By Teresa Martin Klaiber 2020
During
2020 we are living in a world where there is talk of walls going up between
countries, yet again. We never learn
from our historical mistakes. These
walls are very tangible, visual and real.
But there are many boundary crossings that cannot be seen unless you are
flying down a modern highway and pass a sign that says “Welcome to
Virginia.” Even more invisible are
county lines. I usually spot a few when
the road conditions change. Some
counties have more government funding than others. Historically petitions changed state and
county lines. But because our minds are
like virtual reality, we tend to treat boundaries as solid walls when doing
research. Even crossing a river tends to
signal boundary, “stop.”
A
good genealogist formulates an outline that includes when a county was created
and when state and county lines moved within the chronology of a person. The genealogist takes into account that even
in colonial times our ancestors loved to travel.
Francis
Peake’s life involved invisible boundaries.
He was born in 1741 in Prince William County, Virginia, son of John and
Lucy Gregg Peake. Francis was one of
eight known children. When he was just
18, he and brother Thomas Peake were witness to the will of Richard Kent[i]
in Fairfax County, Virginia. Fairfax was
created from a portion of Prince William in 1742. This compiler believes that
Richard Kent was related to Anne Owsley, Francis Peake’s material great aunt,
who married Isaac Kent[ii]. Francis’ father, John Peake had property in
Truro Parish of Fairfax as well.
John
Peake died in Prince William County before August 1756. In 1762 son Francis is taxed for 100 acres
along with brother Daniel, George, William and John. His mother, Lucy, widowed, married Robert
Moseley and appears with tithes on 368 acres[iii]. The Peake brothers sold 300 acres on Folly
Branch, “devised by their father John” to the Honorable John Tayloe of Richmond
County, 2 November 1764[iv].
John
Tayloe was known as a wealthy plantation owner in Colonial Virginia. He was manager of Neabsco Iron Works in the
1740’s and later built an estate known as Mount Airy overlooking the
Rappahannock River. Francis’ brother
James Peake later had a survey for 225 acres on the North Run of Neabisco. An interesting point concerning the Peake/Tayloe
deed transaction is that it is repeated twice in the record with one small
change in the 2nd copy. The
first deed states “yielding and paying therefore the grant of one peppercorn
upon Lady Day next if same shall be demanded.”
The second recorded deed is exactly the same leaving out the
peppercorn. Peppercorn is a legal term
used as a metaphor for a cash payment used to satisfy the contract and
functioned to conceal the value of consideration. Neither deed state the amount. “Lady Day” was a traditional English celebration
on 25 March of the new year. The Gregorian
calendar was adopted in 1752 making the date and “Lady Day” obsolete by the time this deed was written in
1764.
The
1765 tithes for Dettington Parish still show Francis Peake with 100 acres. Some time prior to 12 August 1765 he marries
Mary when they have their first child, William, in Prince William County. A total of nine children were born to Francis
and Mary. The youngest child John J.
Peake born 15 April 1790[v].
It
is hard to imagine what life would be like during the Indian hostilities with
small children. Mary Peake must have
been a strong woman. Francis Peake was
one of the volunteers during the Sandusky Expedition in June 1782[vi]. He signed up from Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania. At that time Washington County was newly formed from
Westmoreland.
The
militia were described as poorly trained amateurs. Their goal was to destroy Native towns, hoping to stop the Indian
attacks on settlers. The military was
surrounded by the Natives. Many, including
Francis Peake managed to retreat back to Pennsylvania.
Eldest
son William describes his own service in his pension application in Henry
County, Kentucky in 1832 stating that he, William, was in Garrison with
Ebenezer Zane as a scout and spy and that he lived at Wheeling when he entered
service in 1782.
It
is not clear if any of the Peake’s were in Fort Henry during the siege that
took place September 11-13, 1782 or exactly where Mary and the children were
staying. Neither William or his father appear on the names that were recorded within
the fort that day. The Zane family was there.
There is much written about the bravery of Betty Zane. A dear friend of
this compiler, Frank Betz, and I used to talk about his Zane ancestors at
length. Frank now deceased, also wrote me a descriptive detail of his walk out
of New York City on the day of 9/11.[vii] Frank started out as a genealogy client that morphed
into a wonderful friendship, through the death of his wife, the love of
Weimaraner’s and his love of boats. I
miss those talks since his death. But I digress.
Francis
Peake survived his service. He appears in the tax records of Amwell township,
Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1783.
In August of the same year he appears in a court order back in Prince
William County, Virginia as plaintiff against James Nisbet. The order simply states that the suit was
abated ie a suspended law suit. James
Nesbitt was a doctor from Scotland and resided in Dettingen Township, Prince
William County. Francis appears on the
Donegal township, Washington County, Pennsylvania Tax and exoneration lists in
1786 along with his brother Thomas. Two daughters were born to Francis and Mary
while residing in Washington County, Pennsylvania: Mary “Polly” born 31 May
1784 and Susannah born 24 April 1786.
Later
records show the last two sons of Francis and Mary Peake born simply in
Virginia. Thomas W. Peake was born 15
July 1788, the youngest son John J. Peake born 1790. Research places the family
in Ohio County, Virginia at the time of their births. It would imply that the Peake’s moved from
Donegal, Washington County, Pennsylvania across the invisible border to Ohio
County, Virginia after April 24, 1786 and before July 1788.
Donegal
Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania borders Ohio County, (W) Virginia. A
Chancery record[viii]
in Campbell County, between the family, in Kentucky, taken 17 August 1808, tells
the rest of the story. Thomas Peake (s/o
John & Lucy Gregg Peake) gave
testimony in Circuit Court stating that he was the brother of Francis Peake who
died at Wheeling, Virginia and left Mary Peake the defendant his widow.
He
goes on to say that he saw Mary Peake leave Wheeling for the state of Kentucky
having a negro slave named Fanny with her. The chancery dispute was over the
sale of said slave and the use of moneys to purchase 50 acres.
Path of Zane’s Trace
in red
Senator
Robert Martin wrote this compiler that he heard his mother mention that the
family came to Georgetown when Thomas W. Peek was three years old. Thomas W. Peake/Peek was born 15 July
1788. This would place Mary, now
widowed, travelling along Zane’s Trace,
across Ohio to Maysville, Kentucky and into Scott County, Kentucky in
1791. I estimate that Mary would now be
in her late 40’s.
On
20 August 1809 Mary gave personal testimony for the Campbell Circuit Court from
Scott County, Kentucky. Mary testified
that she and her son William had lent each other money and that she had
purchased said Fanny and land (50 acres) out of her own money. In her deposition she states that she loved
her children and kept them with her and brought them up in the best way she was
able but owing to the infancy of the country and the dangers apprehended from
Indians when they first moved to Kentucky she had been unable to educate her
children with a good common English education.
She goes on to say she brought them up to industry and they were dutiful
and obedient. In October 1808 the bill
states she moved to Kentucky about 15 or 16 years ago.
Mary
acknowledged that she sold Fanny by
parole of Thomas Kennedy and felt she had the right to do so. Sadly
the suit continued on who should receive the funds from the sale of said Fanny
and distribution of 50 acres of land Mary purchased. Eleven days later 31 August 1809 Mary died.
This
final document is a wonderful genealogical document with Mary in her own words
giving the birth date of her children including this compiler’s ancestor Thomas
W. Peek. It is a glimpse of the struggle
of our pioneers as well. The life of
Francis Peake is an excellent example of how borders and boundaries shift and
change and the trail of evidence may show up in several county and state
records.
[i] Abstracts
of Wills and Inventories, Fairfax County, Virginia, 1742-1801 (N.p.:
n.p., n.d.), page 12
[ii]
Anne Owsley sister of Jane who m James Gregg and was mother of Lucy Gregg Peake
w/o John Peake.
[iii] Virginia,
Prince William A true list of Land Owners List 1762.
http://eservice.pwcgov.org/library/digitalLibrary/PDF/1762%20LL%20Landholder%20List%201762.pdf
[iv] Virginia,
Prince William, Deeds, Q page 205, 2 November 1764; page 206 second repeated
deed.
[v]
William, Sarah, Elizabeth, Nancy, James, Thomas W., Mary “Polly”, Susannah,
John J. Peake
[vi] Thomas
Lynch Montgomery, Pennsylvania Archives Sixth Series ( Department of
Public Instruction, 1907), Volume II p 387.
[vii]
Frank Betz Zane material and his letter via 1911 are now part of the vertical
file collection at the Boyd County Public Library, Ashland, KY.
[viii]
Campbell
County, Kentucky, Court Orders, "In chancery", Depositions, 17 August
1808; , .
