27, 1769 to 'Herrn Jacob Beck...Residing in Maryland near Scharbsburg...My dearest Cousin...This was from Ebingen, Wurtemberg.

Several years later, when a full copy of this letter was sought, Mrs. Gray wrote that it had been lost in a fire that destroyed her home, 'Greystone,' in Peach street, Atlanta. She was unable to say who possessed the original, but thought it was a descendent of Jacob Peck I who lived in Kentucky. Valentine, 1998.

From this we “know” (or at least believe) that Jacob came from Ebingen and settled by 1769 in Maryland, near Sharpsburg. Those two points would prove critical for the identification of Jacobs date of birth and parents. John A. Kelley, a genealogist and descendant of Jacob, visited Ebingen in 1936, looking for Jacobs birth records. He would later describe his visit this visit:

In 1936 I visited Ebingen and went to search the records of the Evangelical Church telling the Kirchenpfleger that I was seeking the birth records from the first years of the eighteenth century, of one Johann Jakob Beck, whose parents were conjecturally Jacob and Mary. The books were remarkably comprehensive and were well preserved. Beside the names were frequently notations as to the emigration of their bearers. The very first of these Auswanderereintrage stands beside the name Hans Jakob Beck, and reads: "Gieng nach Amerika und war in Maryland sesshaft" (Went to America and was domiciled in Maryland.) Herr Maute, the Kirchenpfleger, conjectured that this entry was made some thirty years after the birth was recorded. This is the only reference in the books to a Maryland emigration. All others were to Pennsylvania.  Kelly 1995

A later researcher with whom he corresponded says of this trip

His findings included that one Hans Jakob Beck, who was b. 7 July 1723 and whose parents were probably Jakob and Maria, Peck, 1958,

Access to the Ebingen baptismal record is far better today than it was in 1936, or even in 1958 when Peck commented on the data. Both Ancestry.com and FamilySearch, provide online search capabilities of these records. Though in most cases we can not see images of the original records, or complete details from them, we can search the records by name, date, and even by the identity of the parents of individual children being baptized. Searching those records for 1723 and 1724 gives the following results.

Comment: There were apparently two separate registers kept, perhaps one for births and the other for baptisms. In the Ancestry extraction from the LDS files they are all identified as “baptisms”. Some of these records, however, clearly involve the same child and parents, with similar names. There seem to be at least 3 separate families involved, each with a child given some variant of “Hans Jacob Beck” as his name. The parents are also similarly named, but there are clearly three sets:

Hans Jacob Beck=Anna Maria Krimmel

Hanss Martin Beck=A. Barbara

Johannes Beck=Catharina

As Table 1 shows there were a number of “Jacob Becks” baptized in Ebingen between 1722 and 1724. The second record seems to be the one which Dr. Kelley identified as Jacob’s baptismal record. That identification seems to have been based on the annotation on the original record reading “Gieng nach Amerika und war in Maryland sesshaft” or “gone to America and settled in Maryland”. Thus the Ebingen baptismal record of 1723, with its annotation, matches up exactly with the conclusion that Jacob Peck, husband of Lydia Borden, was baptized 7 July 1723, in Ebingen.

While we accept that Jacob was baptized 7 July 1723, in Ebingen, there are concerns with the data sources currently available to us, that force us to consider this conclusion as provisional. The following outlines the issues related to this conclusion:

The conclusions hinges on two documents whose contents can not be fully verified. First, while we can see from the Ancestry and FamilySearch transcriptions of the Ebingen baptismal records, that there is indeed a record corresponding to a baptism of a "Hanns Jacob Beck" in Ebingen on 7 July 1723, those transcriptions do not include the annotation showing that he settled in Maryland by 1769. Thus we can not firmly verify that this particular baptismal record applies to Jacob Peck who married Lydia border.

Second, we can not independently verify the contents of the Ebingen Letter, as the copy quoted by Mrs. Gray was destroyed by fire, and the whereabouts of the original letter is unknown.

Of these the first problem is probably the easier to deal with. While the Ancestry and FamilySearch transcriptions of these records do not contain the key annotation “Gieng nach America…”, images of the original records are available, at least through Latter Day Saints microfilm of the Ebingen baptismal records. Currently, these images are not available on line, but can, in theory, be accessed by viewing the LDS microfilm. If those records are accessed, and it is confirmed that the annotation “Gieng nach America…” is in fact included in the original, we can probably safely conclude that Jacob Peck was baptized Hanns Jacob Beck in Ebingen on the 7th day of July, 1723.

Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA

Disposition of Land from Orange County, Virginia Records:

• Pg. 235-236. Indenture 17 Sept. 1745 between Jacob Peck of County of Frederick, and Lydia Peck, his wife, and Benjamin Bordon.. county of Augusta.. in consideration of £30.. sell all my part of land which I have by virtue of intermarriage with my now wife, formerly Lydia Bordon, daughter of Benjamin Bordon, late of the foresaid county, deceased... (Signed) Jacob Peck (Seal), Lydia Peck (Seal). Witnesses: Thos. Branson, Jacob Worthington, Teruiah Bordon. Recorded Orange County 26 September 1745. [Source: Orange County, Virginia Deed Book 10, Dorman, pg. 51].

Acquisition of Land in Virginia:

• Page 244 - Jacob Peck, 340 acres, Falling Spring. Adjoining George King, William Anderson, Sampson Mathews, William Lewis. October 17, 1774. [Abstract of Land Grant Surveys, 1761-1791, Augusta & Rockingham Counties, Virginia, by Peter Cline Kaylor, pg. 86].

Will of Jacob Peck

• Peck, Jacob. Will probate October 1801. Names Children: Benjamin, Jacob, John, Adam, Joseph, Mary, Esther and Hannah. (His wife was Lydia Borden). Names son-in-law Jacob Carper. [Abstract of Land Grant Surveys, 1761-1791, Augusta & Rockingham Counties, Virginia, by Peter Cline Kaylor, pg. 61].

Records in Augusta County, VA

From Chalkley’s Augusta County Records:

• Page 544.--17th February, 1778. Recorded. David Hestin's appraisement by Daniel Kidd, James Hill, Jacob Peck--Above goods were sold on the expedition against the Cherokees, to, viz: To Capt. John Gilmore, Robert McClure, Valentine Jones. Capt. Wm. Christian for Thos. Berry, Gawin Hamilton, Samuel McGill. Samuel Henderson, Wm. Ritchie, James McGlaughlin, James Cuddy, Jos. Guinn.

• Vol. 1 - APRIL, 1790. - James Graham vs. Jacob Peck--A. and B. Writ from General Court, 19th April, 1784.

• Vol. 1 - APRIL, 1790. - Robert Armstrong vs. Jacob Peck--A. and B. Writ from General Court, 27th November, 1784.

• Vol. 1 - JUDGMENTS. APRIL, 1791 (I to Z). - Christian Mummer vs. Jacob Peck and Michael Fackler--A. and B. Augusta, 29th April, 1790.

• Vol. 1 - (no date listed, appears to be between 1795 - 1806) BOOK MARKED "RECORDS. - Page ___--John Kisler deposes, in Botetourt, Jacob Peck was from Wurtenburg; he could not write.

• Vol. 1 - APRIL, 1797 (L to Z). - Moore vs. Gane--Depn. Jacob Peck, aged upwards of 90, at house of Jacob Cooper 1st April, 1797, near Fincastle. Bott. Nichols is son to Benj. Benden (poss. Benj. Borden?), Seni's eldest daughter. Jacob arrived in this country from Germany 52 years ago and Nichols was born 2 years after. Depn. of Lydia Peck, wife of above, sister to the mother of Wm. Nichols, and aged 80. (Note: this Jacob Peck would have been abt. 74 years old in 1797).

• Vol. 1 - SEPTEMBER, 1802 (H to Z). Hughart vs. Adams--Road appeal from Augusta. On 20th February, 1798, following inhabitants of ye Great Calf Pasture, petitioned to change the river road: Thomas Hughart, John Montgomery, Archibald Kinkead, James Gwinn, Jacob Peck, Thomas Kinkead, William Kinkead, Joseph Gwinn, Thomas Gwinn, James Fulton, William Moore, Samuel Black, Peter Simpson, William Yeuel, Samuel Neil, William Steele, Thomas Philips, Adam Hickle.

• Vol. 1 - SEPTEMBER, 1802 (H to Z). - McPheeters vs. Moffett--Original deed, William McPheeters, Sr., to William McPheeters, Jr., 1755. Copy deed, Beverley, to William Vance, 23d July, 1740. Deposition of Margaret Brown, 25th August, 1798: She lived on the land in dispute 60 years ago. Memorandum, 1790-91. Memorandum for Mr. Williams. Enquire after Elliott Rutherford, executor to his brother, Thomas Rutherford, who died about 20 years ago. Spencer Hill married Mary Rutherford, daughter of Thomas Rutherford, deceased, and her fortune is in the hands of Elliott, who lives about one mile from Rockingham Courthouse. Joseph Borden, letter to Cosen Jacob Peck. Cuthbert Bullett's letter. Alexander Stuart's letter, 12th February, to Mr. John Wilson, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, says John is eldest son and heir of George Wilson, deceased, who sold a lot in Staunton to Mr. Mathew Reid. Part of purchase money is due which Archibald offers to pay upon making a deed. James Russell's letter, 24th March, 1791, brother of Joseph Russell. Edward Day's petition for help in support of his family, three children, one an idiot. Edward is old and infirm. 14th April, 1791. W. Erwin's letter to William Anderson, 17th March, 1791. William is brother of Samuel Anderson. Owen Owens' letter, 29th July, 1791, to James Lyle.

1. ↑ "Peck" is the anglicized form of "BecK". This line has been traced back to Germany in the 13th/14th century. ~~~~