Peach Genealogy - Newsletter, Issue 12
THE PEACH/PEACHEY PROJECT
The Electronic Peach Tree Issue 12
Editor: John Harding Peach Peachroot@aol.com
WEB PAGE: http://home1.gte.net/tpeach/Genealogy/Genealogy.htm
As we leave Normandy today, we are glad to see that most of you made it back on board by joining OneList. Sorry to say, some didn't make it and have been left behind. As we cross the English Channel heading towards England, if you find any along the way who didn't get on board, tell them to join OneList, and we will bring them aboard.
We are taking the same route as our common ancestor, WILLIAM DE PECHE I, took 932 years ago when he helped the Conqueror capture England for the Norman monarchy. Quoting from p.1 of my latest book, THE PEACH/PEACHEY MIGRATIONS, 1066-1990,
"On September 1066, some 5000 men and their horses arrived by boat from Normandy. William, to become known as 'the Conqueror', landed his men on the English coast at Pevensey. Hearing this, King Harold assembled a massive army to march to Hastings. However, his soldiers were exhausted, just having defeated the Vikings in northern England. And before the English had organized themselves, the Normans attacked them seven miles northwest of Hastings."
>From that point on begins the history and genealogy of the Peche in England. All of this is detailed in THE PEACH/PEACHEY MIGRATIONS. For those who have purchased the book, I refuse to regurgitate something you already have read and have access to read on your own. For those who have not purchased the book, all I can do is encourage you to get a copy. I have said earlier that it is the text book for this Project. Without it, you will miss many pieces of the puzzle.
To obtain a copy, send $39.95 plus $5.00 shipping/packaging to John Peach, 611 Herron Rd., Knoxville, TN 37922. I offer a money-back complete satisfaction guarantee. With hundreds of copies sold, I have yet to have anyone want their money back. (If you live outside of North America, the shipping charges will be the same if sent by boat. If you want it sent air mail, it will be quite a bit higher. Let me know if you want one, and I will give you the air mail rate to your country).
If you want to see the places we will discuss while in England and trace the history of the Peche chronologically through English history, then you will need to get The Peach Heritage video. Most have bought this tape for $24.95, but I now have it on sale for a limited time for only $12.95 plus $5 shipping/packaging. If you purchase both the tape and the book at the same time, you only need to pay one $5 shipping charge rather than two. This will save you an additional $5.
Remember, now that we are all on OneList, we can communicate to all who are on board. If you want to share any information about your roots and ask questions of all those on board, just send your email to Peach OneList. Automatically, all on board will get your email.
What I plan to do as we approach England and travel throughout its environs is to provide you with a lot of details that was NOT in my book or any other published manuscript. Therefore, what we will be reading will be brand new material to us. Once again, since it is buried treasure, it will be quite valuable. Hopefully though, it will not be too detailed to bore you.
Most of the treasure will be quotations from EDWIN PECK's unpublished manuscript of 1944. However, I will also add materials I located in England while researching there in 1989. On page 46, Peck documents the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. and the part our common ancestor played in it.
WILLIAM de PECHE I at Hastings
"The Abbey of Battle was built by Conqueror on site where by legend King Harold Godwinson of the English fell and was a splendid building which the Conquerro and his successors enriched and contained the greatest treasures of the Conquest, the sword of Conquero, the pallium sent by Pope and other relics of Hastings and was partly destroyed by (King) Henry VIII and given to his Master of Horse, whose son built a house there, but the great gateway remains and is an impressive structure."
This is the way Edwin Peck, who was a masterful researcher, rambles on. Although quite exact and articulate in his writings, he was one of the worst regarding good grammar. If you will note, all he wrote above was done in one sentence, although he had many complete thoughts in it. Thus, with your permission, I will take the liberty from henceforth to altar his punctuation and sentence structure so all of us can digest it better. Continuing, Peck writes:
"A scroll tablet bearing the names of the counts, viscounts, barons and knights who fought at Hastings hung in the Abbey for generations. (It) was seen by early antiquaries, until it was removed to Cowdray with the Conqueror's sword and other priceless relics. (It was) destroyed in the fire which gutted Cowdrey in 1793.
"There are som eight versions of the roll in addition to the version accepted by the French Government in 1931. William de Peche appears in six of these." (However, his name was recorded differently on the separate rolls).
1. William of Worcester Roll - spelled PACHET. 2. Leland Roll - spelled PECHE. 3. Duchesne Roll - spelled PECHE. 4. Scriven Roll copied by Stowe - spelled PACHET. 5. Dives Roll of Leopold de Lisle - GUILLAUME PECHE. 6. Falaise Roll of French Govt. of 1931 - GUILLAUME PECHE. (Guillaume was the Norman name for William).
"This roll of Battle Abbey has been denounced by dogmatic men like Lord Raglan, who held all but his own opinions in contempt. There is no doubt that monks were bribed much later to insert names of men not at Hastings but of lower origin whose families had become wealthy and powerful. But such insertions were discovered and do not number more than twenty.
"The Falaise Roll of 1931 contains the names of 315 men who were accepted by the International Committee. 91 additional names were accepted too late to be engraved on this Roll in Castle of Falaise, Normandy.
"Of the 315 names on the Tablet fo French Government in 1931, 66 are ancestors of the Peche by female lines. Five more (were ancestors) by female lines of descent whose names were accepted too late to be engraved on the Roll. Peck writes on pp. 19-20:
SPELLING VARIATIONS of NAMES
"Those who have not searched the official rolls of England of the Pipe, Patent, Fine, Plea and Close Rolls, the Inquisitions Post Mortem, Domesday Survey, etc. and the documentary history of Normandy and England, cannot understand the many forms of name spelling of persons blood related. (They) seem to think that standards of spelling have always existed in England and America, which is quite untrue.
"Before dictionaries came in use, there were no standards at all of spelling. Before ca. 1350 the earls, barons and knights of England and part of (the) royal family could not read or write beyond possibly writing their names phonetically. The only persons who could read or write were the clergy, who were in most cases practically illiterate according to modern standards.
"In the 19th and 20th centuries in England and America, many snobbish foolish people altered their name spelling slightly to give the impression they were not of the common herd. But (prided themselves of) a special and higher class in a most absurd way.
"The illiterate clerks of the several rolls offices recorded their names as Pasche, Pesche, Pascham, Pescham, Peache, Peche, Pecche, Pechy and Peacham as shown in the many entries over the centuries in the official rolls of England.
"After 1500 the Peche or Pecche seem to be mostly recorded as the Peach, Peachy and Peachey and also Pechy. The modern forms of the name today are the Peach and the Peachey. The Peach in America settled mostly in New England in colonial days. The Peachey settled in Virginia before the Revolution and spread to other southern states and were of the landed aristocracy of Virginia from the start.
"Mr. Clayton Torrence, Secretary of the Virginia Historical Society, wrote that as a surname the name of Peachey was rare today in Virginia, but was often found today as a baptismal name. (He) says there are very many descendants of the Peachey in Virginia today by female lines."
May we have smooth sailing on the English Channel on the way to Pevensey Bay, England. We are due to land in England on October 10. I am sincerely yours, Captain John
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